That sound you hear all over Manhattan is the Knicks imploding.
There are a lot of issues around the Knicks right now — except, surprisingly, their defense — but a lot of the issues at the heart of the current five-game losing streak tie back to chemistry and team make up. The Knicks assembled pieces without regard to fit.
That may include the latest piece added, J.R. Smith. In the wake of Smith getting fined by the league for tweeting pictures of a scantily clad model from his hotel room in Milwaukee comes this note from Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Contrary to popular belief, Anthony was leery of the Knicks bringing in his former Denver teammate three weeks ago and gave a thumbs down to upper management, according to a person close to the Knicks superstar….
Publicly, Anthony said all the right things about Smith…. But, according to the source, Anthony was not gung-ho and was “hurt’’ Knicks upper management tossed his advice out the window.
The Knicks needed help at the two guard spot, Smith was a free agent coming out of playing in Chia, but Smith is an unrepentant gunner on a team where getting enough shots for everyone and playing within the system were already issues.
Jeremy Lin is tasked with the impossible job of trying to divide up those shots and get the ball to the right guy at the right time. Thing is, Lin has had some absolutely awful games of late — so far neither Mike D’Antoni nor the Garden faithful have not turned on him, but that may change very soon if he keeps having games like he did on Sunday.
