Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire & Mike D'Antoni May Never Work with NY Knicks
Everyone hail the almighty New York.
I could not say that with a straight face.
As much as I would love to believe in the redeemed franchise, it is barely believable that fans are resting their legs as if the work has been done and finished. Carmelo Anthony’s arrival in NY brought more evil than good, and without admitting this mistake Donnie Walsh is in more trouble than NY writers speculate.
New York is not a city or state that allows failure to be consoled. The inhabitants want sure-fire solutions and people who are willing to go all in when talking about their beloved sports organizations.
The Jets, Giants and Yankees are sitting on a platform that the Knicks have failed to step up to since Patrick Ewing was making plays. Some of the greatest moments in the history of the NBA have been made in NYC, but now there lies the resting place of a once explosive team.
Amar'e Stoudemire shined a light on the darkness that had become the Knicks. He brought a glow from Phoenix that hometown fans had not experienced in a very long time.
Stoudemire had not created a superstar stance that would adequately combat the Miami Heat, but he shaped a .500 regular season with the help of nuts and bolts men like Toney Douglas, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler. Two of those players were ultimately taken out of the equation and replaced with another offensive-minded player in Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony will end his career ranked in the top 25 all-time pure scorers that this league has ever seen regardless of whether he gets his ring or not. He has the respect of his peers, the media and the fans who have watched him work since his days at Syracuse as a freshman. Everyone knows he can score.
This was not something that shocked the world when he scored 27 points in his first game as a Knicks player. What did shock everyone was that even with him alongside, the Knicks ended up losing two games against the downtrodden Cleveland Cavaliers.
Neither Anthony nor Stoudemire have the defensive mentality necessary to attack adequately on both ends of the floor, which finally determines their standing in the Eastern Conference as superstars on the court and not only in the media.
Both paint very nice pictures at a press conference with no hoop, wooden floors or offensive threats surrounding them. However, when it comes to running out of the locker room and proving a point that many New Yorkers still do not believe in, this end-of-the-season performance has been a glimpse of mediocrity.
There is some merit behind the fact that Knicks players received zero votes for the ballots for the NBA’s All-Defensive teams. Maybe NY men would have received at least one vote had coach Mike D'Antoni been able to vote for players from his own team.
But then again, he may not be too ignorant to the lack of defensive prowess that his soldiers have instilled. Chauncey Billups, another addition from the Denver Nuggets along with Anthony, voiced a way that the Knicks can improve their defense, as reported by Frank Isola of the NY Daily News:
"Get some bigs. Definitely one big that can rebound, block shots and control the paint. (One that) can keep Amar'e from playing center and getting in early foul trouble and wearing down. We weren't the greatest rebounding team this season.”
He is right. There is not a single NY player that ranked in the top 20 in reboundingthis past season. Amar'e Stoudemire sits at No. 23 with 8.2 rebounds per game while playing the power forward position at 6’10"; his numbers should be reasonably higher in that range of the game.
Stoudemire may think that Los Angeles Lakers big Pau Gasol is soft, as reported by ESPN. But Gasol is a ridiculously better defensive player than Amar'e is, and any player or media member that covers the league will attest to that. Gasol is ranked sixth in the league with 10.2 rebounds per game.
Coach D’Antoni is also factoring into the lack of dominance for the Knicks in the NBA. He coached for three teams in the NBA, employing his “seven seconds or less” offense many times successfully. But that aspect of the game only exposes the other team’s defense in transition and tests the balance of his team’s athleticism and quick-stop accuracy.
What does this famous philosophy say about addressing the size and defense that NY lacks? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Amar'e Stoudemire combined for their highest offensive box score with 53 points in Game 1 against the Boston Celtics and still managed to lose by a strangling two points. Scoring has never been an issue; stopping always has.
Unless someone shakes the organization into instilling a different approach into NY’s staff and players, there will be no end to the Knicks’ slump. There will no victory.
