Roy is facing an unsolvable problem.

Due to his poor physical strength, his role in the team has temporarily shifted from a core scorer to an all-around point guard, which is not a good thing for the Knicks who lack an outside core, and it is also not a good thing for Roy, who needs to prove himself.

But who is to blame for this? This is the path of Shura that Roy himself has chosen, and if he wants to become stronger in the short term, he will have to pay a price. In fact, after Roy received special training from Abdul-Jabbar, he was prepared to bear all the negative effects of this price alone.

The Knicks, who have lost four in a row and have now become the focus of the league, have fallen from the original third quarter in the East to sixth in the East.

The sudden collapse of the Knicks is the so-called flash in the pan? Is this the price of Roy's hubris?

Didn't Roy say he wanted to challenge the whole league? How did he suddenly retreat from the omnipotent Michael Jordan to the statistically average Jason Kidd?

As the game deepened, as the Knicks continued to lose, those black Roy guys had a chance to raise their heads again, and those long-dormant questioning articles were also turned out one after another, and the "Rohei" were full of energy and vigor at the moment. Their subtext was: Look, I wasn't wrong in my prediction, Roy really didn't.

In the face of pressure, Roy's response was silence, and he actually secretly calculated that the negative effects of Abdul-Jabbar's special training would end after January 25, that is, Roy would have to play 9 more games with this super deadly debuff, which means that he would have to stay up for at least half a month.

Originally, Roy didn't mind this so-called debuff too much, because according to his plan, even if he couldn't score points happily, there were still a group of scorers in the team, and no matter how bad it was, there were Porzingis and Rose, two "little giants" who averaged more than 18 points per game, so it shouldn't be a problem for them to temporarily act as the team's top scorer, as long as they do a good job of organizing offense and defense. But unexpectedly, first Porzingis was injured unexpectedly, and then Rose and Noah were suspended by the league, and the previous comeback was mediocre.

Therefore, although Roy has begun to change his style of play in these games and provide more assists to his teammates, the team's record is still poor. In the final analysis, the Knicks are still very dependent on Roy to score, and the reason why Porzingis and Rose can score more is also based on the premise that Roy attracts defense for them and opens up gaps.

After the game against the Pacers, Roy also seemed to understand that although he was not physically strong, although he tried to minimize the number of shots, this was far from enough for the team, and it was not enough to rely on grabbing rebounds, assists and defense to support teammates and support the team. Therefore, even if you are not physically strong, you must first grit your teeth and open the situation of the game, which is the role of an ace player.

But alas, before Roy made the change, the discerning media began to attack first.

"Roy has averaged just 9.5 points per game in the last four games, which makes me feel a little uneasy, and if you look at Roy's 25.45 percent shooting and 10.00 percent three-point shooting, you might wonder if this player is from the CBA?"

"I'm sorry that I was very optimistic that Roy could be the next LeBron James, but now it seems that this beautiful hope is getting slimmer and slimmer, and Roy may become the next Evans, the next Jennings, or worse."

"The Knicks' chances of making the playoffs are probably slim, not to mention that they are still in sixth place in the East, but they are only half a game ahead of the Wizards and Hawks behind them, and the situation may be reversed at any time."

The harsh media criticized Roy as worthless, but is Roy really bad in fact?

Aside from his 9.5 points per game, Roy has 6.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists in 26.8 minutes of playing time, which are definitely not easy to achieve.

So, in response to the criticism of the media, Roy chose to remain silent.

Now training is Roy's best friend. In training, Roy can feel at ease, and in training, Roy can experience ease. And Roy also deliberately increased the amount of training for other skills in training, such as rebounding, such as defense, since he can't attack with all his strength, it is better to take this opportunity to hone his skills in grabbing rebounds and defending.

And when it comes to rebounding and defense, the Knicks' next opponent is the New Orleans Pelicans led by the league's rebounding king Anthony Davis.

In addition to Paul George, who just said goodbye, Anthony Davis is also one of Roy's few friends in the league, compared to whether "Pickled Pepper" and Roy know each other or not, this surprising-looking "thick eyebrow brother" and Roy are more of a mutual appreciation and sympathy.

This expedition to New York, Davis and the Pelicans' goal is naturally to win, compared to those teams who still want to try their luck in the lottery, the Pelicans actually have a team building cornerstone that they can rely on, he is the "thick eyebrow" Davis, so they are very hopeful to play in the past two years to keep the core of the team Davis.

