Despite the fact that the New York Knicks took down the Cleveland Cavaliers in their season finale, it didn’t hide the fact that they had a disastrous season.

Finishing 29-53 overall, the Knicks failed to improve on their 31-53 mark last year and stood no chance to make an impact in the Eastern Conference after Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL midway through the season.

Since Porzingis’ recovery will likely eat into next season, the future of the club is also very uncertain.

Luckily, the Knicks learned a few things since Porzingis went down.

First, Michael Beasley can be a very productive NBA player. The journeyman was a consistent nightly source of points and rebounds when given starter’s minutes. They'll have an opportunity to re-sign him in the coming months. Secondly, Trey Burke reinvented himself and looks like a legitimate starter for next year’s team. Since he's under team control for next year, he will play at a major discount. Finally, the team has major depth concerns. That can, of course, be addressed this summer.

Something else was clear: head coach Jeff Hornacek wasn’t making a positive difference.

For that reason, he was dismissed by the team early Thursday morning, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry informed Hornacek of the decision after the team’s return flight to New York.

The Knicks now join the Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies as teams that will be searching for a new head coach. More firings can also come in the upcoming week.

According to Wojnarowski, Perry will be given the power to hire the next coach. Overall, player development through the draft will remain a focus, rather than hitting the free agent market with force. That’s because the team is reportedly targeting the summer of 2019 as their return to the free agent space due to the fact that Porzingis will presumably be healthy by then.

“Former Memphis Grizzlies coach David Fizdale, former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt -- now coaching in Turkey -- and former Golden State coach Mark Jackson are among the candidates that the Knicks are planning to contact, league sources told ESPN,” reported Wojnarowski.

Regardless of who becomes New York’s new head coach, it’s obvious that the fans at Madison Square Garden are hurting for a playoff run. After all, the Knicks haven’t made the playoffs in five seasons and have just one postseason series victory in the last 18 years.

Listen HERE to the first episode of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring former Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin.

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