New York Knicks: Ranking the 5 most disappointing seasons since 2010

5) Knicks most disappointing seasons: 2014-15

Record: 17-65 (2nd worst record in the league)

Coming in at number five is the infamous 2014-15 NBA season, the worst single-season in franchise history. It was Phil Jackson’s first full season as Knicks president, and it was Derek Fisher’s first, and last, full season as head coach.

Phil Jackson assumed the franchise’s presidency in 2014 and guided the team in the offseason. His first two moves were to sign Shannon Brown and Lamar Odom, both of whom played for him in Los Angeles.

Many remember ESPN’s Stephen A Smith berating Phil Jackson for signing Lamar Odom in 2017, saying that Lamar Odom was using drugs at the time Phil Jackson signed him. Odom never played for the team and remained a puzzling move on the part of Jackson.

Phil Jackson hired Derek Fisher as head coach, who played for the Thunder the season before and had no prior coaching experience. Phil got hit with tampering fines from the league as he engaged Fisher while he was under contract with the Thunder.

Phil Jackson would then move Tyson Chandler, who was arguably the team’s most valuable player behind Carmelo Anthony, and Raymond Felton to the Mavericks for Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington, Shane Larkin, and two second-round draft picks.

Jose Calderon stuck with the team for two years, Samuel Dalembert slept through pre-game and played a few games for the team, Wayne Ellington was traded to Sacramento for Travis Outlaw and Quincy Acy, and Shane Larkin was awful.

The trade was a plot by Phil Jackson to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay by freeing up cap flexibility.

Carmelo Anthony, who was courting offers from the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Lakers at the time, decided to stick with the Knicks on a five-year, $124 million dollar deal with a no-trade clause, a source of tension in later years.

Phil Jackson drafted Cleanthony Early, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and Louis Labeyrie in the second round as the team did not have a 1st round pick. Jackson would also sign Jason Smith, and Travis Wear, for god knows why, and would trade Travis Outlaw and a second-round pick for Arnett Moultrie, who was immediately cut. A very eventful offseason.

I realize that most of this portion is about the offseason leading to the 2014-15 season, but it gives a good background on what doomed the Knicks that season.

Despite the complete overhaul of the roster, the Knicks still had Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Tim Hardaway Jr. People expected the Knicks to be a fringe playoff team and put together a mediocre season at the very least.

Boy, were they wrong. There was excitement for the team when they beat LeBron James in his first game back in Cleveland, but the Knicks eventually fell back to earth and started an abysmal 5-36 following a 16-game losing streak.

The Knicks, to put it lightly, were a dumpster fire. They traded J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland, bought out Amar’e Stoudemire, and dealt Pablo Priginoi to the Rockets for Alexey Shved and some picks.

Carmelo Anthony missed the rest of the season after All-Star Weekend to get surgery on his knee, playing 40 games because he refused surgery early in the season, probably because he wanted to play in the All-Star game in New York that year.

With the roster being depleted, Tim Hardaway Jr, Andrea Bargnani, and Alexey Shved heaped up shots, while the Knicks trotted out lineups that included Jason Smith, Cole Aldrich, Quincy Acy, and Lou Amundson.

The Knicks finished a franchise-worst 17-65. Although the team was awful, there were some hilarious memories to look back on. Phil Jackson had some twitter tirades, Derek Fisher might have been involved with Tim Hardaway Jr’s girlfriend, Quincy Acy punched John Wall, and Langston Galloway, who was called up from the D League, brought some excitement and had Knicks fans calling him Linsanity 2.0.