Perry, Horny now say there is time to lose

Last July, on the heels of acquiring Derrick Rose, Jeff Hornacek explained why the Knicks lost patience with their rebuild.

“I don’t think New York, Los Angeles, they’re not markets that you are going, ‘OK, you’re going through a rebuilding process,’” the coach said. “You have the ability to spend the money. You have attractive cities to go to. I think they’re always on the win-now thought process.”

What a difference a year and a failed experiment make. The Knicks have gone from all-in to embracing the tank.

On Friday, Hornacek was comparing himself to Brett Brown, the Sixers coach who endured obscene amounts of losing for the sake of “The Process” (AKA higher draft picks). Hornacek also acknowledged that he won’t sacrifice the rebuild, “just to win some games.” Then new GM Scott Perry said victories aren’t the priority when assessing this season. His assumption is that fans will hop aboard so long as effort is evident.

“The big thing is, is this team competing, playing hard, playing together, trying to defend each and every night? If we can do that, we can live with the results,” Perry said.

Indeed, it’s a long road back to respectability for the Knicks. They became the laughingstock under Phil Jackson, ridiculed at the NBA awards show and plastered across a New York subway as “Hopeless.” Perry, armed with the security of a five-year contract, wants to buck the trend of the Knicks swinging for the fences (and missing).

The Michigan product is testing the theory that you can’t rebuild in New York.

“People want something that’s going to be sustainable. That to me is what’s important and the patience, and if you’re going to build something the right way that’s going to be sustainable longterm, you can’t cut corners,” he said. “So far, the fanbase has been very nice and kind. But we haven’t played much basketball.”

Time will determine if Perry’s the right man to build the foundation, or if the market can tolerate more losing. In Orlando as the assistant GM for five years, Perry’s similar plan became an abject failure marked by a 132-278 record. Even Jackson’s winning percentage was better in New York. From the Orlando experience, Perry said he learned that veterans are important to balance youth.

“We had a lot of young people (in Orlando),” Perry said. “I probably had more young people than we have here right now. I definitely took something from that experience, learned from it. You’ve heard me talk about having enough veterans around for younger people. I truly believe that teams that I’ve been a part of throughout my career, I’ve just seen how important veteran players can be to younger players just from a mentoring standpoint, for setting the right example on and off the court for guys, being a sounding board for young guys, because this is going to be a first for many young people on our team playing 82 games.”