New York Needs Carmelo Anthony to Steal the Show at 2015 NBA All-Star Game
It's only fitting that the biggest game of the New York Knicks' 2014-15 season would be the one that doesn't show up in the standings.
The NBA All-Star Game, housed inside the famed Madison Square Garden, is Knicks fans' best shot at relief that doesn't involve embracing the loss column and calculating draft lottery percentages.
But that's only if the blue-and-orange's hobbled $124 million man, Carmelo Anthony, can have a performance that momentarily masks some painful realities.
From Brutal to Worse
The Knicks are spiraling toward their worst season in franchise history.
Their roster is a jumbled mess of past-their-prime veterans and unpolished prospects with potentially low ceilings. Rookie executive Phil Jackson misfired on his first major move (Jose Calderon is already on the trade block, per Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears), and the team has turned his preferred triangle offense into something geometry can't recognize.
"Like nothing I've seen before," Jackson said of the team's performance, per Harvey Araton of The New York Times. "So far, my experiment has fallen flat on its face."
And it won't be getting up for quite a while.
New York's nightmare will get worse before anything improves.
Anthony, whose scoring average more than doubles that of his next closest teammate, seems ready to use the All-Star Game as his send-off for the 2014-15 campaign. He has been dealing with knee soreness for months, which he admitted would almost certainly require surgical attention, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News.
During a recent appearance on ESPN Radio, Anthony said he'd probably pull the plug on his season after the All-star festivities.
"It's very likely. It's very likely. Now I've got to start thinking about the future," Anthony told Marc Stein, Marc Kestecher and P.J. Carlesimo, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley. "... I really want to just sit down with my team and sit down with the proper people to just kind of plan this thing out and see exactly what I have to do to get done and just to fix it."
It's an easy call to make, even if there's a part of Anthony that wants to keep playing.
The Knicks need to take some critical developmental steps without him. They have to get longer looks at their young players and could actually benefit from the inevitable mistakes during an all-out youth movement.
"The only thing to decide is who can contribute in the future and where they will end up in the draft lottery," wrote Yahoo Sports' Eric Freeman. "Playing Melo doesn't help either of those concerns."
The only help Anthony provides is the kind the Knicks don't need: the one that makes them better.
Substantially better.
The Knicks are 10.1 points per 100 possessions worse when Anthony isn't on the floor, and they're already getting outscored by 4.2 points per 100 possessions when he is.
The offense lost when Anthony takes a seat—13.8 points per 100 possessions—is a wider gap than the one separating the top-ranked offense of the Los Angeles Clippers from that of the 29th-ranked Charlotte Hornets (12.8). With Melo, the Knicks have better offensive efficiency numbers than the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs. Without him, they're worse than the Philadelphia 76ers.
"The Knicks offense runs through Anthony not just because he can score, but because of how he can score and the manner in which that makes scoring easier for everyone else," Bleacher Report's Dan Favale wrote. "Remove that luxury from the system and it falls apart."
The Knicks have been without that luxury 13 times this season. Guess how they've fared in those contests:
Even for 'Bockers backers giddy about the ensuing flood of draft lottery Ping-Pong balls, these next few months will be excruciating to watch.
Relief and Recruiting
That's one of the reasons Anthony, a New York native, needs to give the hometown faithful one last bit of pleasure before it's nothing but pain.
"Even if I come out for just a few minutes and just wave—I just don't think the fans deserve [to see me sitting out]," Anthony said, per Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal. "They voted me in for a reason, so at least I can show them that I appreciate that by playing in the game."
If he really plays "just a few minutes," he'll still do a lot more than wave.
The All-Star setting is the perfect place to showcase his brimming bag of offensive tricks. Defense is optional, isolation play is welcome and there's a special premium on the aesthetics of the performance. Melo has always been one of the league's better showmen, and this year's Broadway backdrop could have him digging even deeper.
And that would be something to see considering he's averaged 21.1 points on 54.1 percent shooting over his first seven appearances in the world's greatest pickup game.
The Empire State doesn't need to see another record-setting performance, or even a 20-point outburst. The host just has to find a way to get the fans excited.
The Knicks don't have a player in Friday's Rising Stars Challenge or in any of Saturday's four events. As has been the case throughout most of his tenure, Anthony is New York's only hope.
And the unofficial All-Star ambassador will be busy pulling double duty as participant and recruiter.
New York is looking at a boatload of cap space this summer, as the expiring contracts of Amar'e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani alone will free up $35.4 million. The Knicks need to significantly improve their talent base, and quickly, with the 30-year-old Anthony's basketball clock winding down.
Melo says he's ready to give his best sales pitch.
"I want to be involved from the standpoint of letting these guys know I'm a real big part of what we're trying to build here," Anthony said, per Marc Berman of the New York Post. "If I'm coming to you, that means I really, really want you. Because I usually don't do this."
His words could carry some real weight, as he is one of the most influential voices in the league.
"I have a big black book," he told ESPN New York's Ohm Youngmisuk. "I have a big Rolodex."
But he'll need more than words to attract basketball's biggest fish.
He has to continue proving himself capable of playing at an elite level, and this stage provides the spotlight needed to send that message. It's the same challenge Kobe Bryant's body kept him from undertaking last season. If Anthony, battling a bad knee, could put up notable numbers against the game's greats, that wouldn't be a bad image to leave in the minds of top free agents.
Melo will be the key to the Knicks' offseason success this summer.
New York has history, but so does Boston and Los Angeles. The Knicks have spending money, but there are other clubs with more.
But no one else has Carmelo Anthony, a legitimate superstar with the statistics and stature required for that role. This weekend is New York's opportunity to maximize the effectiveness of that ace up its sleeve.
It's about Anthony selling the vision this franchise has for its future. It's about using this platform to remind the basketball world of his supreme talent. It's about giving hope to a fanbase that otherwise draws it from the percentage chance it has to land a promising 18- or 19-year-old—and the odds that prospect has of actually panning out.
This can be some badly needed respite for a franchise in desperate need of that.
Inside an iconic arena that has showcased so many memorable moments—Bryant and LeBron James both dropping 50-plus points two days apart in 2009, Reggie Miller's eight points in 8.9 seconds during the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals, Anthony's own 62-point outburst last season—Anthony could make another entry into basketball lore.
If the Knicks can orchestrate a quick fix and return to relevance, maybe a magical All-Star outing from Anthony would be the lasting memory of this throwaway season. How nice would it be to forget that this disaster ever happened?
So, forgive the host city if it ever gets a tad overzealous this weekend. A meaningless game to many will be the season's most important for the Knicks and their sole shining star.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Salary information obtained via HoopsHype.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
