J.R. Smith’s Analysis Of The Knicks Before Christmas: “It’s A Nightmare”
The New York Knicks are going into their Christmas Day matchup with the Washington Wizards at 5-25, the absolute worst beginning to a Knicks season in franchise history. Having Phil Jackson as president and a competent Derek Fisher as Phil’s cog on the sideline brought the kind of buzz it was supposed to initially. Playoff appearances were expected and hopes were high of the least bit of improvement from the disappointing outing last season. Instead, it’s only been an amassing digression.
J.R. Smith has been out for the last seven games with a partially torn plantar fascia in his left heel. He’s been open about his struggles adjusting to the new triangle offense, and he’s open about his feelings about his team going into Christmas.
Via the New York Daily News:
I mean, it’s a nightmare. We just gotta wake up from it. I mean, to be 5-25, we had a lot of expectations coming in here, so to be in the situation we’re in, it’s a nightmare for me, anyway.
Smith was under the impression that the Knicks have the best shooting guard core in the entire league. If there ever was to be an argument for that claim, it’s long passed.
The Knicks will be active in free agency next summer, but the nightmare as Smith accurately describes it for New York doesn’t show signs of ending soon unless one or two marquee trades are executed by the February deadline. No concrete signs have surfaced yet that the Knicks are necessarily going that route, so for now J.R. Smith just has to keep the night light on.
