New York Knicks: Keys to Carmelo, Amar'e and Co. Turning Season Around

The New York Knicks are off to a much less than impressive start to the season, yet it must be stressed that all hope is not lost.

Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and the rest of the team may be struggling, but this group is far from a bust. The talent to contend is on the roster, the Knicks just need to figure out how to bring it all together.

Will New York get its act together and turn the season around? 

As long as the Knicks learn from their mistakes thus far, and make the necessary adjustments, all wrongs are capable of being corrected.

Amar'e Stoudemire and the Pick-and-Roll

Amar'e Stoudemire is struggling immensely on the offensive side of the ball, and he has let it affect him on the defensive end as well. Far too often can he be found on the bench in foul trouble, usually courtesy of those committed out of frustration.

Stoudemire is most effective off a pick-and-roll, an attribute of his the Knicks haven't been utilizing. True point guard or not, the power forward has been doing his part by rolling off of screens, his teammates just don't look for him.

The pick-and-roll is so much more than a chance to finish for Stoudemire. When ran effectively, it forces the opposition to defend high, which in turn opens up the paint a bit more, allowing Stoudemire the opportunity to post up. 

Giving Stoudemire the ball at the top of the key is fine, as he is more athletic than most of the league's bigs and can blow by them on his way to the basket. That being said, this cannot be his only form of offense, as teams become privy to this tendency and switch to a zone to stop it.

The pick-and-roll opens a plethora of other options on offense for New York's star, and that's why it must be run. Once the pick-and-roll comes, so will the rest of Stoudemire's missed offense.

Scoring on Zone Defenses

With both Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler down low, many teams, especially the Orlando Magic, have been switching to zone defense to force the Knicks to take outside shots.

A zone defense is both good and bad for an offense. It all but takes away options in the paint, but it does create looks from the outside. A zone defense is bad for an offense when their outside shots aren't falling though, which they haven't been for New York.

The Knicks dealt lethal outside threats in Danilo Gallinari, Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton last season, and waived Chauncey Billups prior to this one. That leaves Carmelo Anthony, Iman Shumpert and Toney Douglas to shoulder the outside scoring.

Anthony is hitting threes, but he is taking an awful lot of them. His teammates should be the ones taking the majority of three-pointers, since open looks should be created by his presence. However, New York's inconsistency has resulted in a three-happy Anthony at time.

The three-point shot is crucial in Mike D'Antoni's offense, but the Knicks do not have the luxury of outside shooters like they've had in the past. Douglas is struggling, Shumpert is better served driving the ball and no one is looking for Fields in the corner.

New York's outside shooting must improve so they can force teams out of the zone, thus creating opportunity for their big men down low and giving them a better chance at winning close games.

Bench Bill Walker

Bill Walker is a great player to have in an emergency, or when he has caught fire, but the shooting guard has become a liability on both ends of the floor as of late.

Opposing defenses are leaving Walker open from beyond the arc, simply because he is shooting just over 30 percent from downtown for the season. His shots aren't falling, especially in crunch time, and the fact that he is no longer the three-point threat he once was diminishes his value to the Knicks.

Additionally, Walker's presence has proved costly for New York on defense. He isn't getting under screens efficiently and is defending with his hands, not his feet.

Walker's defensive deficiencies could be overlooked if his shots were going down, but they aren't. The Knicks' two biggest needs right now are perimeter defense and outside shooting, yet he has been providing neither.

It's time Walker saw far less minutes.

Steve Novak and Josh Harrellson Need More Playing Time

Just like Landry Fields before him, Josh Harrellson has emerged as a draft-day steal. While he has seen the court more than most would have expected, he needs to see it more.

Harrellson has provided pure energy and substantial size off the bench for New York, but more importantly, he has been money from long range much like Steve Novak. That being said, neither gets significant playing time, which is mind boggling given the Knicks' outside struggles.

Both 6'10" forwards are more than capable of assuming Bill Walker's minutes, and then some. Their outside touch allows them to play the role of a 2-guard when needed and the team is no worse off on defense.

The Knicks have two solutions to their outside woes on their bench, and while they have tapped Harrellson's resources to a certain extent, Novak's talents are being wasted.

