Predicting the NY Knicks' Final 2014-15 Record

In fits and starts, the 2013-14 New York Knicks careened into a 37-45 record...but what does that matter?

Most of the men who will now call themselves Knicks have only ever entered Madison Square Garden as visitors. Nearly half the players on the current roster will be suiting up in blue and orange for the first time. The coaches have spent their careers trying to exploit the Knicks' weaknesses, not repair them.

So what do those 37 wins and 45 losses say about the team that will walk onto the court Oct. 29 to take on the Chicago Bulls? What do we really know about them?

Well, we are intimately, painfully aware of the strengths, weaknesses, injuries and off-court high jinks of half the roster. We know the coaching staff consists of people who won multiple championships together running the triangle offense scheme they are instituting in New York. It is evident that they are constructed for offense, not defense. 

The team may get better as the season goes on, but a look at the 2014-15 schedule shows that the second half of the season is more challenging than the first. As ever, the boys in blue and orange will win some games they should lose and lose some games they should win. 

After all that, when the game clocks roll to 00:00 on April 15, what will the win-loss column say? Will the new-look Knicks make the playoffs? Could they even win the Atlantic Division?

Maybe. But first they need to survive a very cold October.

It's just not fair. The Knicks must start their season off with back-to-back games against the two teams most favored to win the Eastern Division, per Odds Shark. The new Knicks will be able to compete with the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers after a few months of bonding through battle, but in October they'll endure two barrages of hard knocks.

Over the past two seasons, the Bulls have been a more daunting opponent than even the Miami Heat or the San Antonio Spurs. The Bulls swept the Knicks in 2012-13 and made them fight tooth and nail just to split the series 2-2 in 2013-14.

The triangle offense might be just the thing to vex Joakim Noah and Co., but chances are that on Oct. 29 the Knicks triangle will just be a work in progress—not sturdy enough to stand up to the best defense in the league. Add to the lineup a healthy Derrick Rose—staring down opponents and streaking down the lane like a jungle cat—and Chicago will be too confident to lose.

The very next day, the Knicks head to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers and their Prodigal Son in the Cavs' home opener.

This will be a matchup of two semi-baked offenses. Although the Knicks' offensive strategy could be more powerful in the long run, the power of the Prodigal (aka LeBron James) combined with the raw scoring ability of new Cavs Kevin Love and Mike Miller will give Cleveland the advantage in the short term.  

The Knicks end October 0-2.

Things get easier for the Knicks in November.

Seven of the 16 games are against teams that didn't come anywhere near the playoffs in 2014—the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.

Detroit bested New York in two of three matchups last season, but the Knicks had even or winning records against the rest of those teams—none of which improved much in the offseason, No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins notwithstanding.  

Another two games are against playoff teams that got weaker in the offseason: the Miami Heat and the Houston Rockets.

The Knicks meet the Atlanta Hawks twice in back-to-back games mid-month. Last season these teams split the series 2-2, and this season may see the same. The Knicks could fall to the Hawks in Atlanta on Nov. 8, come back for a victory in New York Nov. 10 and coast through the rest of a four-game home stand with victories against the Jazz, Nuggets and Bucks.

November is not entirely free of tough battles, though. Nov. 4 the Knicks meet the Washington Wizards, who swept them 0-3 last season. The Wiz will still have the core of their fast, fierce roster—John Wall, Bradley Beal, Nene and Marcin Gortat—and as a bonus they will have future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce to call upon.

Late in the month the Knicks head West on a difficult road trip. They hit Dallas on Nov. 26 for the big jersey swap that will see Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin and Samuel Dalembert in Knicks colors and Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler in Mavericks colors.

The Knicks next head to Oklahoma City—where Derek Fisher will have a happy reunion with his former teammates and the Knicks offense will have a not-so-happy reunion with Serge Ibaka's nasty rim protection. 

Nevertheless, November gives the Knickerbockers a chance to get their feet wet with plenty of winnable contests. They go 11-5 in November, for an 11-7 record overall.

The stakes are higher in December; the Knicks face other Atlantic Division teams four times.

With Brook Lopez feeling hale and hearty again, the Brooklyn Nets will put up a good fight. The Boston Celtics will not, unless the Knicks inexplicably and inexorably implode the way they did Dec. 8, 2013.

Yet, it's the two contests with the Toronto Raptors that will probably be the most challenging of the four. New York and Toronto split the series down the middle last season and may do the same in December, with each winning their home games.

The Knicks also meet the Portland Trail Blazers twice in December. The Blazers won both of the matchups last season, and if they can harness the same glorious energy they had in the spring, the same will probably happen this year. 

The Christmas Day game is home at The Garden, but it is another rough head-to-head against the Wizards.  

