Carmelo Anthony Can Redefine Superstar Reputation with Triangle Offense
In an NBA increasingly defined by strategies, systems and styles, Carmelo Anthony has always been that scarcest of players whose talents make him an offense unto himself—often despite the efforts of his coaches.
Now, with the New York Knicks officially under the command of triangle disciple Derek Fisher, Anthony has a chance to completely redefine his superstar status—and, if all breaks right, the moribund fortunes of the franchise itself.
Of course, Anthony very nearly opted to take his talents elsewhere—specifically the Chicago Bulls—before finally settling on a five-year, $124 million deal to remain in New York.
Since then, the seven-time All-Star has been all bubbling optimism when asked about his and his team’s near-future prospects. Albeit with a slight caveat.
“I do not expect to win a championship this year,” Anthony told Raul Alzaga of PrimeraHora.com (h/t Pro Basketball Talk’s Brett Pollakoff). “That’s something that takes time, and everything has to be in sync, from management to players. We have much work to do, but that's something that drives me.”
Indeed, that drive has been on full display in recent weeks, with Anthony undertaking an augmented workout regimen whose results have been encouraging enough for the 30-year-old forward to tell Knicks.com’s Jonah Ballow, “I haven’t felt like this in a long, long time, ever since I came into the league. I feel awesome.”
Cautiously rosy as Anthony’s outlook might be, New York is by no means a shoo-in to exorcise last season’s 37-win, postseason-less disaster. From the oft-injured Iman Shumpert to the defense-averse Tim Hardaway Jr., the mercurial J.R. Smith to the polarizing Andrea Bargnani, crapshoots abound for a franchise now a full four decades and change removed from its last NBA championship.
Despite a roster rife with mysteries, however, Melo appears to have bought into the triangle—the system made famous by New York’s new team president, Phil Jackson—lock, stock and barrel.
“When people say spots, I‘m going to be all over the floor,” Anthony told Ballow. “I mean, the triangle, you are all over the floor. It makes it hard to guard, it keeps all eyes off of you. I’m looking forward to this year. I’ve been saying it all summer; I can’t wait.”
His enthusiasm only amplifies what’s become something of a strategic truism: Anthony, with his lethal mid-range game and underrated passing skills, is tailor-made for the triangle.
Even before Anthony had committed to returning to New York, Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley offered up a fantastic synopsis of what the triangle offense means for Anthony, and vice-versa:
"The triangle, while there is an X's and O's basis, is more philosophy than strategy. The scheme calls for floor spacing, balance and ball movement. ...
It can be manipulated to run almost anything: low-post chances, elbow isolations, pick-and-rolls, spot-up threes, anything. It's all about reading and reacting to the defense, a process that ideally becomes organic over time. ...
Anthony, one of the most complete offensive weapons in the league, has the intelligence to make those reads and the tools to execute the reaction. He needs to develop more trust in his teammates, and they need to prove themselves worthy of receiving it. The potential for him to thrive within the offense is incredible.
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Like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant before him, Anthony’s principal offensive strength has always been his mid-range shooting ability. What the triangle does, then, is give Anthony multiple opportunities in a particular possession to operate from these areas of strength, not to mention catch-and-shoots aplenty from the weak side—a role he perfected as a devastating secondary option for Team USA in both 2008 and 2012.
As for those who contend that an Anthony-focused offense will never yield enough in the way of ancillary benefits, there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary:
For all his undeniable talent, Melo’s status as a kind of second-tier superstar is the product in large part of his supposedly being one-dimensional. Anthony, the thinking goes, is too much of a gunner to ever be mentioned in the same breath as a LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Chris Paul.
In a sense, Anthony’s nearly peerless scoring ability has been a blessing as well as a curse—the former being a function of one of the game’s most effortless jumpers; the latter due to the fact that when you’re such a master of one craft, it can be tempting to forsake and forget the rest.
Under former head coach Mike Woodson’s somewhat nebulous offensive system, it was often difficult to tell the difference between a possession that went according to plan and one that simply stagnated, often by the hand of Anthony himself.
By contrast, the triangle gives Anthony the best of both worlds: On the one hand, it puts him in the best position to succeed as the lethal scorer he is; on the other, as long as the spacing remains properly intact, no possession should be so broken-down as to compel Melo to believe the only way out of a late shot-clock jam is by his hand alone. When the triangle is run correctly, there are always options.
The result, if all goes well, will be nothing short of the same narrative about-face Jordan and Bryant once enjoyed. That's assuming, of course, Jackson’s front-office magic is immediate enough to properly outfit his superstar player while he’s still in his prime.
Given New York’s precarious salary situation, according to HoopsHype.com, such a scenario is still a year or two away from being realized.
Which is what makes Melo’s gambit so fascinating: Rather than bolt for greener championship pastures, Anthony—on the wrong side of both 30 and history—instead opted for patience, faith and a whole lot of money.
Luckily for him, the system in which he’s placed that faith and patience has a long history of making sure the latter takes care of itself.
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