ESPN has the Knicks winning only 37 games

[Jameerthefear]

2013-2014 Outlook: Yes, the Brooklyn Nets may have compromised their future by unloading all their available picks to acquire Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry, but at least the Nets filled glaring needs. You can't say the same at all for the Knicks in the Bargnani deal. SCHOENE projects Bargnani's value to be barely above replacement level next season, which means his on-court contributions should be no better than the 10th man on the bench. However, given how much the Knicks gave up for Bargnani, it's likely he'll be more like the team's seventh man, moving Anthony to the 3, where he's less effective.
Ultimately, the Knicks needed to make big gains on the defensive end, but they did little to address that weakness. The Knicks finished tied for 16th last season on defense and it's not clear how they plan to improve that ranking next season. With the addition of the defenseless Bargnani, SCHOENE sees the Knicks falling to 18th on that end of the floor.
And holy regression to the mean does SCHOENE think the Knicks offense last season was a fluke. With Bargnani in the fold, the Knicks are slated to plummet from third to 20th in offensive rating. Yes, 20th.
PELTON'S 2013-14 PROJECTIONS Projected Offensive Rating: 107.2 (20th) Projected Defensive Rating: 108.4 (18th) Effective (weighted) age: 30.4 (5th)
Surprised? Don't be.
For one, the Knicks are losing two elite 3-point shooters in Novak and Copeland, and replacing them with Bargnani and World Peace, who are barely average in that category. SCHOENE envisions a much more congested Knicks offense that struggles to integrate Stoudemire and Bargnani. Along those lines, the spacious Knicks were the least turnover-prone team in the league last season, but SCHOENE expects them to cough up the ball at a league-average rate next season as Udrih and Prigioni creep later into their 30s.
Even if you think the Knicks treaded water with their moves in a vacuum, the real world doesn't work that way. There are only so many wins to go around with the Bulls, Nets, Pacers, Pistons and Cavaliers expected to make big strides next season.
So where does that leave the Knicks? At 37-45, SCHOENE says. Yikes. Still, that should be good for a seventh seed in the top-heavy Eastern Conference, but hardly the encore that Knicks fans were hoping for.
Which brings us to Felton's take this offseason when he found out that ESPN Forecast picked the Knicks to finish fifth in the East next year, which, mind you, is rosier than SCHOENE's projection.
"I'm like,'How can y'all even say this?'" Felton told ESPNNewYork.com.
But a funny thing happened after his incredulous question. Felton ran through what the rest of the Eastern Conference did this offseason and then came to the conclusion that the competition will be much stiffer next season.
"It's like everybody's getting better, man," Felton said. "You can't come in and be like, 'This is a for sure win.'"
As the saying goes, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. That saying rings particularly true for the Knicks ahead of their 2013-14 season.
SCHOENE Projection: 37-45, 2nd in Atlantic, 7th in Eastern Conference

[Inferno]

[It's A VC3!!!]

That's insane. 7th in the East. Much better than 12th, like I projected them to be. Man, ESPN always messing up their projections.


On a serious note, my prediction is mid to high 40s. Best case, matching the win total of last year.

[Jameerthefear]

That's insane. 7th in the East. Much better than 12th, like I projected them to be. Man, ESPN always messing up their projections.


On a serious note, my prediction is mid to high 40s. Best case, matching the win total of last year.

Come on man. Keep the trash talk for when the Nets prove themselves alright

[Doranku]

That has to be a typo. Many teams in the East have improved, and they think the 7th seed will be 8 games under .500?

They must have meant 45-37.

EDIT: Nevermind, just read the article. Damn.

[Kevin_Garnett_5]

[Jameerthefear]

That has to be a typo. Many teams in the East have improved, and they think the 7th seed will be 8 games under .500?

They must have meant 45-37.

EDIT: Nevermind, just read the article. Damn.

Nah it's right. they said the Knicks could win 37-45 games.

[Legends66NBA7]

Yeah, this doesn't make much sense. Who do they have over them ?

I can see them putting the Cavs and Pistons over, but that's really due to potential and youth.

Does anyone know the order of the rest of the ESPN rankings ? Curious to see how much more wrong this could be.

[kNicKz]

link?

[Legends66NBA7]

link?

It's an insider post.

If you got insider, you can check the link out at espn's site, but if your not subscribed you can't check it.

[Meticode]

It's feasible to me for them to win 37 games. I'm not outraged by it.

[kNicKz]

When the article calls copeland an "elite 3 point shooter ", I tend to get curious

[Droid101]

When the article calls copeland an "elite 3 point shooter ", I tend to get curious

Well, they lost their two best three point shooters, Novak and Copeland.

And since their entire offense was "live by the three, die by the three" it doesn't seem that far fetched that they'll get worse.

[kNicKz]

Well, they lost their two best three point shooters, Novak and Copeland.

And since their entire offense was "live by the three, die by the three" it doesn't seem that far fetched that they'll get worse.

Copeland was not one of our better 3 point shooters though...

Not really interested in talking percentages when he put up 4PPG in the post season.

It'd be nice if people who actually watch basketball wrote these

edit: or posted here for that matter

[bluechox2]

its no secret that espn hates the knicks