After signing this previous defensive player of the year, the New York Knicks started with a tornado of mistakes in the franchise. The calm before the storm was nice with the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony had shown he was still a star player for the franchise while the 2015 number 4 draft pick was showing promises of star potential (Kristaps Porzingis). The team was now signing a NBA veterans such as Derrick Rose, Courtney Lee, and Joakim Noah. All these guys were great stars at one point. Rose was the leagues MVP in 2011 but later suffered a horrific ACL tear, Courtney Lee was a front runner in being one of the best catch and shoot three point makers, and finally Noah was the best defensive player in the league a few years before. The team itself had the potential to be a dynasty, or even just win a championship, but with this team making the playoffs eventually became their dream.
Oh, how did this go so wrong? Well let’s start with the team itself, they got a brand new hall of famer coach Jeff Hornasck who loved a fast pace game style called 7 second offence. This was good to have a coach who knew how to keep up in the modern day of the NBA with fast offence and good 3 point shooting. The team also had a general manager who was an NBA player, coach and everything else between. Phil Jackson the GM helped his teams win multiple championships with 11 rings under his belt, he decided after coaching the Lakers it was time to try something different so he got signed as the Knicks GM. Him being him as the new GM felt like he had a say in every aspect of the team on an off the court. His main goal as GM was to sign as many good players that would fit on this team and help them win a championship. Phil targeted those players who were great previous players that were in his eyes to be all star caliber even after a terrible injury and age starting to play a role. He decided to pick them up because they would fit perfectly into the game plan he a had set up with a triangle offensive or where only 3 players would be mainly in control of the pace of the game. These players in his eyes were going to be Carmelo Anthony as the main scorer like he always has been and averaging over 20 points a game every season of his career up until this year. The second was Derrick Rose the former MVP who Phil thought that he had fully recovered from his injuries and would always be back in his prime self. Joahkim Noah was the final piece of the offense while he wasn’t ever known for offense, Phil thought he could change that.
So how did it actually start to go wrong? Well with everything above you may have been able to put together the puzzle. Carmelo Anthony was the only star of the team and averaged 23.4 points per game because he has done what he always did and “ball hog”. With Derrick Rose he was signed one a 1 year 25.6 million dollar deal but was out for most of the season due to injuries and when he was in game there was only a few games where he was actually a good second option. Joahkim Noah, I swear his season high for that year was like 12 points maybe. He was good defensively until one day he got injuried as well as Rose and lead to him not knowing how to properly recover. Noah was signed on a 4 year $72 million dollar contract and the man has played in less then 60 games for the team over the course of 2 years with a total of 120 missed games due to injury or drug abuse. The team also was in constant argument of the style of game plan to play. It lead to the point where the GM and star player actually got into verbal arguments in conference rooms (per sources).
The 2016 New York Knicks were favored to be a top contender in the easy Eastern Conference but ended up finished the season with a 31-51 record not even making playoffs. The aftermath of this huge disappointment resulted in star player Carmelo Anthony demanding a trade due to problems with Phil Jackson. Phil later then quit as the Knicks GM. Noah is now currently being bought out of his current contract with the Knicks due to the fact that the team can make more room for future potential with signing a big name free agent next summer. Derrick Rose continues to get injured but plays a smaller role off the bench for the Minnesota Timberwolfs. While the only good thing coming out of this was releasing the Knicks needed to rebuild their team with a new leader in Kristaps Porzingis. To state that this team was a failure is an understatement. This team was an abomination to the legacy of the Knicks.
Work Cited:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%80%9317_New_York_Knicks_season
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/251201/Joakim-Noah-Knicks-Moving-Towards-Buyout-Agreement
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