Why This Season for the New York Knicks Has Been Especially Disappointing

I highly doubt that I am wrong when I speak for all of the Knicks fans when I say that this year for the New York Knicks has been really disappointing.

Any season like the one the Knicks are having are both disappointing and discouraging for the staff, players, and the fans, but what makes this year in Knicks nation especially disappointing?

Came Off a Good Season

One of the reasons that you are probably more disappointed in the Knicks than ever whether you know it or not probably has to do with the fact that they had a great season last year, and although the playoffs were not all that spectacular, they made it to the second round and managed to take it to game 6 with the Pacers. It is understood that after a great season like that, especially after keeping many core players and getting younger(on paper) you would not expect such a sudden and dramatic drop in the conference standings. The team played with good all around chemistry and shooting range as the players were able to provide the fan base with fun highlights and standout individual performances. If you never thought of the reason you are so mad at this team beyond that they are losing plenty this year, consider this as another reason linking to your emotional rage and despair.

High Expectations

Second, is the high expectations  that the New York Knicks have left lingering since their previous season. After barely losing to the Pacers in game six of the playoffs, while coming off of a much improved regular season, many expected the Knicks to come back with an unquenchable thirst for vengeance, not only against the Pacers, but of all the NBA. Important as this is, it is not the only thing expected of them as they headed into the 2013-2014 season. They were also expected to keep up their individual level of play. J.R. Smith became sixth-man of the year, Iman Shumpert shot 40% from 3 coming off of an ACL tear, and Carmelo Anthony came off of a spectacular year becoming the league's leading scorer and top 5 candidate for MVP. Looking back at the former glory evident only a year ago, it has all become a distant and mocking memory as each of these three players are not playing up to the same caliber.

Player Performance Decrease

This ties in with the section about high expectations. This season has become especially disappointing because of the decrease in individual performance , which also affects the team as a whole. There were many highlight plays, awards for two of their stars(J.R. and Carmelo), a double double from Chandler, and reason to believe that they could duplicate their exemplary performances. The statistical measures did not just drop, but they fell to the point that when you look at it you will likely be disgusted. Each player on the Knicks roster has dropped(most pretty significantly) in field goal percentage except for Andrea Bargnani and Beno Udrih, who managed to up their field goal activity by about .40%. This alone could be the main reason about their shooting efficiency dropping, but unfortunately it is not. The sad fact is that most of those who fell significantly in field goal percentage also fell pretty badly in either three-point shooting, free throw shooting, or even both. As a team that could not get out of the second round and are struggling to be in the playoff picture this season they're shooting needs to increase about as dramatically as it has decreased if they want to show any light of hope for the remaining season.