These are the days of the sorry Knicks’ lives
As team falls flat on court, leaks and rumours create a big off-court distraction
It could be one of those daytime soap operas with their tangled storylines and high drama, with a little farce thrown in for good measure. How about: “As The World Turns Around The Days Of The Knicks’ Lives As The Guiding Light Leads All Their Children?” That work? The last 10 days around the New York Knicks have been full of fun and frivolity — and leaks and blame and agendas and the utterly ridiculous notion that somehow the franchise could be best served if Knicks president Phil Jackson coached the team’s home games next season.
As former Raptors coach Kevin O’Neill once said: “Will the ridiculousness never end?” To recap: There was a report about the over- all unsuitability of former head coach Derek Fisher, who left the team for a weekend during training camp, a weekend that ended in a fist fight with former teammate Matt Barnes after Barnes discovered Fisher was with his estranged wife. It was only when flight problems caused Fisher to miss another practice that he fully explained to his bosses what had happened.
And Fisher, who was fired in early February, may also have blown off a Jackson-mandated coaches retreat, a story that surfaced months after it allegedly happened.
Jackson, it has become known, has an out after next season in his job as president and overseer, and there are those who think he might end up back in Los Angeles in some manner. There was also that audacious suggestion that he would somehow be a home-game-only coach, a notion quickly shot down by the team’s most important player.
“I don’t think that should be accepted, I wouldn’t accept that if that was the case,’’ Carmelo Anthony told the New York Post. “That would be tough to do. Phil’s cool. He doesn’t need to be on the sideline anymore. He put so many years into the game . . . I don’t think he’s thinking about coming back on the sideline. I hope not.”
The off-court histrionics go handin-hand with one other undeniable fact: The Knicks simply aren’t that good. The record — the Knicks are 13th place in the East at 28-41 — is always a factor when the off-court stuff starts flying.
They were drilled by Golden State on Wednesday night and there’s no shame in that, it happens to lots of NBA teams. But the starters were outscored 72-28; Anthony had 18 points and no other starter scored more than four. It was if the weight of the week caused a total collapse.
“I just felt at times we didn’t even try to compete out there,” Anthony said.
That’s one of the more damning indictments of a team possible and it underscores just how bad things are in New York right now.
› Home, sweet home?
The Detroit Pistons are in a bit of a dogfight for the final playoff spot in the East and have a chance at some separation from Chicago and Washington. The Pistons are a game into a nine-game homestand — the longest stretch of home games for any NBA team this season — and that should be a benefit. But the Palace of Auburn Hills is hardly known as a difficult place for teams to visit. What the long stretch does is give the Pistons consistent practice days without having to worry about travel, and that’s what coach Stan Van Gundy likes best.