Knicks Rumors: James Dolan Forced Coaching Staff to Play Carmelo Anthony at SF

Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire played together on the New York Knicks from the 2010-11 season into the 2014-15 campaign, and ownership reportedly urged the team to play the former at small forward—perhaps to increase the amount of star power on the floor.

Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com cited Knicks insiders who said owner James Dolan preferred that Anthony play at small forward with Stoudemire at power forward.

"This frustrated some members of the coaching staff, who viewed it as driven only by Dolan's desire to have star power on the court, according to sources on those Knicks teams," Holmes wrote.

The report also noted Anthony always saw himself as a small forward despite the wishes of the coaching staff to have him space the floor as a stretch forward. 

There's a reason the coaching staff wanted to space the floor with Anthony.

It worked.

Stoudemire played just 29 games during the 2012-13 campaign because of a knee injury, so Anthony finally agreed to change positions. One Knicks source told Holmes, "The injury that year forced everyone's hands—Jim's and Carmelo's."

All Anthony did was lead the league in scoring with 28.7 points per game while connecting on 37.9 percent of his triples. His 6.2 three-point attempts per game were a career high (not counting the 6.4 he shot a night in 10 games for the Houston Rockets last season), and he proved to be a matchup nightmare for opposing frontcourts.

That season was the last time New York made the playoffs and the only time it has won a postseason series since it made the 2000 NBA Finals.

However, Holmes detailed Dolan's role in things falling apart quickly the following offseason.

"Every time we brought up veteran names, he's like, 'I don't want any of those guys back,'" a source said of the battle between members of the staff and Dolan when it came to retaining veteran players.

What's more, general manager Glen Grunwald was fired just before the ensuing training camp, which a source said, "threw everything for a loop. That, I think, started the beginning of the end."

With Stoudemire back and Anthony at small forward, the Knicks went a mere 37-45 during the 2013-14 campaign and missed the playoffs entirely after such a promising showing the prior season.