Fisher might give his team a better chance against both the Blazers and the Wizards if he replaces Jose Calderon (the leading candidate for starting point guard) with a speedier starting PG who might be able to keep up with the likes of Damian Lillard and John Wall. 

On Dec. 18 the Knickerbockers head back to Chicago for the second away game against the Bulls. The Knicks will win one of the matchups with the Bulls...just not this one.

All told, the Knicks will go 9-7 in December and head into 2015 at 20-14.

The Knicks meet both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Hornets twice in January. They could take two wins from Milwaukee, but feisty Charlotte may prove more challenging.  

Charlotte completely turned its fortunes around last season, more than doubling its wins from 2012-13. Although they lost Josh McRoberts to Miami this offseason, the born-again Hornets may be inspired to be peskier than ever now that they have their rightful mascot back and have former Indiana Pacer Lance Stephenson on the roster. 

Nevertheless, New York should grab a win from Charlotte in January.

The Knicks meet the Indiana Pacers for the first time on Jan. 29. After Indiana's emotional breakdown last year and the tragic injury that will keep their star Paul George off the court for the entire season, the Pacers are a mystery. Three months into the season they could either have learned how to temporarily survive without George or fallen completely out of the playoff picture. If the former, Roy Hibbert could cause problems for the Knicks frontcourt and make this a nail-biter.

On Jan. 5 the Knicks triangle offense will be tested against another defensive powerhouse: the Memphis Grizzlies, led by Marc Gasol. The Knicks lost both matchups against the Grizzlies last season, but the new offense may help New York squeak one past Memphis in January. 

Not every game will be easy. However, with a few months to hone the triangle and with the Bucks, Sixers, Magic, New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings on the schedule, the Knicks could start 2015 off strong, going 9-5 in January for a 29-19 overall record.

On Feb. 1 the Knicks will finally face the one man who knows as much about the triangle offense as the New York coaches do: Kobe Bryant.

By February, Bryant will have shaken off all the cobwebs he collected while being injured last season. After a season when the gold and purple fell 35 games out of the playoffs, Bryant will be fueled by the pride, arrogance and fury that could help the LA Lakers dismantle the offense he used to collect so many championship rings. 

Will the Lakers have enough to pull that off? Maybe not. Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin and rookie Jordan Clarkson were solid offseason acquisitions but not necessarily enough.

The defense will be what hurts the Knicks in February. They'll have to try to contain the Splash Brothers when the Golden State Warriors visit The Garden Feb. 7. They'll have to squash Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Mike Miller and LeBron James twice, when they meet LBJ and the Pussycats in Cleveland Feb. 9 and in New York Feb. 22.

New York will also face Miami twice in February. Although some of the Heat's dominance (and a big chunk of their fans) left with James, Miami still has enough tools to make trouble for the entire Eastern Conference.

The Knicks could finish February 7-4, bringing their overall record to 36-23.

They'll need to come out of the All-Star break strong and scrape together as many wins as they can in February, because March is going to a miserable slog through the trenches.

March begins with back-to-back games against the Pacers, immediately followed by a five-game road trip. When the Knicks get home to The Garden, the reigning NBA champions, the San Antonio Spurs, will be waiting for them.

The month ends with five high-pressure games in seven days. Between March 22 and 28, the Knicks will face two division rivals, two of the three best defenses in the league (in 2013-14) and the best offense in the league (in 2013-14). Closing out March with this Raptors-Grizzlies-Clippers-Celtics-Bulls stretch might be the most challenging part of the year.

Yet if the triangle offense really is as great as it's made out to be (and it is), and if the Knicks' new coaching staff gives the team the best chance to succeed with the triangle than anyone since Phil Jackson left the Lakers (and it does), then the Knicks should be able to win some of those unwinnable games. 

So, while the boys in blue and orange will likely have a losing record in March, they will scratch and scrabble their way to seven wins. 

They'll go 6-9 in March, making the overall record 42-32. 

After such a grueling March, a nice, easy cakewalk through the final two weeks would be lovely...but it won't happen. All eight games in April are against Eastern Conference teams, who will all be making their last desperate maneuvers for playoff positions. 

The Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks will likely give the Knicks the most trouble, but New York could still grind out six wins in April.

That tallies up to a season record of 48-34—precisely the same record the Toronto Raptors earned last season. 

48-34 was enough for the Raptors to win the Atlantic Division in 2013-14. Considering the competition, it might just be enough to win the Atlantic again.

Will the New York Knicks, with their star forward recommitting to the Big Apple and one of the last guys to win a ring in New York taking over the front office, win the whole championship next year? Nope. But there's reason to expect a strong record once October is behind them.  

Follow Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.