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Knicks enter year with low expectations Posted: Tuesday October 29, 2002 12:54 AMNEW YORK (AP) -- The problems began even before training camp opened, and everything only got worse for the New York Knicks as the month of October progressed. Latrell Sprewell's broken hand. Antonio McDyess' broken kneecap. The remainder of the team's broken spirit. "Everything around us is pointing in the direction of no hope for the season," Allan Houston said. By the time the Knicks take the court Wednesday night for their season-opening game at Detroit, they'll have gone through more turmoil and trauma in just one month than some franchises go through in an entire season. The sequence of misfortunate began the day before training camp started when Sprewell showed up with a broken hand. After initially excusing the injury and Sprewell's failure to notify the team that he was hurt, Knicks president Scott Layden abruptly changed course. Sprewell was fined the unprecedented sum of $250,000 and was banished from the team. The Knicks later added a $50,000 fine and one-game suspension after Sprewell failed to adhere to the team's rehabilitation program. Sprewell will begin the season on the injured list, ineligible to return until Nov. 8 at Indiana. Whether he will even be a member of the team by then is one of the hottest topics of debate among New York fans. Layden has maintained that Sprewell will play for the Knicks once he is healthy and recovered from surgery to repair his hand, but the rumor mill suggests New York will try to move the temperamental shooting guard with a history of run-ins with his employer. This was not the way Layden expected things to unfold back in June when he made a risky trade with the Nuggets, sending Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and the draft rights to Nene Hilario to Denver in exchange for the draft rights to Frank Williams and McDyess -- a one-time All-Star and Olympian with a checkered medical past to match his enormous talent level. The worst fears came true in the third exhibition game when McDyess, playing his 38th minute of the game, crumbled to the floor after following in a miss by Howard Eisley. The diagnosis was a fractured kneecap, which is expected to sideline McDyess for the entire season. His absence will leave the Knicks in a similar situation to the one they faced last year -- they will not be tall enough or talented enough to compete for a playoff spot in the mediocre Eastern Conference. "What we have is what we have to deal with," said coach Don Chaney, whose hopes for a full training camp with his entire roster were dashed the moment Sprewell arrived with a swollen hand. "I don't take low expectations to the gym. I don't bring the negative stuff into their heads. I haven't given them any goals as far as expectations other than I want to be competitive and play every night." Chaney planned to install a new uptempo offense to take advantage of the talents of McDyess and Sprewell, but the team has been slow to adjust to it during the preseason. The Knicks are expected to field a starting lineup of Charlie Ward, Houston, Shandon Anderson, Clarence Weatherspoon and Kurt Thomas until Sprewell returns or is traded. Coming off a season in which they won only 30 games and missed the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, there is little optimism that this season will be better. "It's been challenging," Houston said. "I guess the one word has been unexpected. It's been a month where every day we had a fresh new challenge, one where we had to not get caught up in the wrong thoughts. We've already taken some first-round punches, and now we're ready to start the season off fresh." |
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