Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick Rose have weighed in on what went wrong for the New York Knicks. Jeff Hornacek took his turn at diagnosing the issues.
The 2016-17 NBA regular season has been one of the most devastating seasons in New York Knicks history. Though a vast majority of the seasons during the James Dolan era have been disappointing, the expectations were high before the team ultimately collapsed.
After Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick Rose weighed in on what went wrong with the Knicks in 2016-17, head coach Jeff Hornacek took his turn.
For all of the hype that New York received entering 2016-17, it’s been far from relevant in the postseason discussion. It’s 27-43 through 70 games and is well on its way to missing the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, Hornacek pointed to the same flaw that Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Jennings, and Kristaps Porzingis have publicly acknowledged: a lack of effort.
"“A year of inconsistency with stretches of good defense. Then so much effort on defense that game, the offense slacked,’’ Hornacek said. “We never got the combination of the two. Defense is hard. The way it’s played today, with the way the court [is] spread, you got to put a lot of effort in trying to stop a pick-and-roll, being in the paint, closing out on a shooter, the moment a guy drives, have to rotate to the next guy, scramble a little bit,’’ Hornacek said. “It takes a lot of effort to do it on both ends. It takes a lot. We never got there.’’"
The inability to find an ideal balance between offensive execution and defensive stability has marred the Knicks’ season in 2016-17.
Hornacek arrived with the influx of talent during the summer of 2016. After spending the previous three seasons as head coach of the Phoenix Suns, Hornacek was hired with the hope that he could modernize the Knicks’ offense.
New York has improved on the offensive end of the floor, but it continues to lose games with far more regularity than it wins.
In addition to being 27-43, New York ranks in the bottom half of the NBA in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Thus far in 2016-17, it’s No. 17 in points scored per 100 possessions and No. 25 in points allowed per 100 possessions.
The Knicks have shown flashes of brilliance on both ends of the floor, but they’ve struggled to perform with consistency in either regard.
New York has a number of gifted scorers, including Carmelo Anthony, Willy Hernangomez, Courtney Lee, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick Rose. It also has a collection of capable defenders, including Justin Holiday, Lee, Joakim Noah, and Porzingis.
Unfortunately, effort was an issue throughout the 2016-17 season—an issue that rests on both the coaches and the veterans.
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The question is: will the New York Knicks turn things around in 2017-18?