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The Knicks and Lakers stink; NBA doesn't seem to mind

Kelly Dwyer
The Knicks and Lakers stink; NBA doesn't seem to mind

The NBA is thriving. Interest is high. Ratings are high. Intrigue is out there, despite the league working in just the second month of its season, and the incoming new television deal will only make the rich even richer. Outfits in Golden State, Memphis, and Toronto have busted out of nowhere to turn into championship contenders, while the favorites in Oklahoma City, Chicago and Cleveland bide their time until their particular ball starts really rolling. The NBA is in a good place.

The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers are not in a good place, and this doesn’t seem to bother the NBA or its fans one bit.

This isn’t meant to pile on the respective Knick and Laker fanbases, but the long-ago established idea that you need a powerhouse in either New York or Los Angeles to support a thriving league is being shot to bits. The Knicks are off to the worst start in franchise history, working with as many losses (18) as the tanking Philadelphia 76ers. The Lakers could have the NBA’s worst defense in ages. Outside of tossing a few pot shots Los Angeles and New York’s way, however, the league continues apace.

Los Angeles’ most recent shakeup saw the struggling Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin demoted from the starting lineup in a loss on Sunday to New Orleans. Ed Davis and Ronnie Price replaced Boozer and Lin, respectively, but the results were about the same – the team lost by double digits at home to a Pelicans squad that may not even make the playoffs in the loaded West.

Following the loss, Lin was exasperated to say the absolute least:

"I believe I can be a starting point guard in the league," said Lin, who had three points and four assists in 20 minutes. "I'm not going to lie. It was disappointing when I heard about it."

He didn’t stop there:

Jeremy Lin was never going to work with Kobe Bryant, because Jeremy Lin needs to dominate the ball in order to contribute at a high level, and that’s not going to happen with Kobe Bryant on the roster. Bryant’s ridiculous amount of shots attempts, 22 a night despite a 38.9 mark from the floor, is not the Lakers’ biggest problem.

The Lakers are just one big problem. Kobe acknowledged as much after the contest:

"Not everything is going to be great, champagne, celebrations and winning championships," he said after scoring 14 points. "You've got to go through some hard stuff too. If this was the Titanic, I'd go down with that. ... I'm not jumping off."

Well, yeah. You’re getting paid $48.5 million over two years, with a no-trade clause, not to jump off. You got your choice of coach and all the shots you can handle. You also got your agent’s client, one Carlos Boozer, a gig in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles.

Boozer didn’t speak to the press following the game, not unlike the move he made during his last game in Chicago when it became clear that his brand of defense just wasn’t welcomed in the starting lineup anymore. Benching Carlos, however, isn’t the answer. Bryant is terrible defensively. Ronnie Price is too slow and Lin is even worse. This is an awful group of defenders that are being led by a coach in Scott who talks up defense to an annoying degree, but while also presiding over some of the worst defensive clubs in basketball – dating back to his three years spent spinning wheels and crossing arms in Cleveland.

Considering the team’s roster, however, a 5-16 mark through 21 games sounds about right for these Lakers. The Knicks, on the other hand, were expected to compete and possibly even slide into a playoff spot in the dodgy Eastern Conference. Instead, they’ve lost 18 of 22 contests, looking terrible on both ends along the way, seemingly utilizing no known pattern or consistent rotation from game to game.

It’s a mess, and Phil Jackson spoke up about it on Monday:

From the New York Times:

“I think right now we have a loser’s mentality because we’re not finishing games,” Jackson said.

Worst for Jackson and his Knicks, the team is abandoning his triangle offense far too much – especially in the second half of games. This season was supposed to be one long teachable moment for New York this season, and yet the team’s players can’t even point to lessons learned in the first quarter of the season as something to dull the pain.

The Lakers and Knicks will still be featured on national TV dozens of times between now and spring, and that’s just fine. These are two fascinating experiments that are being played out in real time, experiments that will draw good ratings even in 20-point defeats. Two powerhouse franchises are out and out laughingstocks right now, and while the NBA would no doubt prefer a Laker team from Los Angeles representing the West in the Finals over a squad from Memphis, it is important to gauge just where the league is at right now.

It’s fine. Even though the Lakers and Knicks most decidedly are not.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!