New York Knicks: Midseason state of the team address

Assessing the New York Knicks at the midway point of the season.

Here we sit at the halfway point of the NBA regular season. The New York Knicks are working through life without Kristaps Porzingis and have made it through half of a season in the life after Phil Jackson era. Let’s just say it hasn’t been easy, especially once Porzingis was lost to a knee injury. Time to look at the Knicks at the halfway point.

Currently the Knicks sport a record of 23-36, 19 games behind the Atlantic-leading Toronto Raptors. They have lost eight straight games and sit in 11th place in the Eastern conference. They are 7.5 games behind the eighth place Miami Heat for the final playoff spot in the East. To say it isn’t looking good is putting it mildly. It’s another lost season for the Knicks.

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Five of the losses came after the loss of Porzingis. He had been averaging 22.7 points per game leading up to his injury. As bad as things have been, his injury has made things clear about the state of the team. They have no depth behind Porzingis.

The Knicks need another legitimate scorer. After Porzingis, the leading scorer is Tim Hardaway Jr. with 16.7 points per game, followed by Enes Kanter with 14.4. That simply isn’t good enough. On a night by night basis the team is leaving too many points on the board and that has to change before the Knicks can be a serious contender.

The rest of this season needs to focus on the younger players, although coach Jeff Hornacek has gotten away from that of late. Here is a troubling trend noted by Harvey Araton of the New York Times:

"Illogically, among those to whom the majority of Wednesday night’s minutes went were the 29-year-old journeyman gunner Michael Beasley; the 32-year-old shooting guard Courtney Lee; and the 34-year-old point guard Jarrett Jack. Those three took a combined 41 shots and made 13."

Hornacek acknowledged there would be changes in the rotation going forward which is a good sign. The second half of the season has to be about assessment. There are young players like Frank Ntilikina and Emmanuel Mudiay that need to get time on the floor. Scott Perry needs a plan of action heading into next season.

Next: Scott Perry's vision for the Knicks

This is the time to plan for the future. The second half of the season is all about planning for the Knicks. Figure out how to help Kristaps Porzingis in the future. It’s the only way this team is going to get better.

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