Set up to fail with roster devoid of ‘D’
THE MESSAGE from the Knicks front office, reiterated recently by GM Scott Perry, is it wants effort. It wants effort and defense, which will define success — or failure — and sway the fans.
But here’s the problem: the roster isn’t constructed to achieve such goals, specifically on the defensive end, where the Knicks are a collection of subpar talents with a history of slow rotations and surrendering points.
In other words, Jeff Hornacek was set up for failure.
It’s hypocritical for Perry and president Steve Mills to declare defense as central to their new identity, and then acquire Tim Hardaway Jr., Michael Beasley, Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott. Sunday’s 117-83 embarrassing preseason defeat to the Nets served as a reminder of the possibilities for New York’s putridness.
“We all have to be better. They’re getting layups and threes,” Hornacek said. “You got to eliminate one or the other. Hopefully, you eliminate both. We did neither.”
The Knicks (0-3) allowed 36 points in the first quarter, and had given up long before they trailed by 38 in the fourth quarter. In three preseason games, they’ve yielded an average of 112 points. Sunday’s performance was so uninspiring that the Brooklyn crowd — in a first — noticeably cheered for the Nets over the Knicks. And you thought Carmelo Anthony was the problem on defense.
Ultimately, this will fall on the head coach. He can’t create better individual defenders, but he has to somehow develop a system to mask so many deficiencies. Kristaps Porzingis indicated that the system in place is overcomplicated, and the Knicks shouldn’t rotate so often.
“I believe the effort is there, but I think we’re just using energy on the wrong things,” said Porzinigis, who left Sunday’s game with a sore hip. “We need to keep the defense simple. That’s where all of us lock in . . . . We’re a little too worried about the rotations and those sorts of things.”
Optically, it doesn’t help that Hornacek is known for being an offensive coach, and guided New York to the worst defensive rating in the NBA last season. He also sits in the untenable position of being the last guy’s hire. Mills and Perry inherited the two years left on the coach’s deal, and they’ve set a mandate of hustle and defense. Good luck with this roster.
Of all these Knicks rotation players — Porzingis, Kanter, McDermott, Beasley, Willy Hernangomez, Courtney Lee, Joakim Noah and Lance Thomas — not one posted a defensive rating last season lower than 107.7. That’s in the bottom 35% of the league.
“We’re going to play teams that are faster and stronger than us, but we have to be the scrappier team,” Hornacek said. “We have to be the smarter team. We had a lot of blown coverages, times where we were supposed to go over (the screen) and we went under. And that gave them the open 3-pointers.”
It’s a recipe for Hornacek coaching on a hot seat, even if the defensive issues are not his fault. The roster was built to give up points. AP