New York is seeing a lot of zone coverage and has been struggling to play off of it. Novak and Harrellson present the Knicks with the opportunity to not only overcome such coverage, but thrive against it.

Get Landry Fields Involved

The reoccurring theme has been a lack of outside shooting, which Landry Fields can provide, if he receives enough touches.

Fields shot nearly 40 percent from three-point range last season, but is only knocking down only 21.4 percent of his attempts for this campaign. The problem is he has been shooting less, which forces him to take shots out of sync.

Most amazingly, when Fields drives the ball, he has broken down not just zone defenses, but all defenses. It has created opportunities for Amar'e Stoudemire and has allowed the shooting guard to draw fouls.

That being said, he just isn't doing it enough. Fields' needs is best alongside a true point guard, but in the face of such an absence, he has shown he can create for himself. The Knicks just need to let him.

Allow Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler to Become More Aggressive Defensively

Tyson Chandler has been a catalyst for the Knicks on defense, but he is capable of doing so much more, if New York would only let him.

Amar'e Stoudemire has visibly lessened his aggression on defense, and as a result so has Chandler. Such a method is employed to keep Stoudemire out of foul trouble, yet it hasn't been working.

Stoudemire, while far from a premiere defender, thrives off of blocked shots. It gets him hyped and creates transition opportunities for the Knicks. This season, however, the aggression has just not been there.

Lack of aggression can mostly be attributed to fear of foul trouble. Stoudemire needs to be on the floor for his offense even if he is struggling, and Chandler needs to ensure he is on the floor as the defensive pillar.

The type of defense we saw Chandler play on Dwight Howard is the kind he loves, and it's the kind both he and Stoudemire must be allowed to play. Give the big men a license to block shots, shove the opposition and forget about foul trouble. Stoudemire has found a way to get in some anyway, so there's nothing to lose.

New York has shown improvement defensively, but their low post tandem has the potential to be much more effective.

Put Iman Shumpert on an Outside Leash

Iman Shumpert should be given free reign on the defensive end, but needs to be put on a leash offensively, at least from the outside.

Shumpert has shown he can get to the rim, but once again, as a result of zone coverage, he has been forced to take far more jump shots than the Knicks would like to see. Some have been unwarranted, but others are a result of the coverage.

The rookie is having an impressive season, but he is shooting just under 37 percent from the field. Outside shooting has never been a strong suit of his, and while there is time for him to develop into a long-range threat, that time is not now.

Shumpert is most effective when driving the ball, so when he receives it on the outside and cannot reach the paint, he is better off attempting to create for his teammates. In doing so, he is liable to learn what it takes to run an offense as well.

Catch the drift?

Force Carmelo Anthony to Play Out of Isolation

Carmelo Anthony is scoring, which is what he came here to do, but he has the potential to be playing much better on that end.

Anthony's new found defensive commitment is admirable, but it does not overshadow the actuality of him having reverted back to his old ways. He began to thrive out of isolation in the postseason, but Amar'e Stoudemire's struggles, and the absence of a true point guard have led him to believe he needs to score via isolation.

That's just not true.

The Knicks have been at their best when their ball movement is at its highest. Anthony needs to keep the ball moving and open looks will just come to him, as opposed to finding them himself. In addition, better ball distribution allows both Landry Fields and Stoudemire to get involved more, which as previously noted is pivotal.

If Anthony plays out of isolation, he has the potential to be more of a scoring threat than he already is, and it's time someone lets him know.

Patience

This particular Knicks squad—like the one last February and the one from 2010—was built overnight, so cohesive shortcomings are to be expected.

New York has some kinks to work out on both sides of the ball, but the season is still young and most of its core is new to each other. The wins, as well as Baron Davis' return, will come. Right now, as long as the Knicks show a willingness to work and establish familiarity with each other, most of their struggles will come to pass.

Calling this team a bust and insisting Mike D'Antoni be relieved of his post is premature at this juncture. New York has shown flashes of what the team it can be, and it needs to look to those times as a catalyst.

Rosters can be built in a day, but chemistry, quite simply, cannot.

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