The 2001–02 New York Knicks season was the 56th season for the

Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). During the off-season, the Knicks acquired

Shandon Anderson Shandon Rodriguez Anderson (born December 31, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1996 to 2006. Growing up in Atlanta, Anderson attended the University of Georgi ...

from the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

and

Howard Eisley Howard Jonathan Eisley (born December 4, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player and current coach. Born in Detroit, Eisley played college basketball at Boston College and was drafted in 1994 by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Eisl ...

from the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

in a three-team trade, and signed free agent

Clarence Weatherspoon Clarence Weatherspoon, Sr. (born September 8, 1970) is a former American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) born in Crawford, Mississippi. He is currently the assistant coach for Jones County JC. Previousl ...

. Entering the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, the Knicks were without Larry Johnson, who retired during training camp due to lingering injuries, ending his 10-year career in the NBA. After a 10–9 start to the season, head coach

Jeff Van Gundy Jeffrey William Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is an American commentator for ESPN and former basketball coach. He served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his ten ...

unexpectedly resigned in December, explaining he had "diminished focus", though he would return to coach the

in the 2003–04 season.

Don Chaney Donald Ray Chaney (born March 22, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most notable for winning two championships as a player on the Boston Celtics, and winning NBA Coach of The Year while leading the Houston Roc ...

took over for Van Gundy. Under Chaney, the

suffered an 8-game losing streak in January and went 20–43 for the remainder of the season, as

Marcus Camby Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

missed the final 39 games due to a hip injury. The Knicks lost six of their final seven games and finished in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 30–52 record. The Knicks missed the NBA Playoffs for the first time since

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Allan Houston Allan Wade Houston (born April 20, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1993 to 2005. A shooting guard, Houston played nine seasons for the New York Knicks; he w ...

led the team in scoring, averaging 20.4 points per game, while

Latrell Sprewell Latrell Fontaine Sprewell (born September 8, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Du ...

finished second on the team in scoring with 19.4 points per game, and Kurt Thomas provided the Knicks with 13.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. In addition, Camby averaged 11.1 points and rebounds per game each in only 29 games, while Weatherspoon provided the Knicks with 8.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and

Mark Jackson Mark A. Jackson (born April 1, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard from St. John's University, he played for the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah ...

contributed 8.4 points and 7.4 assists per game. Following the season, Camby and Jackson were both traded to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

. However, Jackson was released to free agency and signed with the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

. For the season, the Knicks slightly redesigned their uniforms by removing the side panels from the bottom of their shorts, and taking players' jersey numbers off of the left side, and the team's primary logo off of the right side of their shorts, and moving the primary logo on the left leg of their shorts. After the 2001–02 season, the Knicks' jersey was altered to incorporate the "NYK" subway token logo on the back.

NBA Draft

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Player stats

Regular season

Awards & records

Transactions

References

External links

2001–02 New York Knickerbockers Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:2001-02 New York Knicks season New York Knicks seasons

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

New York Knick 2000s in Manhattan Madison Square Garden