Where the New York Knicks stood 25 games into last season

25 games into the 2018-19 season, the New York Knicks were at a different stage of the game.

At 5-20, the New York Knicks have reached a semi-milestone mark of the 2019-20 NBA season. It’s just a few games past the quarter mark and on the road to the holidays later this month. Those first 25 games have been anything but quiet, though, featuring the firing of David Fizdale at head coach.

Just 12 months ago, however, the Knicks were in a different position 25 games in.

Record

At Game 25 of the 2018-19 season, the Knicks were 8-17. It’s a bit startling since last year’s team seemed inferior to the group assembled this past offseason. They even played a competitive game in this 25th matchup of that campaign, losing 110-107 to the Bradley Beal–John Wall–Otto Porter Jr. Washington Wizards.

This also opened what became a five-game losing streak, as the Knicks had taken the Milwaukee Bucks to overtime (yes, the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led that went six games in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals) and won. There was some competitive spirit in that team, even if the bottom of the standings seemed inevitable.

Now, the Knicks are 5-20.

Starting lineup

How things have changed in the past year.

For that Wizards game, New York’s starting lineup was the following players: Emmanuel Mudiay, Noah Vonleh, Enes Kanter, Mario Hezonja and Tim Hardaway Jr. In the following weeks and months, Hardaway was traded, Kanter was waived, and Vonleh, Hezonja and Mudiay all left in 2019 free agency.

Frank Ntilikina did not play via coach’s decision. This was amid his three-game stretch in Fizdale’s doghouse, before also sitting out the Christmas Day game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Kevin Knox, Allonzo Trier, Damyean Dotson and Mitchell Robinson comprised four of the five players who came off the bench that night. Now, with varying roles, they all remain with the Knicks.

Head coach

Yup, David Fizdale was just 25 games into his tenure as head coach. He lost his job with the Memphis Grizzlies in an even quicker fashion in 2017, but who expected the same to happen, especially when the Knicks had hopes of big-name free agents in the 2019 class.

Fizdale had already tinkered with the starting lineups, including replacing Kanter with Robinson. It was temporary, however, as the latter man eventually moved back to a reserve role due to inexperience. Lineup changes were frequent in what became a 17-65 season.

The Zion Williamson hype train

A mere few games into his college career, Duke’s Zion Williamson became the talk of the 2019 NBA Draft, six months before it would take place. The Knicks seemed on a course for one of the top picks, and they had the NBA’s worst record at season’s end. But long before that, the dreams of Williamson at Madison Square Garden had begun.

However, the Knicks dropped to No. 3 in the draft, and the New Orleans Pelicans chose Williamson first overall.

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It was a different time for the New York Knicks just 12 months ago. They sit in an even more questionable position now, having turned over at coach and potentially requiring roster and other changes down the line. Where will they be at Game No. 25 in 2020?

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