New York Knicks: Players believe NYK is a playoff team
The New York Knicks are viewed as a rebuilding organization, but the players believe the current roster has immediate postseason potential.
The New York Knicks entered the 2017-18 NBA regular season facing low expectations. Most expected New York to hover around the 31-win mark that it’s become familiar with—and through three games, it appeared to be a fair projection.
With the Knicks riding a streak of three wins in four games, however, the players are beginning to double down on their offseason confidence.
Although most have accepted that the Knicks are in the early stages of a rebuild, the players aren’t exactly echoing the sentiment. Prior to the regular season, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis spoke out against the belief that New York will be watching the playoffs from home come April.
According to Adam Zagoria of theKnicksBlog, small forward Doug McDermott supports the theory that the Knicks are a playoff team.
"“We don’t look at ourselves as a rebuilding team,” the former Creighton star told SNY.tv. “We’re young, we got some good young pieces but we want to win games. That’s been our goal. We want to show people that we’re capable and we beat some teams that are playoff teams and we feel like we’re a playoff team.”"
Per Zagoria, center Enes Kanter agrees that the Knicks should make the playoffs in 2017-18.
"“If we stay together and we play our basketball, yes I believe [that we’re a playoff team].”"
That confidence is refreshing from a young team that’s already playing above the expectations of the masses.
New York is currently 3-4, but it’s riding high off of a recent three-game winning streak. During that run, the Knicks dominated the Brooklyn Nets, blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game that LeBron James played 39 minutes, and outlasted the Denver Nuggets.
The recent loss to the Houston Rockets brought the pessimists back to the forefront, but the players aren’t allowing a single game to be a deterrent.
New York is playing at a higher level than expected, and that’s inevitably reassured those in the locker room that they’re capable of something special.
In an Eastern Conference that’s been ravaged by injuries and star departures, the postseason is a realistic goal. Yet, when the players speak on the matter, they make it clear that an easy path to the postseason isn’t what’s wanted.
If the Knicks are going to make the playoffs in 2017-18, the players want to earn it—and Hardaway, Kanter, McDermott, and Porzingis all believe they can or will.
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Whether or not fans and analysts believe the New York Knicks can make the playoffs, the players are committed to a winning vision.