The New York Knicks and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, start
Yeah, I just did that. Because honestly! The way the Knicks started the 2013-14 season required all of those negative adjectives, and probably some more.
After dropping three of their first four games, in one of the few documented instances of attempted leadership he ever demonstrated Carmelo Anthony called a players-only meeting to try and get the team on track. Sure, they were only four games in, but there was a combination of things that contributed to the poor start and were definite causes for concern going forward.
- J.R. Smith was suspended for the first five games of the season having violated the NBA’s anti-drug policy
- Tyson Chandler fractured his leg and would be out four to six weeks
- The Knicks were shooting less than 30 percent from beyond the arc
- Stoudemire’s injuries were starting to pile up
The players-only meeting did absolutely nothing to help. Sure, they won the next game but overall, the Knicks started the season a horrendous 5-15 including a skid of nine straight losses.
It’s almost unfathomable that a team could start this terribly after a 54-win season. It’s not like they’d made huge changes in the offseason. The core of the roster from 2012-13 was still intact including Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith, and Amar’e Stoudemire. And they had added some known quantities in Jason Kidd, Metta World Peace (the New Yorker known as Ron Artest), Tim Hardaway and number one overall pick Andrea Bargnani.
Of course, yet another change of general manager weeks before the beginning of the season never sets up the expectation of smooth sailing. But man, I wouldn’t have thought that even the Knicks would manage to be that bad after doing so well the previous season.
The season rolls on
Although there would be a few highlights, the Knicks mostly returned to their pattern of drama and losing for the rest of the 2013- 14 season.
- Sept 26, 2013 – Steve Mills became the Knicks’ general manager. This seemed like another odd choice for Dolan as Mills had been responsible for hiring Isiah Thomas. If you’re not familiar with the details of Isiah Thomas’ tenure in New York, check out part two of the series.
- December 18, 2013 – Andrea Bargnani once again puts the Knicks in a position to be ridiculed by making bumbling decisions in the closing moments of overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks.
- January 24, 2014 – Carmelo Anthony becomes the holder of the Knicks’ all-time single-game record with 62 points against the Bobcats
- January 30, 2014 – Carmelo Anthony scores his 19,000th career point
- February 24, 2014 – Raymond Felton was arrested on felony gun charges. He would later plead guilty to the charges to avoid jail time.
- February 25, 2014 – The Knicks buy out Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih
- March 5, 2014 – The Knick beat the Timberwolves in the first of what would be a string of eight wins in a row
- March 18, 2014 – Phil Jackson becomes President of the Knicks
- March 25, 2014 – The Knicks allow the Lakers to score a franchise-record 51 points in a single quarter
- April 6, 2014 – J.R. Smith put up 22 points from 3-point range setting an NBA record and hit 10 setting a Knicks record
- April 13, 2014 – The Knicks are mathematically eliminated from the 2014 playoffs
- April 21, 2014 – Unsurprisingly, Mike Woodson is relieved of his head coaching responsibilities
- May 14, 2014 – Steve Kerr decides against coaching the Knicks and signs with the Golden State Warriors
The Knicks finished the season 37-45.