National Basketball Association

These teams have been big disappointments

Published Nov. 12, 2009 5:29 p.m. ET

foxsports

The distance separating swagger and stagger in the NBA often seems as vast as the range on Ben Wallace's jumper.

This brand of imagery reminds us that being close never is worthy of a victory cigar.

Anyway, a bit more than two weeks into the season, we find a few previously strut-prepared franchises limping into Week 3. A couple of these teams actually were expected to challenge for respectable playoff seeds this season. And while it's early enough for most of these squads to recover and begin a brisk trot toward respectability, we feel obliged to list their two-week shortcomings and take a look at why they've occurred.

We'll begin in New York, where head coach Mike D'Antoni and the lame-duck Knicks are doing very little to convince prospective free agents that Madison Square Garden will be yielding a championship-level crop anytime soon.

For starters, the Knicks check in as a dismal fourth in pace of play, which means three other teams are generating more possession per 48 minutes. That's appalling. Well, it's a relative calamity when we consider that New York hasn't made up for the diminished pace in other areas. The Knicks are a dismal 21st in defensive efficiency and — despite employing David Lee for at least one more season — a mediocre 14th in defensive rebounding.

But while we're having a blast with numbers, let's take a look at some truly alarming statistics. OK, D'Antoni and his precious seven-seconds-or-less style is registered as a miserable 25th in the league in offensive efficiency, down from 17th last season. Through their 1-8 start, the Knicks had dropped from 108.1 points per 100 possessions to a measly 99.7.

Much of the credit for New York's plight should go to marksmen named Al Harrington (40 percent from the field), Wilson Chandler (37), Nate Robinson (29) and Chris Duhon (26).

It should be noted that this bulls-eye drillin' team is averaging almost 40 three-point attempts per game and succeeding at a 30-percent clip.The Knicks are squeezing off three more threes per game than last season and missing at a higher rate of 6 percent.

Sometimes you have to choose between being classified as a system expert or an actual basketball coach willing to make adjustments that might give your team a better chance to succeed.