Knicks would be unwise to judge Kurt Rambis solely on wins and losses
Why would a team that has to have a bigger frame of mind evaluate a coach based on wins and losses and not how he develops the franchise's star rookie?
By
Matt Moore
•
3 min read
The New York Knicks are widely the victims of expectations. Part of it is due to being in the largest city and media market in the country. Part of it is the presence of Carmelo Anthony, who is a superstar you expect to contend with. Part of it is the longtime frustration over how much of a joke this team has been. But in reality, they won 17 games last year and are headed for many more this year. They have a young superstar in Kristaps Porzingis to build around and some young pieces who should be playing more at this point, now that the playoffs are out of reach.
Instead, the Knicks are still trying to win games, and much of that is coming from the top, and it's impacting development patterns. From ESPN New York:
There are times when (coach Kurt) Rambis wants to forget it as well. He finds himself fighting the desire to insert Porzingis at center for extended stretches and let him learn through his mistakes.
“Sometimes I sit there and we talk and I’m racking my brain (thinking), ‘Should we just go ahead and give him that challenge and let’s see what happens?' ” Rambis says.
But then the desire to win games -- to instill a winning mindset into these Knicks, he says -- takes over.
“I’m focusing on the win and I’d rather not take that gamble at this point,” he says.
And therein lies Kurt Rambis’ dilemma.
Phil Jackson, according to league sources, hired Rambis as his interim with the hope of keeping him on as his next head coach.
Rambis needs to show bottom-line improvement to validate that hope. Hence, the need to win games.
Source: Kurt Rambis' dilemma: Play the young guys or try to win games - Knicks Blog- ESPN.
I don't want to simplify this too much, but, let's be honest, this is pretty stupid.
The Knicks lose their pick two ways. The Nuggets have the right to swap in the event the lottery results in New York having a higher pick than Denver, and whichever pick the Knicks wind up with in that scenario goes to Toronto anyway. (That's right, a top 10 pick is going to Toronto from the Andrea Bargnani trade. I cannot stress the degree to which that trade was terrible for New York. If it were a film, the director would never work in Hollywood again. If it were a dish at a restaurant, the authorities would have been contacted about possible health code violations.)
So no, the Knicks do not have a reason to tank, and yes, trying to avoid embarrassment by winning as many games as possible is a good thing. There's also value in winning games just to gather momentum and build culture. Losing, inherently, has no value for the Knicks. But this is still a misappropriation of resources. Developing Porzingis should be priority No. 1 over everything else. Developing Jerian Grant and the other young Knicks players should be the next priorities. Winning games, developing culture all of that should be secondary to what the Knicks are trying to do big picture.
Also, putting that kind of pressure on Rambis is foolish on a number of levels. First, Rambis shouldn't be the head coach. There are better options out there. Putting him in that kind of spot forces him to coach from a position of desperation, and that's never good. If you want to keep Rambis open as an option for coach -- which you should not -- then at least give him the full support by saying that he won't be judged on wins and losses, but rather the way that the team plays, how they develop or the spirit the team embodies (or whatever other mumbo-jumbo Phil Jackson wants to use as an evaluation tool).
But going down this road? It's not good for the veterans, it's not good for Porzingis, it's not good for Rambis and it's not good for the fans. This is what happens when you value results over process, and it's never good.
