6 Goals for New York Knicks During the 2015-16 Season

Screaming fans, championship rings, confetti and a ticker tape parade. Those are the ultimate goals of any season. The New York Knicks, however, have a few more realistic aims to shoot for in 2015-16. 

There are a few signals they're on the right track. Twelve games into the season, they have a respectable .500 winning percentage. Kristaps Porzingis has heard cheers from the New York fans who booed him on draft day. And Robin Lopez has smashed a sign over a mascot's head.  

The Knickerbockers are in rebuild mode. Now is when they decide what kind of team they want to be and lay the foundation that will help New York make a title run in a couple of years. 

Here are the pillars on which the Knicks will build their castle that ought to be in place before season's end. 

We could all use a little more Langston Galloway, especially the Knicks.

When you need that buzzer-beating three, go ahead and give the rock to Carmelo Anthony...and he'll pass it to Galloway. Unfortunately, New York hasn't had enough Galloway to go around in the final five minutes of games.

Two of the Knicks' six losses were the result of fourth-quarter collapses—New York entered Q4 with a lead and then was outscored by 12 points in 12 minutes. The Charlotte Hornets did it to them Nov. 11 and won 95-93. The Cleveland Cavaliers did it Nov. 13 and won 90-84. 

Tuesday, the Madison Square Garden crowd got antsy when the Knicks shooters went cold in clutch time once again (versus the Hornets again).   

With 5:54 left in regulation, Galloway drained a three, the crowd went wild, New York took a 13-point lead, Charlotte took a time out...and the Knicks did not score another field goal for the rest of the game.

They tacked on four free throws and miraculously emerged with a 102-94 victory. That's lovely, but they must do better than that.

On the plus side, it's staggering that any team could win by eight without scoring for the last six minutes of a game. But the Knicks did. How? Because they're taking steps toward achieving another goal. 

How does one go nearly six minutes without scoring a field goal but still hold onto the lead?

Defense.

Knock on wood, keep your fingers crossed, squeeze a rabbit's foot if you've got it, don't say this out loud and forget I ever said it, but...the Knicks defense is actually good.

Believe it or not, the Knicks, who had the most appallingly awful perimeter D last season, are one of the best at squashing opponents' shooting efficiency from downtown, keeping them 4.1 percent below average. Only the Miami Heat are better.

Have a look at opponents' shooting at the rest of the court, and the Knicks still look good. They're fifth-best in the league and ninth-best in points allowed per game. 

These Knicks are already foul-prone, so they shouldn't aim to be quite as gritty as the New York brawlers of the early '90s. Anthony Mason, John Starks, Patrick Ewing and the relentless Charles Oakley were a terrifying force in their time, but someone would be ejected for flagrant fouls twice per week in today's kinder, gentler NBA.  

The present-day Knicks will need to play clean, smart D and make every foul count. (But when someone needs to be scared away from the hoop, they might just want to tap into the essence of Oakley that still lurks beneath the Madison Square Garden hardwood to this day.)  

Carmelo Anthony, as of this moment, is arguably the best defender on the New York Knicks.

What? Madness! Lunacy! Rubbish!

No really. He only has the fifth-best defensive rating, but when it comes to man-on-man coverage, he's a terror for whoever's facing up against him. At every inch of the hardwood, Anthony is holding opponents below their usual shooting efficiency.

Opponents shot 1.6 percent better with Melo on them last season; they are shooting 14.1 percent worse this season. That's not only a good number on the team but one of the best in the league. Overall opponents are only shooting 30.3 percent when Melo covers them. (The only New York player with numbers better than that is Cleanthony Early, but considering that he's only played 18 minutes all season, it doesn't really count.)

He leads the team in defensive rebounds, grabbing them out of the air and scrabbling for them on the floor. He's leaping around, blocking shots and picking pockets. 

Now I said the goal was to make Carmelo a leader, not a defender, but in Melo's case these are closely related. He's been known as a scorer. Just a scorer. A guy who figured if he put up 40, it was cool if he took some defensive plays off.

This season, things are different. During preseason Anthony challenged his coaches to hold him accountable for his D in order to benefit of the whole team, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley:  

"Call it out in the film session so everybody can see that and hear that. By them doing that, it kind of forces me to be at the top level of my game on both ends of the court," Anthony said after the Knicks' 94-88 preseason victory over the Sixers on Monday. "I think it brings the best out of me and if you bring the best out of me, I think it will bring the best out of everyone on the team."

Add that to the fact that he cheers on Porzingis' 29-point night instead of pouting about being overshadowed, and Melo might actually become the leader many of us said he never could.

Shooting a glorious 82.8 percent from the stripe, the 2015-16 New York Knicks have the best free-throw percentage in franchise history. (Yes, the best in the entire 69-year team history going all the way back to the 1946-47 season!)

Sadly, they're only putting up 22.3 shots from the line per game, which is 22nd in the league. If the Knicks took better advantage of their excellent free-throw shooting and drew more fouls, they could easily put another five or six points on the board while the clock is stopped.

How do they do that?

Drive the lane. 

Get into the paint. Get some bruises! Post up and fight for boards—just stop settling for jump shots.

Jerian Grant, Langston Galloway, Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony are drawing some fouls, but they could do more. Nine players on this team have a free-throw percentage of 75 or better.

There are plenty of opportunities for all of them to draw contact.

For a team in rebuild mode, molding young players is essential. Most of New York's neophytes are well on their way. The big piece, of course, is 7'3" rookie power forward Kristaps Porzingis, who was booed on draft night.

Porzingis, who has started in all 12 games thus far, scored 29 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday night's 104-92 win over the Hornets. With Knicks legends Patrick Ewing and Willis Reed looking on, the Madison Square Garden crowd erupted in cheers of "Por-Zing-Is! Por-Zing-Is!"

He's gonna be fine. 

Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant are also being well-cultivated. Grant is a rookie who was drafted at No. 13. Galloway is an undrafted sophomore who was called up from the NBA Development League last January. Not only are they the second unit's dynamic backcourt, but they often finish games. Both are averaging more than 20 minutes per night.

The only one not getting any seasoning is poor Cleanthony Early. The second-year small forward from Wichita State was seen as a steal when New York drafted him 34th overall in 2014, yet he's only played 18 total minutes this year. 

If he is ever going to get a chance to develop, the Knicks need to give him more opportunities to play meaningful minutes, not occasional garbage time. Early is a victim of his position. Being on the roster at the same spot with Carmelo Anthony leaves little playing time for him. 

Some star opponents sparkled even when surrounded by the jeers of the Madison Square Garden crowd. (Reggie Miller comes to mind no matter how roughly one tries to shove him away.) For the most part, though, opposing players who lived in houses with lame names like Staples Center or American Airlines Arena were shaken up by the screaming fury of 19,812 New York fans.  

Yet, that was then, and this is now. The Knicks haven't had a winning record at home since the 2012-13 season. They dominated in front of the New York crowd then, with a 75.6 winning percentage.

They can't blame poor fan attendance for poor performance. Last season, despite having the most expensive tickets by far and the second-worst record, the Knicks still averaged a 100 percent attendance rating at home.

This season is young, but so far they're a better road team; they're 3-2 on the road and 3-4 at home. They need to turn that trend around if they want to string together wins (and reward the fans who have willingly let their wallets and souls be gouged at The Garden).

Finally, a couple other goals for the Knicks' to-do list: help Robin Lopez defeat every uppity mascot in the league and help Porzingis learn the art of trash-talking. Dreams can come true.  

All stats from NBA.com/stats and are accurate as of Nov. 19, 2015. Follow Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.