It's a pity that since the start of the season, the Pelicans' record is only a bad 14-24, let alone any playoffs, and they are not even eligible to challenge the playoffs, so there have been rumors that the Pelicans are going to spend a lot of money to recruit strong teammates for Davis recently.

Recruit powerful teammates?

Could Davis' strong teammate be Roy?

This is a new rumor that has been caught up in the media recently, because of the recent frequent exchanges between Roy and Davis on Twitter, and Roy's continued sluggish form, people can't help but make up the picture that the Knicks will take advantage of Roy's current trade value to trade him away.

Of course, just like Phil Jackson promised Roy, he would never take the initiative to replace Roy, as long as Roy didn't want to go, the "Zen Master" would definitely leave Roy in New York.

Before the game, in a press conference, Hornacek also denied that the team had any intention to trade Roy, saying that "Roy is definitely not leaving, he has some minor problems now, but he is still the cornerstone of the future of the New York Knicks, all he needs now is time to recover slowly." ”

Does Roy still need time to recover?

So how much time does he really need?

After the Knicks' 96-110 home loss to the Pelicans, discerning New York fans can't help but ask, when will Roy return to normal?

With five consecutive losses, the Knicks set a new season-style losing streak. In this game against the Pelicans, the Knicks conceded defeat on their knees without even making a little resistance, and the Pelicans' superstar Anthony Davis contributed 40 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 blocks, while his counterpart Roy only had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.

The loss of this game was fatal for the Knicks, not only because the Knicks lost again at home, not only because the Knicks had a bad five-game losing streak, but most importantly, the Knicks lost to the Pelicans, a Western underdog who was only 14-24, and the most important thing is that the momentum of the Knicks seemed to be completely lost in this game.

Now even the New York media who are protecting the short are going to shoot at the team.

"The loss to the Pelicans was deadly, the Knicks' record has dropped to 20-18, the team seems to have forgotten the rhythm of winning as we enter the new year, and if it continues like this, we will only miss the playoffs again and become the laughing stock of the whole league."

"Oh my God, I'm a big fan of Roy, but I'm going to have to question Roy this time, his stats in the last few games are really a bit unimpressive, and he seems to have gone from a LeBron James player to a role player like Iman Shambaugh all of a sudden. Now all I can do every day is look at Roy's highlights from last year's game. Hey, Roy, cheer up, okay? Don't be the second Tyrek Evans (debut, i.e., the pinnacle type), okay? ”

"Seriously, I don't know what our manager is doing, has he ever cared about Roy's condition, does he have the ability to lead the team out of the quagmire? If the Knicks even lose to the Pelicans at home, does that mean that we won't dare to say that the 76ers will win in the future? ”

Losing to the 76ers?

This venomous reporter really made a prophecy.

Two days later, on the road in Philadelphia, the Knicks lost by one point to the league's biggest fish-belly team, the Philadelphia 76ers, giving their opponent their 11th win of the season.

Roy continued to play a tepid all-around guard role in this game, he scored 10 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists, and almost had a triple-double, but those "Roy" could not see this, they only saw Roy defeated by Embiid of the 76ers.

Joel Embiid, who scored 21 points and 14 rebounds, was the hero of the game, which not only made him shine in this game, but also raised another question that distressed all Roy fans: Who is the best rookie this year between Roy and Embiid (Embiid just played in the NBA this year due to injury)?

There is no doubt that before Roy went through these days of slump, before the Knicks suffered a painful six-game losing streak, Roy was almost a sure thing to win Rookie of the Year, and everyone was wondering and shouting injustice why Roy couldn't be selected as an All-Star and why Roy wasn't on the MVP list.

But now, with the situation taking a turn for the worse, the Best Newcomer Award, which was originally nine out of ten, seems to be hanging.

Hanging?

The Knicks' playoff spot hangs, Roy's Rookie of the Year award hangs, and Hornacek's stake is in the air.

In short, everything hangs in the balance.

And after winning the game against the New York Knicks, Joel Embiid triumphantly declared to the world on social media that he was the rookie of the year, that Roy was just a flash in the pan, and that if anyone was looking for proof, I would continue to play Roy in the next round.

Not surprisingly, the arrogant Embiid immediately appeared in Roy's notebook, and Roy knew that this account would have to be recalculated with Embiid sooner or later......