New York Knicks: A Perfect Storm

Perfect Storm: A situation where, by the confluence of specific events, what might have been a minor issue ends up being magnified to proportions that are out of control; generally considered to be a "once-in-a-lifetime" phenomenon; see 2005-06 New York Knicks.

It's been obvious for a long time ... now it's official: The New York Knicks are the worst team in the National Basketball Association. Last night's loss to Memphis, coupled with a win by the second-year Charlotte Bobcats, gives New York the lowest winning percentage in the league.

Not only are the Knicks the worst team in the NBA, they may very well be the worst team in the history of professional sports. You read that right ... worst in history.

The criteria being used to judge them as the worst in history is as follows:

1. Worst record in the league - CHECK

2. Highest payroll in the league - CHECK

3. Least hope for the future. This is clearly more subjective than the first two criteria but if you measure hope for the future in terms of management's track record/competence, roster flexibility to get under the salary cap/attract free agents and stockpiling of draft picks then the Knicks fail miserably on all counts - CHECK

Never before in the history of professional sports has a single team met all of the above criteria.

The 1993 New York Mets might be the closest comparable to the 2005-06 Knicks but they still fall far short. That Mets team went into the 1993 season with high expectations yet ended up with the worst record in the league. They also had a very high payroll (especially given their 59-103 record), but it was still only the ninth highest in baseball that season. Plus, baseball has no salary cap so it would have been impossible for the future of the 1993 Mets to be as bleak as that of the current Knicks because the Mets had the flexibility to basically alter their roster in any way they saw fit. The Knicks, sadly, do not have that luxury.

The collective vision and talents of James Dolan, Isiah Thomas and Larry Brown (that's right, until he proves he's part of the solution then he has to be viewed as part of the problem) have yielded the sports equivalent of a Perfect Storm ... and, as long as they're at the helm, this storm shows no signs of letting up any time soon.