Biggest Early-Season Storylines for New York Knicks
Certainly the most salacious story to enter the New York Knicks news cycle was the preseason altercation between head coach Derek Fisher and former teammate, Memphis Grizzlies' forward Matt Barnes. More importantly (to Knicks observers), the perimeter defense is shockingly good, the fourth-quarter collapses are painfully frequent and the rotations are rather unpredictable.
Yet, all the biggest storylines revolve around the team's two stars: veteran Carmelo Anthony and 7'3" rookie wunderkind Kristaps Porzingis.
Some sensible, level-headed Knicks followers like myself, who've looked at Carmelo Anthony's defensive efforts over the years and occasionally wondered if he's worth the money, are now backsliding into Carmelo Anthony fandom with wide-eyed confusion.
As for Porzingis, most fans hated him on draft night. (It wasn't anything personal; it was just on principle.) Yet, in record time, he's become New York's sweetheart.
Knicks Becoming 'Porzingis' Team'?
Porzingis was named Rookie of the Month of the Eastern Conference in November. He has been nothing short of brilliant for the Knicks, particularly when you consider that he's only in his first year.
Some of us might be getting a bit carried away with our praise. In his Sunday column in the New York Daily News, Mike Lupica wrote:
"...even though the Latvian kid hasn’t even been around for 30 games yet, this is becoming his team, and his stage, in front of our eyes.
By the end of this season, even if the grind of a long NBA season makes him fade at the end, the offense will run through the kid because it has to, because of his size and his talent and a unique skill set, unless you can remember a lot of other 7-3 guys who can do all the things he can do.
As you watch these games, it is clear that Porzingis is going to make himself the man — as in The Man — on the Knicks.
"
KP is undeniably the future of the Knicks, so it's not unreasonable to say that the team is "becoming his," but the timeline Lupica suggests is outlandish.
Carmelo is still "The Man" and will be for a while. Why?
Because being "The Man" is not necessarily a fun job. It isn't just about scoring points, and it isn't just about being a fan favorite.
Lupica's column suggesting the offense run through Porzingis ran the morning after Porzingis had his worst game of the season (zero points, zero assists, three rebounds) and Anthony carried the Knicks to a 112-110 win over the Portland Trail Blazers with 37 points, two assists and six rebounds. (In Lupica's defense, he probably had to file his story before the Blazers game, on the West Coast, was completed.)
If the Knicks were already Porzingis' team, he'd be taking all the heat for the fact that the Knicks just barely won. Rookies can brush off a bad game. The Man has to take the whole team on his back sometimes—when he wins he only gets some of the credit, and when he loses he takes more than his share of the blame.
Despite his exceptional talent and poise, KP isn't ready to shoulder all of that yet.
Barkley Calls Out Melo's Leadership, Melo Says 'You Know Nothing About Me'
Carmelo Anthony has been throttled with criticism about his leadership throughout his career. This season, however, it has been evident that Melo decided it was time to take a more active leadership role—inviting his teammates to Puerto Rico for a mini training camp, standing up for his teammates when opposing players make cheap shots and taking Porzingis under his wing.
Yet, that hasn't killed the criticism.
During TNT's broadcast of the Utah Jazz's 106-85 evisceration of New York on Dec. 9, Anthony was noticeably grumpy about the Knicks' futility, causing Charles Barkley to once again question Anthony.
Per Marc Berman of the New York Post, Barkley commented: "He’s got to be a better leader. I like Carmelo as a player. This is a very young team, he’s tried hard to fit in, but he can never get too down because the young guys are going to feed off of his energy."
Melo later responded to Barkley's comments, with more frustration. Per Berman:
""That’s what irks me and gets on my nerves more than anything. How can you tell somebody that they’re not a leader? You’re not around me. I’ve never met you before. You know nothing about me except what you’re seeing on the basketball court the couple of minutes of the games you actually watch. Someone [like that] to tell me I need to be a better leader?"
