The Knicks Wall Roundtable: The Negatives of the 2015–2016 Season
The season has come and gone, so it’s time for the staff to take a look back at what went right and what went wrong
A season that started with high expectations eventually devolved to being a season with tempered ones. While the highs were high (hello Kristaps) the lows were embarrassingly low (please go away Kurt Rambis).
Today, we discuss what went wrong in the Knicks’ 2015–2016 campaign.
Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
trey, writer:
The triangle — we need to get rid of that. There’s only thirty NBA head coaches and somehow the Knicks have a guy who is about the 4,012th qualified human to be theirs.
Phil Jackson’s perceived arrogance that he can win with just about anyone at the helm of the team is another negative. We can’t win with mediocre players running an offense that has only worked with guys like Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen.
Obviously, coaching is a huge negative. Rambis isn’t the guy. To Jackson’s credit, though, Fisher was not the ideal coach for the Knicks either. Identifying that and adjusting is a plus, but replacing a bottom five coach with the undisputed worst coach in the league is a major L.
Minute distribution late in the season has been terrible, too. Why is Sasha Vujacic? We don’t need him logging over twenty minutes down the stretch when young talent on the roster exists and needs to be developed.
Reid Goldsmith, writer:
Lack of nuance in the rebuilding process.
Are we playoff hopefuls? Tankers? Something in between? I think the greatest failure of this season lies in the communication errors made by the front office and coach. Obviously it’s difficult to just go out and say, “we’re bad, we aren’t making the playoffs,” but from the beginning of the season the expectations were way too high.
And that leads to a chain reaction, throwing off the entire organization. The misaligned expectations and goals of the season have caused probably not the best development for Jerian Grant, or confusing the role of Porzingis, or even challenging fans to backlash every bad game.
Between the previous season and the next one, this season had always been designated as a rebuilding one, so any management or coaching decisions made for anything else is a mistake.
For example, playing Vujacic over Galloway or Grant because his “veteran leadership” leads to wins is nonsensical and proves the futility of the franchise. Terrible communication and unfair expectations can cripple a team.
The Knicks were never contenders in 2016 so treating this year like anything other than a development process gave me headaches.
Peter Saclarides, writer:
Kurt Rambis.
He is arguably the worst coach in the league, for many reasons, but let’s start with playing 34-year-old Jose Calderon and 32-year-old Sasha Vujacic over young talent like Jerian Grant and Langston Galloway while the team has nothing to play for.
There is really no logic behind not playing young players over vets that are not producing when your squad is 13th place in the conference. Rambis has also been reluctant to give ten-day contract players like Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Jimmer Fredette chances. They saw six and eighteen minutes (all in garbage time), respectively.
Playing time isn’t Rambis’ only problem though, he’s also made some questionable decisions in game, like calling a timeout early in the 4th quarter with very few TOs left, playing Melo for nearly the entire first half, and possibly the worst of all: running too much triangle.
The Knicks simply don’t have the personnel to win with the triangle yet, and running Carmelo and Porzingis into the ground while starting Sasha Vujacic won’t make talent appear out of thin air.
Hopefully by next season Rambis complaints will be a thing of the past as the Thibodeau era begins.
Kyle Maggio, writer:
Look, Arron Afflalo needs to opt-out.
Or retire.
Or get shot into the sun.
Yes, yes, I know, Rambis, ‘The Triangle’, Phil Jackson’s perplexing mind games (or just blatant stupidity?), horrible rotations and a lack of playing our youth are all more, err, terrible. However, I most infuriated by watching Arron Afflalo play basketball for the Knicks this year.
He looked like a guy who was trying to prove he has one more fat contract coming his way instead of helping the team. Lackluster defending, and an insistence of shooting the ball within three seconds of every touch of the basketball he received. Okay, I think I’m done with Afflalo. I pray he opts-out and good riddance.
Next order of business, Kurt Rambis.
The lineups in a lost season were beyond reason. Outside of benching Afflalo (which I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed), Rambis’ refusal to play Jerian Grant, was bewildering. Tied to this head-scratcher was the insistence of running the Triangle even when it wasn’t there. I’m all for running some triangle sets at times, but a 100 percent reliance on it is troublesome.
Jerian Grant has proven time, and time again that when he’s given the freedom to play his brand of basketball, he can be superbly effective. He flourishes in the pick-and-roll, and given the fact that Kristaps Porzingis is effective essentially, well, anywhere on the floor, they could develop into a lethal tandem together. KP rolling to the rim with a full head of steam? Or flaring out for an open three-pointer as Jerian draws his defender away from him? The possibilities are there with competent coaching, and Rambis is not that.
Lastly, I’ll always have love for Carmelo Anthony, but his value won’t ever be higher than it will be this summer, so they have to look to unload him, stock up on assets and build around Porzingis.
This is listed under the negatives due to the fact that the Knicks would likely take an initial step backwards after a trade of Anthony. Phil did a great job last summer by making smart, simple signings to keep cap room open going forward for New York, but after a tumultuous season in the Big Apple (although, every season here is tumultuous), Jackson needs to draft well once again and shore up the proper cast of players to compliment his budding superstar in Kristaps.
I wouldn’t say this is a ‘make or break’ summer for Phil, but it should tell us EXACTLY what he intends to do, or what he’s really been trying for, all along. I hope this starts with making a smart, or at least decent signing of a coach (hopefully Thibs, but I’d settle for Sasha Vujacic as player coach over Rambis. Okay, I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. Wait, where are you guys going? Guys?)
Seriously though. Hire Thibs. Trade Melo. Stock up on assets. Draft well. Fire Afflalo and Vujacic into another solar system.
Matt Spendley, writer:
I think the most prevalent big picture negative is that this season ended in “same old Knicks” fashion. Their quick start during the first half of the year led many of us to believe that this season could be different and that this team could be different.
Unfortunately, it proved to be a mirage, as they offset their .500 start with a 10–28 finish. While their performance on the court was not up to par, they were even more quintessential Knicks off of the court.
From the Derek Fisher fiasco and his eventual firing, to the Phil Jackson departure rumors, to Kurt Rambis’ confusing post games comments and overall terribleness, the franchise that was supposed to emerge from the first decade of the 2000’s with a new scent has managed to maintain its utterly pungent and recognizable scent of disappointment.
On the court, a few things stick out. Not much to complain on the Melo front besides his continuous injury issues. Arron Afflalo had some great moments, but his inconsistency killed the Knicks. He performed remarkably better in wins than he did in losses, and as such, the Knicks lived and died with his jumper.
I’m a big Langston Galloway fan, but damn, that dude really struggles from the field. He’s going to have to figure it out if he makes a return to the team. I had incredibly high hopes for Kyle O’Quinn, but he was disappointing in his first year in New York. The coaching staff’s handling of Jerian Grant was infuriating on many levels throughout the season.
Luckily, Jerian Grant has come into his own as of late, but the team’s reliance on decidedly average guard play undoubtedly held them back. The triangle has quickly become my least favorite shape in all of the land. The best teams in the league incorporate portions of the triangle, but it doesn’t make up their entire offense.
All in all, I would like to think that if the Knicks can get a coach here that could stick, they could experience some success with the pieces that are currently in place. However, as long as the situation remains as is, it’s hard to believe that the front office circus will be leaving New York anytime soon. And this is coming from a guy that considers himself an incredibly optimistic Knicks fan.
Ugh.
