What if all this losing by the Knicks is for naught?

The Knicks are dropping games like it is a fashionable trend and they are impressionable teenagers. Pick your number with a random endpoint — they’ve lost 14 of their last 16 games — or just appreciate this debacle as a whole — they have 20 wins and 53 losses. The Knicks are en route to the worst season record in team history.

For most teams, the carnage found night after night on the hardwood is accompanied by the hope that a top draft choice can be a savior. However, while many Knicks fans have watched University of Memphis guard Derrick Rose or Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless and dreamt of a future where a point guard in a Knick uniform can actually defend and distribute as well as score, it is far from assured that the Knicks will have a good chance at drafting him. As bad as the Knicks have been, four teams have been worse.

The Miami Heat all but stopped competing around Christmas. They have won five games and lost 40 since unwrapping their gifts. Their 13–59 record makes them almost as much of a lock for the worst record as Senator McCain is for the Republican nomination. Seattle has won only 17 games all season, and their remaining schedule is tough. Seven of their final eight games are against teams vying for playoff position in the Western Conference. Thus, it’s unlikely they will win more than 19 games.

The Memphis Grizzlies and the Minnesota Timberwolves are — relative to their horrid seasons — teams on the rise. The consensus no. 1 pick, Kansas State forward Michael Beasley, will certainly go to the team picking first, and one of the point guards will possibly go to the team picking second. If both the Griz and T-Wolves finish with a better record than the Knicks, it will bolster the local’s chances at Rose or Bayless.

The Grizzlies have awoken from a midwinter hibernation during which they lost 17 of 19 games following the trade of forward Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers. Many of those 17 losses were by double digits, leading many observers to suspect that a tank job was in the works. However, Memphis has rebounded. They have four of their last eight, including beating the Lakers at Staples Center on Friday night. At present, they sport a 19–54 record and a slate chock-full of winnable games. They play the Knicks on Wednesday night, Miami a week from Friday, and they have two games, one at home one on the road against the Timberwolves. Barring a sudden injury (or should I say “injury”) to a leading player like forward Rudy Gay or swingman Mike Miller, the Griz should move past the Knicks in the standings.

After a putrid 4–26 start that had many observers wondering if Minnesota would threaten the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers’ record for most losses in a season, the Timberwolves are showing encouraging signs of life. They have won seven of 12 after Sunday’s upset of Utah. The T-Wolves also have several easy marks remaining on their schedule. In addition to the two games versus the Grizzlies, they play Charlotte, Milwaukee, and, on the penultimate night of the regular season, they play Detroit in a game in which the Pistons are almost certain to rest their starters. So it is somewhat easy to imagine that the T-Wolves will pass the Knicks in the standings as well.

For any of these scenarios to matter, the Knicks will have to lose most of the rest of their games, but losing is the one thing that has come easily during the Isiah Thomas regime. The difference between finishing with the fifth-worst record in the league and the third-worst record is considerable in the NBA draft lottery. The team with the third-worst record has a 15.6% chance of landing the top pick. The team with the fourth-worst tally has only a 11.9% chance and the team with the fifth-worst ledger has an 8.8% chance.

Boston fans might tell you that those odds can be pretty fickle. The Celtics tanked all last season to maximize their chances to win the lottery yet wound up with the no. 5 choice overall, but they made it work out by trashing their youth movement and trading for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, who have led them to the best record in the league this season. On the other hand, Seattle fans can point out that drafting a talent with all the upside in the world still may not be a ticket out of the doldrums. They took swingman Kevin Durant last season and are in good position to add another top collegiate player this season.

Despite these cautionary tales, most Knick fans have to feel that finishing as high in the lottery as possible is priority no. 1 right now. A good pick ranks second only to a housecleaning of the coaching staff and front office. A new team president appears to be in place, a new coaching staff should follow, and a top collegiate talent (yes, I’m doubting that the Knicks will go European in this draft) would cement the concept that it is indeed a new day at the Garden. Even though the Knicks have lots and lots of work to do before fans can start thinking about the playoffs, the team has the chance to set three cornerstones in the coming weeks. Maybe there is hope amid the carnage after all.

mjohnson@nysun.com