New York Knicks are favorites to have worst record in NBA

On Sept. 26 of 2014, Phil Jackson, the president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, said this about his expectations for his team this season.

“We believe we’re going to be a playoff team,” Jackson said. “Then we don’t know how far we can go.”

On Jan. 10 of 2015, with his team at the depths of a franchise-worst losing streak, Jackson offered this to the disgruntled Knicks fans.

“This is a mea culpa,” Jackson said. “I take responsibility for it.”

Now another arrow has crossed the sinking Knicks’ bow.

They have become the favored team to have the worst record in the NBA this season, according to Bovada.Lv.

The sports gambling website has the Knicks at 5/4 odds to come in dead last among the 30 teams in the NBA.

And to think when the season started, most predicted the sorry Philadelphia 76ers, who made it clear that tanking was what they planned to do this season, would be the worst team in the NBA.

But the 76ers are at 3/2 odds to have the worst record at season’s end and the Minnesota Timberwolves are at 7/4.

It’s easy to see why the Knicks are favored.

They have lost 15 consecutive games, a franchise-record, and 25 of their last 26 games.

They have the worst record in the NBA at 5-35.

And Jackson has started the process of tearing down a team that has little talent.

He traded J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers and released center Samuel Dalembert.

Jackson still has star Carmelo Anthony, who was signed to a five-year, $124-million deal last summer.

But the forward has missed games with soreness in his left knee and is considering shutting it down for the season.

So as the Knicks march on toward who knows where, they have to wonder if they can avoid being in the same company with the hapless 1973 Philadelphia 76ers, who had the worst record in NBA history at 9-73.

For man who has won an NBA-best 11 championships as a coach, this can’t be easy for Jackson to once have been known as the best and to perhaps be on the brink of presiding over the worst.

Twitter: @BA_Turner