Breaking Down Why Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony Can't Coexist

The New York Knicks have spent the entire lockout-shortened season rotating misfit parts in and out of the lineup. That high-stakes juggling act has cost one man (Mike D'Antoni) his job, thrust another man (Mike Woodson) back into a head coaching gig, made an international phenomenon out of another (Jeremy Lin) and left folks in the Big Apple equal parts hot and cold on the team's two biggest stars (Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire).

The good news? Through all that turmoil, the Knicks have still managed to clinch a playoff spot and they could climb as high as sixth in the Eastern Conference by the end of the week. Also, at face value, New York's roster is about as talented as any you'll find in the East, with an All-Star point guard (Baron Davis), two All-NBA defenders (Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert), a pair of dead-eye shooters (Steve Novak and J.R. Smith) and "Jorts," on top of Melo and STAT.

The bad news? Even with "Linsanity" out until next season, the Knicks still have too many square pegs jammed into round holes.

And by that, I mean Woodson still has to find a way to get the Melo-STAT partnership to work on the court, with mere days left until the start of the playoffs.

Which may prove to be Woodson's toughest task yet...and it could, potentially, lead to his undoing in New York.

Hello, Melo

As it stands, Melo is a perfect fit for the isolation offense that Woodson runs with the Knicks and ran with the Atlanta Hawks once upon a time. Anthony's one of the best in the business at operating one-on-one. In essence, Anthony is the better sort of 'tweener—a guy who's too strong for most small forwards to defend and too quick and crafty for most power forwards.

Anthony's particular combination of size and skills allows him to score in the post about as proficiently as he does from the mid-range and the perimeter.

Which is to say, the dude's an elite scorer and should be utilized as such.

Of course, that script tends to play out rather differently on the defensive end, and Anthony's bucketeering makes him something of a black hole on offense.

But, in terms of pure scoring ability, few, if any, in the NBA today can call themselves Melo's equal.

Though Carmelo's typically listed as a small forward, he's actually done some of his best work at the 4. He's averaging well over 30 points per game on better than 50 percent shooting from the field this month, during which he's spent most of his time at power forward.

Not surprisingly, the Knicks have gone 10-4 since late March when Anthony plays a bigger position.

That's Amar'e

Trouble is, power forward is Stoudemire's position of choice, and he plays it quite differently. STAT's at his best in the pick-and-roll game, wherein he can use his strength and fearlessness as a finisher to rack up dunks and layups on cuts to the basket. Stoudemire's ability to hit jumpers out to 18 feet make him a threat in the pick-and-pop game as well.

In any case, Stoudemire works best when he's paired with a distributor who can run those sets with him.

Amar'e's still something of a black hole, having never averaged better than 2.6 assists per game over the course of a season.

Trying to play two guys at the 4 is tough enough, even if they're prone to sharing the ball. Pulling off a trick like that with STAT and Melo doesn't make things any easier.

Yet, Woodson has already committed to starting Amar'e and has done so in his first two games back, with predictably mixed results. The Knicks lost the first game against the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers, as Anthony and Stoudemire combined for as many shots (24) as did Novak and Smith.

Though, to be fair, it probably didn't help much any that Baron Davis was out of that game, leaving the distribution duties to Mike Bibby and Toney Douglas.

Game 2 was a more tangible success. The Knicks pulled out a 113-112 win over Woodson's old club behind big-time double-doubles from Anthony (39 points, 10 rebounds) and Stoudemire (22 points, 12 rebounds).

The difference? Well, aside from Baron at the point and significantly more shots for the two superstars (45) than for Novak and Smith (eight), the Knicks were without Tyson Chandler at center. His absence allowed Stoudemire to man the middle and play pick-and-roll basketball at the 5 while 'Melo did his thing at the 4.

Going in Circles

So, might Chandler be the actual problem here? Perhaps, at least on offense. Chandler occupies the same space and role in which Stoudemire would be best able to thrive alongside Anthony.

Trouble is, if you take Chandler out of the equation, then New York's defense suffers tremendously. Knicks GM Glen Grunwald brought in Chandler to anchor the team's frontcourt defense and mask the deficiencies of Anthony and Stoudemire, who happen to be among the worst defenders in the league at their respective positions.

And remember, the Knicks might well have lost that game to the Hawks had Marvin Williams flushed that dunk at the buzzer—a dunk that probably wouldn't have been so available had Chandler been there to protect the paint.

Which brings us right back to where we started, with Carmelo and Amar'e struggling to coexist on the court without jeopardizing the Knicks' chances of success on one end or the other, if not both. There's nothing the team can do now to tweak its roster, to reshuffle the pieces at Woodson's disposal.

At this point, all the Knicks can really hope for is that talent will be enough to win, and that the rest will simply work itself out. That is, until the summer, at least, when the Knicks have some time to figure out what to do with their newest collection of misfit parts and albatross contracts.

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