Things are not well in Knickville, and that was obvious in the first quarter of New York’s loss in Milwaukee on Sunday. The Knicks were outscored, 32-9, a performance so mind-blowingly awful that even Clyde Frazier was left speechless.

Sure, the Knicks rallied and made a game of it, but they still lost, and after losing to Boston on Monday night, they’re 7-9 since the blockbuster deal that brought Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to town. That losing record continues to fuel angst over how the next month-and-a-half will play out for the Knicks, who are seventh in the East and face the possibility of either Boston or Chicago in what looks to be an increasingly hopeless playoff scenario.


Knicks' Carmelo Anthony adjusts his headband in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, in Cleveland. Anthony finished with 27 points but the Cavaliers went on to win 115-109. (AP Photo)But don’t let these immediate concerns obscure the fact that the Knicks have big-picture issues. Anthony, who left the locker room after Friday’s loss in Detroit without speaking to reporters, tells us that chemistry is the problem and that it will simply take some time to get on the same page—and that perhaps we should check back in during the 2011-’12 season.

“For everybody to get 100 percent on the same page, it might take next season,” Anthony said after the game. “Right now, in this short period of time, we’ve just got to come together as a unit as far as everybody jelling and the chemistry and clicking to where we want to be at. It’s going to take some time.

In the initial excitement after the pairing of Anthony and Amare Stoudemire last month, it seemed the Knicks would present, at least, a very tough challenge to any East contender in the playoffs—and the more enthusiastic Knicks fans were looking forward to an extended playoff run. Now they seem primed for a quick, tame playoff exit, which would be a big disappointment. When Anthony points to chemistry as the issue, he is almost excusing the Knicks for potential failures ahead.

The problem is, there has been very little in the 15 games the new-look Knicks have played to indicate time will heal the roster’s wounds. Simply playing together over a longer stretch doesn’t guarantee that chemistry will develop or that mismatched pieces will suddenly fit. Maybe all that will be worked out by next year. But maybe not—after all, it’s hard to imagine that time will somehow make Anthony and Stoudemire tougher defenders or better rebounders.

And there will be some decisions the Knicks need to make between now and whenever (labor talks willing) the 2011-12 season tips off. They need a center in the worst way. They need depth at every position. They’ve already committed to keeping point guard Chauncey Billups around, but they’ve got to wonder whether Billups and Anthony—halfcourt offensive players—can ever be the right fit in coach Mike D’Antoni’s wide-open offense.

That, of course, leads to the question of how much longer D’Antoni (and team president Donnie Walsh, for that matter) will be around. The Knicks are committed to Anthony and Stoudemire through 2015, and a more restrictive collective bargaining agreement will make the team ever more reliant on those two. If the jelling doesn’t happen—if this sort of slog into mediocrity continues in the early part of next season—it won’t be Anthony who pays the price, it will be D’Antoni and Walsh.

It’s still very early for the Knicks, and the team might yet get things figured out. But based on the small sample of games they’ve played, it’s hard to see where the improvement will happen. Knicks fans might bemoan the fact that this season appears destined for a 42-40 finish and a quick playoff exit, and Knicks players are already saying, ‘Wait ‘til next year.’ But really, who can say that next year will be any better?