James Dolan is reportedly angry that his Knicks are bad again
New York Knicks owner James Dolan is reportedly upset that his team, featuring a $124 million superstar and a Rookie of the Year candidate, is playing poorly. The Knicks have lost 12 of 14 and are now 6.5 games out of the Eastern playoff bracket after a .500 start to the season through the first 44 games. The team has won just once in four tries under interim head coach Kurt Rambis.
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Rambis talked tough on Tuesday following a spirited Knicks practice that came on the heels of what was reportedly a Dolan-led stew-fest following an embarrassing loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday. The second-seeded Raptors, who are owed a likely lottery pick via New York due to a 2012 deal involving washout former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani, demolished the Knicks by 27 points at Dolan’s Madison Square Garden.
The owner’s message – as reported by both the New York Daily News and ESPN New York – apparently got through to Rambis, who demanded a bit of edge from his wary team:
“We’re all frustrated. We can’t accept this,” said interim head coach Kurt Rambis. “For the organization, for our team, ourselves as individuals, the coaching staff. We can’t accept losing. I want players to be angry. I want players to be frustrated. That’s the right attitude to have.”
It’s been an embarrassing month for the Knicks, who weirdly decided to attempt to play off Rambis’ “like” of a pornographic tweet on Monday as a bit of hackery. As if a hacker taking over the Twitter account of the head coach of a team in the biggest city in the country would limit himself toward pressing the “heart” graphic under a single picture of a naked woman in her boudoir. Why the Knicks felt a need to extend the story’s lifetime – most had forgotten about it by the time Anthony Davis dropped 59 points on the Pistons on Sunday afternoon – is all very Knicksian.
Dolan was not at Tuesday’s practice, but team president Phil Jackson and the rest of his front office were, according to the Daily News. Likely the result of Dolan’s unease following the Toronto loss.
Still, I mean, what did James Dolan expect?
Carmelo Anthony is having the best all-around season of his career, even if his personal stats don’t blow away his best seasons in Denver. He’s 31, though, and just one cog in a rotation – one-man teams led by 31-year olds tend to go on 2-12 stretches in February. Jackson hoped to counter this by implementing the triangle offense, but he doesn’t have the personnel to make that setup work right now. Not because his offense doesn’t feature MJ, Kobe or Shaq; but because it doesn’t feature the sort of quick-hit, quick pass artists needed to create something bigger than the sum of its parts.
That’s why it never made any sense that, in his first transaction, Jackson dealt for point guard Jose Calderon. Calderon (whom Rambis hinted might be leaving the starting lineup) has been a darn good point guard at times in his career, but he’s also a ball-dominant point guard. Not selfish, mind you, he just needs the rock in order to contribute – an anathema in the triple post. Both Anthony and rookie Kristaps Porzingis have the versatility and tools to thrive in this offense, but three whole presidential terms separate them in age.
Worse, former coach Derek Fisher constantly went away from the offense, and Kurt Rambis failed terribly in his attempts to implement it while coaching the Minnesota Timberwolves years ago, despite having a few players that would seem to thrive in such a triangle-based setting.
So, the Knicks probably weren’t as good as the 22-22 record that they sat with on Jan. 20, but they’re not as bad as the 2-12 team we’ve seen over the last month.
The issue is that nuance has never been Mr. Dolan’s strong suit. He tilts toward fedoras and people you have to pay to be your friend.
Anthony, nearly five years to the day of the deal that sent him to New York, is attempting to work through it all:
“It’s been tough. It’s challenging,” Anthony said after being reminded that he has seen four coaches and three general managers plus one team president (Phil Jackson) and dozens of teammates since he was traded from the Denver Nuggets. “It’s challenging to kind of stay strong and positive through all this.”
“You can’t control that,” Anthony said of all the changes in New York. “When you look at it, how many different coaches? Four different coaches. [A lot of] different players. I mean, that’s a lot to go through.”
It is, but it’s also what Anthony signed up for. He knew about Dolan when he forced a deal to New York in 2010-11, he knew about him when he re-signed with the team in 2014, and so far he’s refused to waive his no-trade clause because he (understandably) wants to work out of New York City.
We’re sure the Knicks will be their typically-patient selves moving forward as they adjust to their season’s low-point.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
