Rant #1,357: Hoops Oops

New York loves its sports teams.

We have often been called the best fans in the world, because not only do we know the games we love inside out, we also know the personnel playing these games like they were our next door neighbors.

And like all fans, we cheer when our teams do well, boo when the don't.

Well, we have a situation in New York now that is pretty much intolerable.

We have two bad pro basketball teams in our midst, one bad, the other so bad that I doubt they could compete with a high school team at this point.

I am talking about the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, two of the worst teams in the NBA.

The Nets are on a seven-game losing streak, while the Knicks are on a 15-game losing streak, and sit at 5-35 for the season.

Let's primarily focus on the Knicks. The Nets are a bad team, but they aren't bad by design.

The Knicks are.

When Phil Jackson signed on to oversee the Knicks, his mission was to make them a contended for the NBA championship within five years, and the feeling was that what he had to do was deconstruct the team, piece by piece.

However, by doing this, the thought was that he could still field a fairly decent team, one that would be at least in every game, with team members keeping their places warm for the better talent that was supposed to be imported starting next year.

The Knicks would be full of expiring contracts, ones that could be taken off the books, allowing them to have an incredible amount of cap space to secure the services of some really good players.

The problem is that Jackson's first foray into team management has thus far been a complete bust.

Using the triangle offense, the original makeup of the team struggled mightily.

When he saw what a disaster this was becoming, he basically gave away just about all of the talent on the team, with the exception of the injured Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, got little in return in the way of players--but did get more cap space--and what the Knicks are now are at best, a YMCA team.

As I said, they have lost 15 straight, I think it is 29 of 30 games, and have the worst record in the league. Currently made up of castoffs and injured players, the Knicks might not win 10 games this season.

Jackson has put a faux Knicks team out there--a faux NBA team, really--and they are impossible to watch, as they lose each and every game by a double-digit margin.

And we are constantly being told that this is all for the future, but too many assumptions are also being thrown our way, and you know what they say, if you assume too much, well, you are making an ass out of "u" and me.

We are being told to assume that the Knicks will get the number one pick in the college draft.

We are being told to assume that the Knicks will be able to sign top-level free agents starting next season.

We are being told to assume that we have to tank this season, or none of this will happen.

First of all, the hierarchy of the NBA should not allow a situation like this to exist. The Knicks aren't the only team that is obviously tanking this season. The Philadelphia 76ers are too, and have been doing this since the beginning of the season.

Why does a situation like this exist in the NBA. Is it for the good of the league or the good of the teams to tank?

Years ago, in Major League Baseball, Charlie Finley wanted to sell of all his stars so that the Oakland A's could meet their bills. He proceeded to make deals like selling Vida Blue to the Yankees, but all of these deals were voided by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn as not being for the good of the game.

Why can't they do the same thing in the NBA? No team should be able to basically fall down and act dead for a season, even if it helps them in the future.

And as for the other assumptions I listed, what happens if they don't happen?

First-year coach Derek Fisher has been saddled with an impossible situation, and Jackson has said that it is his fault.

He also asks us to be patient, and watch his plan unfold.

After his initial failures--his first as an NBA figurehead--do we continue to trust his judgment?

I just don't know.

And again I ask, what happens if none of this pans out like it is supposed to do?

What happens then?