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Knicks president Donnie Walsh, responding to the Knicks’ epic collapse since The Trade, told The Post yesterday the club’s travails have confirmed to him how flawed his roster still is, and how badly the team needs to add big men in the future.
Since the trade for Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups five weeks ago, the Knicks are 7-12, riding a six-game losing streak and are 1-9 in their last 10 heading into tonight’s Garden game against the Magic.
No, a training camp is not going to fix all that ails these Knicks.
“We have a lot of work to do,” said Walsh, who does not have a guaranteed contract for next season.
“There was work to do before. There’s work to do now. We were missing pieces before the trade. We’re still missing the same pieces.”
The Knicks still have not locked up a playoff berth with nine games to go. The magic number is five.
The most alarming part is not Anthony’s adjustment but that Amar’e Stoudemire is hitting the wall from the season’s long grind.
The trade has not made it easier for Stoudemire at all — which Walsh acknowledged yesterday in a damning admission.
“What I see is I still got to get players to put around him to help him,” Walsh said.
“He can do what he can do great, but we’ve asked him to do what’s beyond him. I know what I have to add to this team. We need bigger people on the team. We need more of them.”
Indeed, Stoudemire is a 6-foot-10 finesse scoring power forward who’s a poor rebounder for his size, and not a savvy interior defender.
He’s done an admirable job blocking shots this season, but all the toll of being the Knicks’ paint enforcer has zapped him.
Magic center Dwight Howard, as he did last week in an overpowering 34-point domination, should again own the Garden paint tonight.
Walsh said the collapse is not on coach Mike
D’Antoni.
“I think it’s very little [on him],” Walsh said. “It’s very difficult to put these pieces back together in a short time. That’s why it’s more my responsibility. That’s why I rarely trade in the middle of the season, because it’s a big adjustment. But I made it because it’s better for the franchise long term.
“Though it’s a future trade, I realized it would be a major disruption, and it’s hard to get back to where it was. I liked the team we had before. But I didn’t think we were going to win the championship.”
Stoudemire’s fade and Billups looking more 44 than 34 is cause for alarm for these final nine games. If Charlotte or Milwaukee gets hot, the Knicks’ playoff chances could be imperiled.
Walsh’s contract is not guaranteed, but owner James Dolan needs his president more than ever. Dolan can exercise the option by April 30 or cut a new deal by June 30.
Walsh joked he would have been pilloried had he not made the Melo deal. But he didn’t figure the Knicks would fall to losing clubs such as Milwaukee twice, Indiana twice, Charlotte and Detroit.
“I didn’t expect this, nobody did,” Walsh said.
“We haven’t played well. We’re definitely struggling as a team. Those teams have been together all year, and they’re trying to make the playoffs. We’re starting from scratch, on offense and defense. You can throw the records out.”