New York Knicks Are Confused on Both Ends of the Court
By Nick Ziegler
The New York Knicks have had an awful 2016-17 season, and things aren’t getting any better as the season goes on.
After a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night, the New York Knicks might have finally hit rock bottom. With the playoffs being an extreme longshot at this point, the Knicks have been experimenting on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.
On offense, there has been a ton of talk about the triangle offense. Whether or not to use the triangle has been a hot topic in New York. For the players, it has just led to a lot of confusion. For Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis, the confusion has made it hard to perform on the court for the team.
In a recent interview with Ian Begley of ESPN.com, Porzingis opened up about the Knicks’ schemes. Here’s what Porzingis had to say.
"Porzingis said there is “a lot of stuff that’s not clear” for players, adding that it’s “hard to play like that.” “We’re really basic [with] what we do,” Porzingis said. “A lot of times it’s — especially one on one — whoever it is, myself, Carmelo [Anthony], Derrick [Rose], Courtney [Lee], we try to make something happen and that’s not how it’s supposed to be. It’s very random.”"
The constant changes for the Knicks have come because of the losing. Besides the start of the season, the Knicks have been pretty awful, and that has led to changes. Whether it be rotations or schemes, there are constant changes for the Knicks.
"“We’ve been switching things up because at any point of this season we [haven’t] played like we wanted to,” Porzingis said. “It was like, ‘maybe this will work, maybe this will work.’ So we’re kind of looking for stuff. Coaches, they obviously try to do the best job they can and [are] giving us as much as they can so we have the information. But we never really got it all together and were able to execute the way we should have. It’s been a lot of confusion.”"
With the season all but over, the Knicks will be trying to establish some identity for next season. Whether it be with or without the triangle offense, the Knicks need to try to figure out how they want to move forward offensively.