With the New York Knicks disappointing season taking another negative turn amid a three-game losing streak, the speculation of possible trade rumors and the firing of head coach Mike Woodson have begun to pick up steam again, and team leader Carmelo Anthony said he wasn't sure what the future would hold for the team.
According to ESPN, following the Knicks 94-90 loss to the Portland Trailblazers on Wednesday, Anthony said he wasn't sure what management was prepared to do while adding that he can't control it either way.
"At this point, I don't really know what's going to happen, if something's going to happen," Anthony said via ESPN. "If something was to happen then it's out of my hands."
J.R. Smith, who has often been in trouble and on the outs with coach Woodson, has heard his name pop-up in trade rumors with the Feb. 20 deadline rapidly approaching. Despite his ups-and-downs with Woodson, Smith backed the coach publically after the team's latest defeat.
"I love Coach Woodson," Smith told ESPN. "I think he's done a great job. But it's out of my hands. So I would hope not [if management opts to make a change], but if it does then we have to live with it."
Woodson did his best to try and end the team's skid, including giving Amar'e Stoudemire 21 minutes after he vented that he wanted more playing time, and even benching Raymond Felton in favor of Pablo Prigioni during the entire fourth quarter.
The Knicks dropped to 19-30 in the loss and currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division while they are 2 1/2 games shy of the Charlotte Bobcats for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. As their losses pile up, their coach's future with the team becomes less and less certain.
Woodson believed that the officials missed some calls for his side during Wednesday night's game with the Trailblazers.
"I thought there were times where I thought we got hit but there was no call," Woodson said per ESPN.. "I go back in and look at the tape and I thought it was clearly a foul."
The Knicks enter a tough part of their schedule where they will spend 17 of their next 26 games on the road. Woodson said he believed the team had a chance to win the game late and just couldn't do it.
"You are down four with 35 seconds on the clock and you put the ball in your best player's hands and he comes up short," Woodson told ESPN.
If the team continues to fall short, it could cost the head coach his job.
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