New York Knicks Testing Carmelo Anthony's Limits, and That's a Good Thing
The New York Knicks' rebuilding manual might be nothing more than a quick sketch of the triangle between Carmelo Anthony, Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson.
It's hard to say what else, if anything, this franchise has to build around for the future. But the hope is that enough talent exists between the supreme scorer, the decorated-point-guard-turned-coach and the team president who captured 11 world titles during his coaching days that the rest of the necessary pieces will eventually fall into place.
The Knicks will be sitting on a mountain of cash very soon regardless of when the NBA's salary cap spikes in light of the new media rights deal. With substantial spending money and a major market to help maximize its worth, the franchise will have the tools to construct a championship contender (or something in that neighborhood) in the near future.
But this team isn't at that point yet. It is, at least, one potentially exhausting season away from opening doors to significant external upgrades. And until that help arrives, the weight of the entire organization rests on the shoulders of its $124 million man.
The Knicks might be singing the praises of system basketball, but as Michael Lee of The Washington Post explained, they don't have the personnel to be more than a one-man show:
"A simple glance at the roster would reveal that Anthony doesn't have much of a supporting cast, no matter how many red wine baths Amare Stoudemire takes or how much J.R. Smith tries to embrace Jackson's characterization of him as a next-generation Dennis Rodman. It's hard to get wins when the team's second-best player is ... still waiting to emerge from the incubator – be it from the current cast of healthy players, yet-to-debut injured players in Andrea Bargnani or Jose Calderon or the roster of another team altogether after Jackson makes another trade or two.
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There is a reason Anthony didn't bother to wait until the start of the season to start preaching the importance of patience.
Simple basketball logic said this would take a while. The Knicks lost 45 games last season then handed over the reins to a rookie head coach who had a read-and-react offense to implement.
Fisher's players have been understandably slow to make their reads. And these ball-movement-based reactions seem to run counter to Anthony's instincts as a game-changing scorer.
"For guys that score as well as he does, it's hard to go seven or eight possessions without getting a chance to score," Fisher said, per Marc Berman of the New York Post. "The rhythm's not the same, the shot opportunities are not the same, so he's struggling with that right now."
That's one severely understated way to describe what Anthony is going through.
If the season ended today, the former scoring champ would have new career lows in points (20.3), field-goal percentage (39.1), free-throw attempts (4.6) and player efficiency rating (14.8). His shooting has suffered from every distance on the floor.
| 2014-15 | 56.3 | 27.8 | 36.1 | 40.0 | 30.0 |
| Career Avg. | 59.5 | 32.0 | 38.8 | 41.1 | 34.5 |
"I'm still getting there, man, I'm still trying to find that comfort zone, still trying to find a way to get it going and just play better," Anthony said, per ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley. "We're not playing well, I'm not playing well, and it starts with me on this team. So I've got to get myself going."
Even if Anthony finds his rhythm, there is only so much he can do to carry this team. He delivered a 25-point, nine-rebound, seven-assist gem Monday night, but the Knicks still suffered a 91-85 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
He has tried to embrace the selfless side of the triangle offense. His field-goal attempts (20.1) have dropped to a three-year low. Conversely, both his assists average (4.4) and assist percentage (22.8) have reached new personal bests.
Yet for all his work, the Knicks sit just 21st in offensive efficiency. Just last season, they held the 11th spot in the category.
Fisher and Jackson are selling a system. Anthony is trying to buy into it despite his challenges with it and those of his teammates.
The seven-time All-Star should be commended for his effort. Playing the game his way had taken him this far, and it's not as if his megadeal is tied to any geometric incentives.
But the Knicks aren't celebrating his embrace of the offense. In fact, Jackson has told Anthony he needs more out of him, per Begley:
"The team looks to you to score, and there are times when you're going to have to pick it up and do that," Jackson said he told Anthony, per CBS Sports' Ken Berger. "But for the most part, the opportunities are there, and you have to be inside that system and play within it."
In other words, Anthony needs to shuffle between scorer and setup man while giving the Knicks a strong presence both on the glass and at the defensive end.
Even with the franchise's nine-figure commitment to him in mind, those demands seem a little unrealistic. If Anthony had that type of across-the-board impact at a level high enough to make the Knicks relevant yet this season, he would walk away with the first MVP award of his career.
But New York isn't going to lighten his workload. The Knicks are trying to transform the 30-year-old from being a potent scoring threat into a more complete all-around player. And they're asking him to make that change while mastering the same offense that put six rings on Michael Jordan's fingers and five more on Kobe Bryant's.
It's going to be a challenging, frustrating season for Anthony. But as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post observed, the Knicks are only looking for Anthony to grow; they are not looking for any miracles:
The Knicks have to get Anthony under the microscope. They need to see how well he can work within this system, how many different roles he can handle and in which areas he definitely requires help.
If that examination process helps New York net a high draft pick, well, that's even better. Remember, the Knicks didn't have a first-round pick this past draft and have already moved their 2016 first-rounder. So they have to acquire something of value with their top selection in 2015.
But that would only be an added bonus. The Knicks' real test is discovering how to build the perfectly complementary roster around their lone superstar. And they essentially need to ace that exam on the first attempt.
The clock is already ticking on Anthony's time as a ranking member of the NBA's elite. He turns 31 in May. He recently tossed in his 20,000th career point, and he should clear the 30,000-minute mark before the halfway point of this season.
Assuming the 2014-15 campaign is already a lost cause, he will be looking to lead a contender in his 13th season next year. Over the last 20 years, only 10 players have logged at least 2,000 minutes and had a PER of at least 22 in their 13th season or later.
Those numbers aren't easy to hit for a player with his mileage, and they might not even be enough, anyway. He easily cleared both in each of the past two seasons, and the Knicks came away with nothing more than a single playoff series victory.
Anthony obviously needs help, and it has to be the right kind of assistance. The Knicks will be searching for more than players with complementary skills. They will have to find guys capable of stepping in and contributing to a championship chase right away.
That's why they have to turn this season into a series of stress tests for Anthony. They need to know his strengths and weaknesses better than he does so they can form their ranks accordingly around him.
This isn't going to be a fun season for Anthony. But if the other two members of New York's Big Three do their jobs right, the ensuing years should be the most fulfilling of his career.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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