The Knicks' season was "already past the point of redemption from a basketball standpoint," but following G Raymond Felton's arrest Monday night on gun charges, it now is "something else entirely," according to Mike Vaccaro of the N.Y. POST. The team sits 11th in the Eastern Conference after making the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs last year, and Felton currently "serves as the face of this spectacular fiasco of a season for the Knicks" (N.Y. POST, 2/26). The N.Y. Daily News' Frank Isola said, "For the Knicks, they're back to where they were five, six, seven years ago, where they're a complete embarrassment in everything that they do." ESPN's Israel Gutierrez said the Felton arrest "just piles onto the Knicks' issues, one after another." Gutierrez said at this point, all Knicks fans "really want to know is, 'Well, can this season get any worse?'" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 2/25). SNY's Adam Schein said, "Every time you think the Knicks have hit rock bottom, they find a way to sink even lower." SNY's Chris Carlin added, "There is no rock bottom, there's just a big abyss that they continue to fall deeper into." Carlin said the Knicks "just can't get out of their own way in so many different ways, on and off the court" ("Loud Mouths," SNY, 2/25). In New Jersey, Steve Popper writes under the header, "Felton's Charges Latest In Knicks' Nightmarish Season." The team's "foray into the legal realm was concluded Tuesday with the dull thud of a judge's gavel," as Felton was arraigned in court, "signaling the franchise’s descent into the next circle of hell" (Bergen RECORD, 2/26).
WHAT ROLE DOES OWNERSHIP PLAY? ESPN Radio's Mike Golic said the team has "just cratered in every possible way" this season. Golic: "You look at the situation now and then you look forward and say, ‘Can this get better?’ And one of the things you're going to look at is the negative, which is ownership" (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 2/25). The DAILY NEWS' Isola writes after Felton's arrest, the Knicks "are once again the NBA's laughingstock franchise." Isola: "Poor management, zero leadership, bad characters and, of course, losing basketball, are things the Knicks specialize in." Knicks President & GM Steve Mills "has been muzzled" by MSG "through it all." He "hasn’t spoken to fans via the media since October and is invisible at a time when the moment cries for leadership" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/26).
