Looking at last year 2016-17 NBA Standings I notice the OKC Thunders had a 47 win season .. I believe if OKC did not make the two big trades in the 2017 off-season for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony the Thunders organization would have had a 50+ win season this year.
How well will this season OKC Team do in the postseason compared to last season OKC team?
The Utah Jazz had a 51 win season last year plus the Jazz advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs last year beating the Clippers 4-3 in the first round to bump heads with the GS Warriors in the 2nd round.
How well will this season Jazz team do in the postseason compared to last season Jazz team?
The Knicks had a 31 win season last year without playing a lick of defense for 82 games .. the Knicks president Phil Jax blamed the Knicks top players for the 51 losses in the season .. In the 2017-18 season the Knicks are headed toward a 28 win season .. who do the Knicks blame for the 54 loss season?
The entire Knicks coaching-staff !!!
I'd say there are a number of factors behind our potential 54 loss season and some of them are not down to the coaching staff...
1. KP getting hurt has played a part
By no means do I think we would have made the play offs, but we certainly would have had more wins than we currently do. In fact I think we'd be right near the Lakers and Hornets' current win total.
2. Even with a healthy KP we don't really have a stellar roster
Our usual starting line up featured the following:
- We spent 56 games starting Jarrett Jack. Let's be honest he's an ok veteran but he's not the kinda guy you want starting on a play off team unless he's filling in for an injured Stephen Curry on the Warriors team.
- Courtney Lee is a solid 3-and-D player but that's about it. He's not going to be a guy that can carry a team or improve them on his own, he's a complimentary piece.
- Tim Hardaway has spent the majority of this season playing small forward when he's arguably a better fit for shooting guard. Even though he's averaging a career high in PPG, he is still a frustratingly inconsistent player. He can go from having a huge game (eg 39 points against Minnesota) to having a lackluster game (eg 11 points in the following game against Washington). He's had scoring runs like games 59-68, but he's had his struggles as well like single digit games games 52-56. He has runs of games where his +/- is all over the place (e.g. in three recent games he's had a -23, +10, -20). He's a talented player but he's a frustrating one and probably not suited to being the second option on a play of team.
- KP was having a career yet but realistically we were asking a lot of him and you could tell when he hit his slump. If this team is to be successful we need a consistent running mate to take pressure off him in scoring and on the defensive end, otherwise we'll end up running this guy into the ground and he'll be finished before his extension contract expires.
- Enes Kanter is a great personality but he's another frustrating player. He is capable scorer but he often has negative ratings. His 18 point showing against the Clippers being negated by a -21 rating. He scored 14 points against Philly but had a -13 rating. He scored 19 against the Bucks but had a -25 rating. This is a common theme throughout his career in that he's capable of scoring but defensively he's a liability at times and often doesn't contribute to a positive rating on the court.
Realistically that starting line up always looked like a 30 win team.
So whose fault is this season?
I don't think the coaching staff are entirely to blame. Obviously they have made some mistakes and we've all called them out on them, but I don't think they could have done much better with what they've been given. Our hot start masked the team's problems which were pretty clear: no legitimate starting point guard, two hot and cold scorers, and an ageing 3-and-D player supporting a young rising star in KP. Our bench unit did okay at times but that unit blew hot and cold. As far as I'm concerned our win-loss record is not a surprise and is not a direct result of our coaching staff.
Let's not be naive and think that this team's problems start with the coaching staff because they don't. This team's problems go back further than that. After our semi final appearance in 2012-13, we followed that up with 37 wins and that was not a surprise because the team didn't put together a better supporting cast to help Melo. We had to trot out Raymond Felton, Iman Shumpert, Andrea Bargnani, Pablo Prigioni, a regressing Tyson Chandler, and Amar'e Stoudemire on his zimmer frame. It's no wonder the wheels fell off. What about the support we gave to Melo in 15-16 season after we drafted KP under Derek Fisher? That's right we rounded that starting line up with Jose Calderon, Arron Afflalo and Robin Lopez. Our bench unit was threadbare. So again it is no wonder we struggled that season to 32 wins.
So like I said, let's not be naive and think our problems are down to Jeff Hornacek. These problems started before him because we had the same issues under Derek Fisher and right at the end with Mike Woodson. This team's front office failed to build a legitimate contender around Melo and it is truly sad that he never got the support required to help deliver a championship back to this great team and city. Glen Grunwald, Steve Mills and Phil Jackson failed Melo. I suppose we should be thankful that Phil Jackson didn't give away first round picks and brought back the value of those assets to the team, which saw us draft KP and Ntilikina under his watch. So I can't be overly critical of him on that score because he did leave us with building blocks for the future, but at the same time he didn't help us get the most out of Melo at the end, and his moves last year like Noah's contract have crippled us.
Do I trust our current front office to build a contender? Not really, but time will tell whether they can complete a successful rebuild. But this team really does need to do one of two things: one, replicate the 76ers process and just flat out tank until you have enough talent on your roster; or two, get smarter and draft talent and build a competitive roster without tanking like Utah and Denver. Both routes have their challenges and will test our current front office's ability to rebuild this roster. I'd love to say I feel confident that they can do it, but based on recent history I have my doubts. So like I said, I don't blame Hornacek for this season. I blame our current and past front offices for leaving us in this mess and it's going to take a long time to get us out of it.
