Since the Kristaps Porzingis injury, the New York Knicks have been playing some really bad basketball. They currently have lost five games straight and have a record of 24-41 which puts them in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
They have moved to play their younger players including shutting down Jarret Jack for the rest of the season, but according to Barbara Barker of Newsday, Jeff Hornacek is saying that the Knicks aren't actually tanking.
“There’s a difference between tanking and trying to look at the future,” Hornacek said, We made a trade to bring these guys in. We brought in Trey from the G League and Emmanuel from another team. That’s a totally different thought process. We’re trying to see if these guys can play for us. We still want to try to win games. We want to see if our young guys can have us win games. It’s part of the evaluation process. It’s not like we’re putting them out there going, ‘Oh, heck, if we put them out there, we’re going to lose games.’”
Hornacek didn't just say his team wasn't tanking though. He doubled down and asked why the NBA is waiting a year to implement the anti-tanking rules.
“Tanking has gotten worse in the last four, five, six, seven years. That’s why they made adjustments. I don’t know why they didn’t make adjustments and implement them this year. I don’t know why they waited a year. If they had what they’re going to do, just put it in now. So maybe these teams are trying to get their one last crack at it.”
If the rules were implemented this year though, the Knicks might actually find themselves in a bit of trouble. Hornacek can say he isn't trying to tank, but if the Knicks played guys like Jack and Courtney Lee, both of those guys would be giving the team a better chance to win.
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