SANTA MONICA, Calif. _ Kristaps Porzingis was the first to see something and say something when he expressed that despite the Knicks early season success that something was missing. The second-year big man proved to have great foresight.
"I think it was pretty easy to tell from the inside that we're not that good of a team," Porzingis said following Sunday's practice. "We can win games based off of our talent but that's not going to last long and that's exactly what happened."
Porzingis never thought it would turn out as bad as it has. He said he felt this way after the Knicks were 14-10. Since then, they have gone 13-32. They've clinched a fourth straight losing season and, according to Derrick Rose, need "a miracle" to make the playoffs.
The Knicks are seven games behind the East's last playoff spot with 13 to play. They're closer to getting a higher draft pick than making the playoffs.
"We all expected big things out of this year," said Porzingis, who should return Monday against the Clippers after missing the previous game with a bruised left thigh. "... I felt like we would make good runs but we weren't there at that level yet where we wanted to be. And you can see it now we're not where we wanted to be."
A lack of defense has been the Knicks most glaring deficiency, but Porzingis delved a little deeper about what he saw that was missing.
"Just more work, attention to details, keep growing as a team," he said. "Obviously, a good team needs some time to play together. This was our first year for most guys playing together. It never happens like that: You trade a couple of players and there you go, you're a championship contender.
"It's understandable that we weren't going to win the championship but I could tell that we weren't there yet where we wanted to be."
During the season the Knicks made changes too, but this time to their game plans, their defense and their offensive system. It led Porzingis to say after the loss to the Nets on March 12 that there's "a lot of confusion" and it's "from top to bottom." Five days later, the Knicks again lost to the Nets, the NBA's worst team.
"It shows where we are right now," Porzingis said Sunday.
With Carmelo Anthony, Rose and Porzingis, the Knicks thought they could be one of the top teams in the East and be able to make some noise in the playoffs. But Rose lamented that they never developed chemistry.
"We didn't click," Rose said. "We didn't have that connection that we wanted throughout the season. You need that to go far in this league."
Now Porzingis said all that's left is to play as hard as possible.
"That's hard to do now in this situation where you're down and not winning games and not where you want to be which is the playoffs," he said. "It's tough mentally but just to be able to sleep at night we have to go out every night and give our all. And once the season is over it's over."
