Carmelo Anthony: 12 Reasons Chauncey Billups Will Have Greater Impact for Knicks
Last week, the New York Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets. It was no surprise because Anthony had said for months that he wanted to play in New York. He has a love and affection for the city that allowed him to ingratiate himself to the fans right away.
The atmosphere in Madison Square Garden for his debut was electric. It was like an NBA Finals game in late February, and they were playing a bad team in the Milwaukee Bucks, which should tell you how much he energized the Knicks franchise.
However, there was another player in that deal who could turn out to be more valuable than Carmelo Anthony. That player is Chauncey Billups. He is 34 years old, but he is the kind of player that is an integral part of any successful team.
Billups brings a lot of things to the table that Anthony doesn't because they are two entirely different players.
Is it possible that Billups will have more of an impact than Anthony for the New York Knicks?
Here are 12 reasons that Chauncey Billups will have a greater impact on New York.
Billups Plays A More Demanding Position
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When evaluating a player, you have to take into account the position that a player plays. There is no more important position on the court than point guard, and Chauncey Billups plays it at a high level.
Anthony is a great scorer, but he plays a position that is full of great scorers. Billups, while he is not the player that he once was, is still a top-tier point guard in the NBA.
Positional value makes Billups more valuable to New York than Anthony.
Billups Has a NBA Championship Pedigree
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Chauncey Billups has won an NBA Championship already, in 2004 with Detroit. He knows what goes into winning in April. Anthony, as great a player as he is, has only won two playoff series in his career and those came in the same year—2008. Every other year of his career he has been eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.
Billups was the leader of the Pistons team that won the 2004 NBA Championship over the Los Angeles Lakers. I’m not one to say that playoff experience is the most important aspect of helping a team, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Anthony does have some experience leading a championship team, his one year at Syracuse brought the school their first title under Jim Boeheim, but he hasn’t done it at the professional level.
Billups Makes A Ton Of Key Plays Almost Every Single Game
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Chauncey Billups has the nickname of “Mr. Big Shot.”
He has already lived up to that reputation with the Knicks, against Miami on February 27, when he hit the go-ahead three-pointer with just over a minute left to play. He is a great player under pressure, which only adds to his value.
Billups Is A Better 3-Point Shooter Than Anthony
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As great as Carmelo Anthony is at scoring, he has never been a great long-range shooter. In particular, his three-point shooting leaves a lot to be desired. This season he is shooting 34 percent from behind the arc, which is actually an improvement over his career mark of 31 percent.
Chauncey Billups is shooting 43 percent from three-point range this season and 39 percent for his career. As he showed against the Heat, he can hit a three in the most crucial situations.
There’s going to be a playoff game this year where the Knicks are down by three points late and they have to hit a three to tie the game.
Who do you think they are going to give the ball to, Billups or Anthony?
Billups Sets Up The Entire Offense
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Earlier I mentioned the positional value that Billups brings playing point guard, now we examine why the position is so valuable.
The Knicks run a very unique offense. They want to run the ball up the court and score within 10 seconds of touching the ball. In order for that kind of offense to work, the point guard has to understand every aspect of the offense and where to put the ball.
Anthony only has to catch and shoot the ball, which limits his value somewhat.
Billups Adds A Veteran Presence That Anthony Doesn’t
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Some guys are leaders and others aren’t capable of leading, either because they don’t want to or it’s just not in their DNA.
Carmelo Anthony, despite being a seven year NBA veteran, has never shown that he wants to be the leader of a team. That’s not to say he doesn’t want to, in fact he specifically requested to guard LeBron James in the fourth quarter of the Knicks victory over the Heat.
Chauncey Billups is a natural leader, and one that everyone on the team will turn to when they are looking for inspiration or guidance.
Billups is a leader of men, while Anthony has to work his way into that role.
Billups’ Value Extends Beyond The Court
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Chauncey Billups will have an impact off the court for the New York Knicks too. He is going to be a free agent after next season, which means that the Knicks will have $14 million coming off their books, and they can go after Chris Paul that summer.
That sounds kind of callous, but Billups is 34 years old right now and will be 35 when his contract expires. He is not getting any younger, and the team will potentially be able to build their future around a great young point guard like Paul.
Billups Will Be Guarding The Opposing Teams’ Point Guard
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Chauncey Billups will be guarding the opposing point guards in the playoffs. That means he will be responsible for guarding guys like Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Jameer Nelson and Kirk Hinrich.
The opposition will have to go through Billups on defense if they want to beat the Knicks. If he can contain those guys, the Knicks will at least be competitive in every game they play, and could sneak by a team or two in the playoffs.
Anthony Can’t Work With The Ball
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I mentioned this earlier, but it deserves some more attention.
Anthony can’t score if he isn’t touching the ball, and his skill set isn’t one that works by controlling the ball and setting up his own offense. He needs someone on the team to set him up, in this case it’s Chauncey Billups.
The Knicks need Anthony to score if they are going to win, and Anthony needs Billups, or at least a good point guard, if he wants to score.
Billups Is A Great Free Throw Shooter
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When it comes to crunch time, you need someone at the free throw line who you know is going to make all of the shots.
Carmelo Anthony is a really good free throw shooter, 82 percent this season and 80 percent for his career. There’s no doubt that he can make free throws when he has to.
However, Chauncey Billups is one of the best in NBA history. He has made over 92 percent of his free throws this season and 89 percent for his career.
That’s a pretty wide margin when you are talking about free throws, and the Knicks will want Billups at the line before Anthony or anyone else.
More Is Expected Of Carmelo Anthony
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Carmelo Anthony holds all the expectations in the world thrust upon his shoulders. He was the guy that said he wanted to play in New York. He called it his “ultimate dream.” By making those dreams public, he put all kinds of pressure on himself when he got to New York.
They are expecting him to be the man to bring the franchise an NBA Championship. If he does, then he will have done his job. If he doesn’t, he will be a failure.
Chauncey Billups doesn’t have to live up to those expectations, and as a result whatever production he gives the team is an added bonus.
Anthony doesn’t mean squat to New York without a title. Billups can be a factor for the team even if they don’t win a title with him on the roster.
More Is Expected Of Carmelo Anthony (cont’d.)
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The New York market is so starved for a winning basketball team that they have anointed Anthony the savior of the franchise. He is the superstar that they haven’t had since Patrick Ewing retired.
Billups can be a great player without the weight of New York bearing down on him. He has to live up to his own expectations, but those probably aren’t as difficult to meet as New York standards are.
He is considered the “throw-in” to the deal, yet he has shown already how important he is going to be to this team.
