There used to be hope … and, now, the Knicks are an official back-page item once again. After that tough loss last night and another inexcusable loss the night before to Oklahoma City, the Knicks are officially hopeless – at least for the time being.

If you read my last post here, I said that I was going to watch the Knick game against the Thunder as an experiment in fate to see if my watching affected the Knicks chances of success. As I expected they lost. So I didn’t watch the game last night and, instead, opted for the much more worth while BCS Bowl Game. But my entire theory was squadooshed by the loss to Dallas last night. So, what was the outcome of this short-lived experiment of mine? In short, the Knicks suck again.

This season is so frustrating because there are times when the Knicks look so promising (like against the Celtics) and then there are the games where they look hopeless (a la against the Bobcats). When they aren’t hitting shots, they just can not compete with any team in the NBA and, God forbid, they make a couple stops on defense. I really was hoping that Knicks fans wouldn’t have to wait for two more seasons for the team to be relevant again. It looked as if D’Antoni might get this team into the playoffs during the early stages of this season. That, however, seems to be all pipe dreams.

They definitely have some very good role players on this team, though, that I hope they hold to. David Lee is a great player and brings tremendous energy every single game. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if Donnie Walsh trades him either this season or next while his value is so high (it probably will not get any higher at any point in Lee’s career and we could probably get some decent prospects/draft picks for him). Chris Duhon has been a huge surprise this season. I thought he was a pretty mediocre player coming into the year, but he is exactly the type of player a successful team wants playing point guard. He’s a team player who looks to pass first and plays tough defense. He showed last night that he could score when he needs to as well.

Wilson Chandler and Al Harrington are two more players that I would really like to see stick with the team past the 2010 season. Harrington, like Lee, has been playing out of position most of the season but has scored at will in D’Antoni’s offense. He’s not a great rebounder, but if the Knicks had a more natural center I don’t think Harrington’s less than average ability to crash the boards would hurt the Knicks so much. Chandler is the real gem on the team. At only 21 years old, he’s still developing as a player. He’s had some rough spots this season, but as he has shown of late, he can be an electrifying scorer. I don’t think he will turn out to be a top-tier player, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chandler play in a handful of all-star games in his career – hopefully representing the Knicks.

Danilo Gallinari is a question mark because he hasn’t played enough. From his play before his injuries and his reputation coming into the season, I would say that he is a promising prospect. But Knick fans have grown depressingly accustomed to drafting foreign talent that never panes out in the NBA. I pray that Gallinari is the guy to break that trend. The rest of the team, I really couldn’t care less about keeping around. Quentin Richardson might be the only player that Walsh should keep around only because he does everything pretty well. I don’t think Knick fans will disagree with me for the most part on this assessment of the team, except for my opinion of Nate Robinson.

I like Nate, sometimes. He’s a fun player to watch because he is lightening quick and has the energy of a the Energizer rabbit on cocaine. But he is so undisciplined that these traits end up hurting the team. Nate may lead the team with almost 1.6 steals per game, but he gets caught out of position on the defensive end all the time. One thing the Knicks absolutely can not do is rotate on D, so when Nate gambles for a steal and misses, the Knicks are barely ever able to recover. (And watch for how poorly the Knicks rotate on defense, seriously my twelve year old brother’s rec team plays better team defense than the Knicks.)

Last night was a perfect example of how Nate the Weight (cuz he’s bringing the team down? I don’t know I’m not good with nicknames) can destroy the Knicks offense. He shot a relatively okay 4-16 from the floor last night, but the only way anyone can even regard that percentage as “okay” is by comparing that to his 3-point shooting. Nate shot 1 of 9 from beyond the arc last night. That’s 11%. That might be a lower percentage than the Knicks’ chances of making the playoffs. Nate, there’s a reason why the other team lets you chuck up 9 threes in one game. You can’t hit them. If you’re open and shooting in rhythem, fine. But, please, for the sake of the backboard – much less the fans – no more twenty three foot heaves. Nate’s energy, although fun to watch, is his greatest weakness. Unless he can harness that seemingly limitless well of energy, Nate should not be on this Knick team when they are ready to compete.

When you look at the Knicks team like this, it actually doesn’t look that bad. They have a lot of the pieces in place to build a championship contending team – and I’m still convinced they will battle for a playoff spot during the second half of this season. They just need a star player to lead the team. Unforetunately, we’re going to have to wait through two more seasons to get that player.