NBA: Atlantic Division holiday season report card

New York Knicks

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Record: 9-27

Streak: 6 losses

Grade: A-

It feels strange to associate the Knicks with anything other than malfunction and turmoil, but based on what we've seen from the team this season, we have to hand the Best-Drafting-Franchise-for-2018 award to them.

The trio of Kevin Knox, Allonzo Trier and Mitchell Robinson have all shown flashes of their talent in varying capacities, and the former duo, especially, projected to be All-Star caliber players at some point in their futures if they keep growing.

With Porzingis out for a majority of the season, if not all of it, there were no expectations from the Knicks to compete for a playoff berth this time around. They seem to have their sights set on Zion, in addition to the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and the Phoenix Suns who make up the basement of the NBA standings right now.

The prospect of landing any of the 3 Duke prospects to an inexperienced but capable roster with the cap space to attract a max free agent in 2019 is the only thing that keeps Knicks fans in good stead these days, though, given the bad taste of their current 5-game losing streak.