I think they'll be better after the all-star break and finish in the 35 win range. It was always a reasonable number for a team like this. The big surprise has been Porzingis the way he played, I think changed the expectations. We went from a 30 win team with likely thinking KP was a 20 minutes a night backup, to a team that was pushing for the playoffs. And then we had Melo play like a near Lebron James 22/9/6 level for a few weeks. Once Melo rolled his ankle, the team has never been the same nor has Melo. It's been downhill since. So we needed like perfect health from Melo to finish the season the way we were looking like a month ago and didn't get that. Melo has shot 38.5 percent and scored 19 points in his last 10 games. That's not going to get it done. Not with a team like ours, where we need him to play at a MVP level for us to be as good as we were a month ago.
In the end, if you look at it from where we thought we were at season's start, we are doing better than expected. Porzingis is way ahead of where we thought he'd be. We've got some nice support role players that fit in to Porzingis's age and can be here for a few years (Lopez, Williams, Thomas, Gallo) (Maybe Grant but he has to get a ton better).
The killer is losing the picks both this year and in 2014, but that's not something this current Knicks regime could do anything about. Phil didn't trade for Melo or Bargnani. It is what it is.
11/29/2015 10:31 PM
