After losing eight of last nine, where do Knicks go from here?

The New York Knicks have now lost eight of their last nine games. At one point of the season, the Knicks were 14-10 and third place in the East. Now everything has spiraled out of control, as the Knicks currently find themselves at 17-21, two games out of a playoff spot.

The Knicks lost to the Pelicans 110-96 at home in embarrassing fashion. Anthony Davis had a fantastic game with 40 points and 18 rebounds in just 3 quarters before leaving the game with an apparent injury.

This was a weird and strange night for the Knicks. Derrick Rose didn’t start the game, Carmelo Anthony got ejected for the 3^rd time this season, Kyle O’Quinn also got ejected, and KP had probably one of his worst games this season. But the entire time I was watching this game, I was thinking, where the hell is Derrick Rose?

Just before the start of the game there was news that Derrick Rose was not with the team, so Brandon Jennings was inserted into the starting lineup. But there was no explanation to why he wasn’t at the game.

Even after the game was over, the Knicks front office, coaches, and even players had no idea where he was.

Turns out that he flew back to Chicago to deal with a family issue, but he is now back with the team and is expected to play on Wednesday against the 76ers.

There was a lot of speculation to why Rose may have missed the game. Initial reaction after the game and interviews from the players and coach, was that maybe something bad happened to Rose. With his teammates hoping Rose is all right and not knowing where he was.

It wasn’t until Joakim Noah’s post game interview when we found out that Rose was indeed fine and well, but wouldn’t elaborate further. That led to questions to why he didn’t contact anyone from the Knicks. Rose said it was a family situation and the Knicks said that they understood why he had to leave but wished he had contacted someone before hand.

One speculation going around was that both Rose and Hornacek had a falling out because of Hornacek benching him in the forth quarter in favor for Ron Baker a couple games ago. But both Rose and Hornacek deny that they ever had any confrontation.

But where do the Knicks go from here?

The Knicks fined Rose for missing a game without permission, but that doesn’t hide the fact that this team may have just hit rock bottom. The Knicks have struggled to stop any team from scoring at will and is currently out of a playoff spot, the Knicks have to decide what they want to do.

The Knicks in the last couple seasons have not been very good teams. But that was a talent issue. They just didn’t have enough talent to win. But when you look at this team, with Melo, Rose, and KP, you can’t say this team doesn’t have talent.

So do the Knicks want to blow it up and tank for a lottery pick and try to properly rebuild around Porzingis or keep the pieces they have and maybe sneak into the playoffs. If they do decide to keep everyone and sneak into playoff spot, I don’t see them going far with the lack of ball movement on the offensive and their terrible defense.