The New York Knicks have been one of the NBA’s most disappointing teams this year. They have lost 14 in a row as they dropped yet another game last night to the Rockets 120-96. Their record right now is 5-34 which is last in the Eastern Conference and the worst in the NBA. The biggest question with the Knicks is should Carmelo Anthony shut it down for the rest of the season? He has been playing this season with a knee injury. He has played 30 of the 39 games. In those games, he doesn’t have bad numbers as he is averaging 23.9 points.
The struggles this season are not on Carmelo Anthony. As a team they haven’t gotten it done on the offense end, averaging 93.2 points per game which is 29th in the league. Philadelphia is the only team worse than New York averaging 90.5 points per game. Defensively the Knicks give up 101.6 points per game which is 21st. Statistically speaking not great numbers. It’s the reason why the Knicks are off to a 5-34 start.
This team is not going anywhere but the NBA Draft Lottery. They are 11.5 games from the 8th and final playoff spot in the East. This is also a rebuilding year for New York. You have a new head coach in Derek Fisher. This is his first year ever as a head coach. They have already started to trade players. The big trade they made was trading J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland in three team trade involving New York, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City. All they got back was Lance Thomas from Oklahoma City. The Knicks at this point are looking at next year so this would be a good time for Carmelo to sit out the rest of the year.
Looking at next year, this team has 5 players who are under contract. They are Carmelo Anthony, Pablo Prigioni, Cleanthony Early, Jose Calderon and Tim Hardaway Junior. The total for these contracts is $34,161,963. The projected salary cap for the 2015-2016 season is $66.5 million. The New York Knicks will have a cool $32,338,037 to spend. With this amount of money they can get free agents. Here are some of the big free agent names by position. The point guard position includes Jeremy Lin, Andre Miller, Luke Ridnour, Rajon Rondo, and Mo Williams. The shooting guards available are Ben Gordon, Jason Terry, and Lou Williams. Small forward possiblites are Omri Casspi, Wilson Chandler, and Richard Jefferson. Power forwards to consider are LaMarcus Aldridge, Carlos Boozer, Tyler Handsbrough, and Paul Millsap. A few players for the Knicks to think about signing at center are Tyson Chandler, Marc Gasol and Kendrick Perkins.
New York wouldn’t have a hard time signing some of these players because New York is a great basketball town and players want to play in New York especially now since Phil Jackson is the Knicks’ president. The Knicks are playing for next year.
Do you think Carmelo should shut it down for the rest of the season? Which free agents should they go after this summer?
Lots of interesting information. Can’t wait to read more .