After Saturday’s Knicks practice at the Garden, a reporter looking for a story asked players if they felt slighted or motivated by the club being a consensus pick as fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
As former Suns general manager Steve Kerr said on last week’s TNT conference call, “I think they are a significant step below the four teams ahead of them: Miami, Chicago, Indiana and Brooklyn.’’
Significant? The players gave vanilla responses, Tyson Chandler saying he “couldn’t care less where people have us.’’
What Chandler should have said was he’s not surprised at falling expectations because the Knicks’ owner, James Dolan, four days before training camp, fired the general manager, Glen Grunwald, who had built the roster top to bottom. Of course, that response would have gotten Chandler exiled to Sacramento.
When Carmelo Anthony was asked what he thought of the “so-called experts,” he said “So-called. Great title.’’
And that brings us to the GM survey the NBA website distributed last week. All 30 league GMs were polled in 56 categories. Either the executives boycotted the Knicks for their mishandling of the popular Grunwald or they just don’t think the club that finished 54-28 last season is in the championship conversation any longer.
The results, down to all the minor categories, were stunning in the lack of a Knicks presence. Even coach Mike Woodson was shut out.
Perhaps the new, young GMs are clinging to their beloved computer analytics — with ESPN’s simulation having the Knicks at a laughable 37 victories.
“I really don’t know,’’ Anthony said of fifth-place predictions. “Maybe they see something we don’t see.”
This can’t be totally shocking to Dolan, although getting shunned in one category had to rile him up. Dolan’s $1 billion, newly transformed Garden didn’t rate.
In the category “Best Homecourt Advantage,’’ seven arenas got votes. Nobody picked the Garden, where the Knicks posted a 31-10 record last season, winning their first 10 home games and their last 10. Do the GMs not know the Garden now has bridges?
None of the 30 GMs picked either the Knicks or Nets to win the NBA title or Eastern Conference title. Six teams got championship votes. Only three clubs — the Heat, Bulls and Pacers — were picked to win the East.
But Brooklyn did much better in the GM survey as a whole. The unproven Nets were overwhelming picks to win the Atlantic Division — with 76 percent of the vote versus 24 percent for the Knicks. Apparently, the GMs all clamored to trade for ancient Paul Pierce and hire Jason Kidd as head coach, too.
Anthony, meanwhile, didn’t fare nearly as well for a guy who finished third in the MVP voting last season and won a scoring title.
Yes, one GM did give him an MVP vote (Steve Mills?), but in revealing categories such as “Which player forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments,” Anthony got stiffed. Six players — including Stephen Curry — got votes.
Anthony finished third in two categories — one of which, “Getting off his own shot,” is a mixed-bag tribute. Anthony’s best honor was being tied for third with LeBron James for “Who do you want taking the last shot?’’ although you wouldn’t vote him in if you saw his last-second clanker in Friday’s preseason finale.
Chandler, who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2012, also got the shaft. He didn’t get a single vote for league’s best defender, best center or best leader. Nine players received votes in the best-defender category and Roy Hibbert was fourth for best center.
Rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. also was ignored in the rookie categories. Surprisingly, he got no votes in “Best rookie steal when selected.’’ Hardway was taken 24th, considered an excellent value pick. Thirteen rookies received votes.
Andrea Bargnani, who has yet to stand out in preseason, was not named as one of the “International players ready for a breakout.’’ Thirteen foreigners were tabbed, including fellow Italian Marco Belinelli.
But the biggest diss went to Woodson. There are five coaching categories in this survey — from “best head coach’’ to “head coach who runs the best defense” to “best coach for in-game adjustments.” In the five categories, 12 coaches were mentioned at least once, including George Karl, and he isn’t even coaching this season.
Woodson? Nothing. That was the biggest travesty. When you list reasons the Knicks won 54 games last season, Woodson is atop the list.
So when the Knicks dismiss the predictions from “so-called experts’’ with the opener Wednesday, just show them a printout of the GM survey — or the architectural blueprints of Dolan’s bridges.