When asked why he doesn’t chastise his teammates like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are seen doing, Anthony said, "LeBron gets angry — I can’t do that. It wouldn’t even feel right to curse my teammates out on the bench or on the court. It’s not even who I am. Me and my teammates have conversations and players-only meetings. I speak up and I’m heard. The problem is everyone’s trying to compare you to the next person."
"
Melo is blossoming into his role as team leader, as he's loosening his grip on his role as team scoring leader. When he ups the intensity on defense, the entire team performs better on both ends.
Anthony was one assist shy of a triple-double in Wednesday night's 107-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, logging 20 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists, one block and one steal. When asked how a well-rounded performance like that by Anthony impacts the rest of the squad, Fisher said in a postgame interview on the MSG Network:
"It makes us better. It really does. When you're trying to grow as much as we are and develop as much as we are as a team and an organization, you need examples of what that should look like. You need players on the floor in practice, in shootaround, in the games, modeling the behaviors of what success should appear to be.
And so when your best players are rebounding and sharing the ball and playing defense and doing all the little things that help teams win, it's much easier to have the rest of the group fall in line and do what they need to do.
"
KP and Melo's relationship: 'Nobody Can Come Between Us'
Beginning with rumors over the summer that Melo was displeased with the Knicks' draft selection, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley, and continuing with scuttlebutt like "this is becoming Porzingis' team," we cannot help but raise our eyebrows and wonder: Is this town big enough for two stars? Will KP and Melo work well together, or will they be competing against one another more than with their opponents?
Others may ask those questions, but Melo and KP aren't concerned. From Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports: "His is making a lot of situations [easier] for me," Porzingis said. "Because of him I’m getting wide-open looks. He’s great. Playing alongside him, I can just read him and play off of him. When I am open, he is going to hit me. I don’t doubt that."
Per Spears, Anthony said: "I know what we have as teammates. Nobody can come between us despite what anybody says. Nobody."
That's a line that would fit right into a buddy film or a triumphant sports epic for the ages.
Carmelo Protests Refs' Non-Calls
Anthony attempted to engage referee Lauren Holtkamp in a heated debate over a non-call during the 104-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Dec. 7. Holtkamp responded by calmly smacking Anthony with a technical foul.
The following day, Melo explained that he often doesn't get calls going his way, and that refs' explanation to him, per Berman, is he's "the most difficult player to referee in the NBA."
“I always get fouled,’’ Anthony said. “That’s what’s frustrating me. You play so hard, work so hard and don’t benefit from that. You look at other guys, you touch them and look at them wrong and get fouls."
Referees have a hard time discerning who's initiating the contact, Anthony said. Some of the more charitable players do their part to help the refs make that distinction. Lebron James, Chris Paul and James Harden, for example, are particularly helpful.
"See, I don’t know how to flop, that’s the thing,” Anthony continued. “Nowadays guys know how to flop, get hit and put their head back. I don’t know how to flop. I won’t even look right trying to do that. I won’t even feel right trying it."
That argument might not win him favor with the refs, and it might not help him get more free throws. Yet, New York fans should respect his grit.
Instead of fining Melo for his comments, the league quietly supplied him with some extra firepower. In the excruciating final seconds of the Knicks' contest with the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 10, Anthony, struggling to get free of a pesky Rajon Rondo, misfired his last shot and the Knicks fell, 99-97.
Yet, the league later acknowledged that Melo was on the "disadvantaged" end of another incorrect non-call, when, with 2.9 seconds to go, Rondo "grabs Anthony’s arm prior to the start of his upward shooting motion and affects his [rhythm, speed, balance, quickness]."
(Let's not forget, however, that sometimes the incorrect non-calls work in Carmelo's favor. Exhibit A, the egregious travel he committed during a fast-break opportunity versus the Miami Heat Nov. 23, in which he takes about 47 extra steps, give or take a dozen.)
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