New York Knicks: 3 Players That Disappointed This Season

The New York Knicks have been the laughing stock of the NBA for quite a while now. With only 17 wins to their name, they finished with the worst win-loss record (17-65) in the league. Coach Fizdale and his crew were often accused of tanking in order to land some of the best draft prospects this year, one of them being Zion Williamson.

In the process of earning the best chance of landing the best draft pick in the upcoming offseason, the Knicks compromised on their 2018-19 regular season campaign. They finished a whopping 43 games behind the East leaders, the Bucks, having won just 9 games at home the whole season.

Coupled with bad trades including shipping Tim Hardaway Jr. (the team's top scorer at the time) and Enes Kanter (team's leading rebounder), the Knicks' season was as bad off the court as it was on the court.

Currently, New York houses quality individual talents in DeAndre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr., Allonzo Trier and Kevin Knox but as a team, they are still unable to make it big in any way fathomable.

On that note, let's take a look at the three most disappointing individual performers from the mess that is the New York Knicks roster.

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#1 Mario Hezonja

Mario Hezonja was the 5th overall pick by the Magic back in 2015.

Aside from dunking (and stepping) over Giannis and pulling off a game-saving block on LeBron, the Croatian had a pretty damp outing for the Knicks all year. Playing in a total of 58 games - starting in 24 - Mario got over 21 minutes of playtime per game, but couldn't even average 9 points.

He finished his first season in New York with averages of 8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Hezonja - who had represented Croatia in the 2016 Summer Olympics - shot 41% from the field and a miserable 27% from beyond the arc.

Playing as a back-up small forward for the Knicks, he couldn't really catapult his game to the next level coming off the bench. According to Fansided's Rob Wolkenbrod,

Questionable decision-making, enigmatic offensive performances and lapses on defense caused this New York Knicks forward to hit the bench on multiple occasions.

#2 Noah Vonleh

Vonleh missed some action due to a right ankle sprain

After being drafted 9th overall by the Charlotte Hornets back in 2014, the Knicks are Noah Vonleh's 4th team in 5 years. Despite getting to play the most minutes he has ever played in his career, Vonleh couldn't quite capitalise on the opportunity to shine at Madison Square Garden.

He finished his regular season stint with under 9 points and 8 rebounds per game on average. A power forward playing in his 5th NBA season, he made only three field goals per game and shot 71% from the free-throw line.

He played 68 games for the Knicks - starting in 57 of them - which was a career-high for him but the 2014 Big-Ten Freshman of the Year was not as impactful as was expected. His Trail Blazers journey from 2015-18 houses most of his scoring accomplishments but New York is yet to see him sizzle.

#3 Mitchell Robinson

Mitchell Robinson was the Knicks 2nd round pick in 2018.

Robinson signed a multi-year, rookie scale contract with the Knicks in July of 2018, and made his NBA debut on October 17 in which he could score just 2 points. Having set summer league records for blocked shots and offensive rebounds, the 19-year-old set the bar high even before the season had started.

Fizdale entrusted the teenager with 19 starts out of the 66 games he played in the whole season. The 36th overall pick could only manage 7.3 points along with 6.4 rebounds per game. Playing center for the Knicks, Robinson shot zero three-pointers and made a vow to return with long-range shots next season.

“I want to shoot 3s next year,’’ Robinson said after the Knicks’ season finale last week. “That’s not the No. 1 focus [but] really to get stronger, work on my post moves. And then when it gets close to summer league [in July], start bringing in that jump shot.’’

No doubt he's one of the better shot-blockers of his class (averaged 2.4 in his rookie season) but he couldn't exactly match up to the expectations of being compared to Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan.