The New York Knicks have come out of the All-Star Break like gangbusters. They have won two of their past three games after dropping 31 of their previous 34 outings.
Heck, we might have seen the play of the Knicks’ season during their win over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.
Even then, the primary focus for this long-downtrodden franchise has to be the summer. Flush with cap space to acquire two max-contract players, New York has been linked to both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in free agency.
Equally as important, New York has a real shot at adding Duke’s Zion Williamson with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Mirroring what youngster Kevin Knox said recently, Knicks head coach David Fizdale is not buying into the idea that they’re tanking.
“Try to get better every day & try to win every game,” the head coach told reporters in regards to the remainder of the season, via ESPN’s Ian Begley. “However, this thing works out, where the waves go, we’re going to just ride them out and where we end up at the end of the year, that’s where we end up.”
That’s the crux of the issue. If New York were to remain competitive and win a handful of games throughout the remainder of the season, it wouldn’t necessarily help them improve down the road.
Such is the nature of the beast when it comes to weighing short-term success and how that might impact a team down the road.
New York heads into Wednesday’s action with a 13-48 record — the second-worst mark in the Association ahead of the Phoenix Suns.