Carmelo Anthony vs. Amar'e Stoudemire: Who Is the Leader of the New York Knicks?

After the New York Knicks traded for Carmelo Anthony this past February, they joined the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA’s group of teams that could make a viable argument for claiming to have two superstars.

Before becoming teammates, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire had experienced playing alongside a superstar. Carmelo spent one-and-a-half seasons in Denver with Allen Iverson, while Stoudemire was paired up with Steve Nash for six seasons in Phoenix.

Both players are tremendously talented, but who is the leader of the Knicks?

It’s a highly debatable question, to say the least.

Why It’s Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony might be the NBA’s best pure scorer. His ability to knock down a variety of shots from numerous places on the floor is rivaled only by a select few. He’s also one of the NBA’s best clutch players.

Carmelo’s defense is typically nonexistent, but there is a silver lining in that his deficiency on that end has more to do with a lack of effort than skill. When motivated, like when he’s matched up against LeBron James, he does a solid job.

Carmelo’s Game 2 performance against the Boston Celtics last postseason helped further the claim that the NBA is where amazing happens. With both of his Big Three comrades injured, he nearly led a bunch of bench players to victory over the defending Eastern Conference champions, amassing 42 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.

When it comes to leadership experience, Carmelo has the advantage over Stoudemire. For the duration of his time in Denver, Carmelo was the Nuggets’ leader. During his time in Phoenix, Stoudemire was the Suns’ leader for just one season in 2003-2004 (Shawn Marion might disagree) and even missed 27 games because of injury.

It’s true the Nuggets didn’t have much postseason success with Carmelo, but he did lead them to the closest their franchise has ever been to the NBA Finals in 2009—when they lost, in a highly competitive series, to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

Before drafting the former Syracuse University star, the Nuggets missed the playoffs eight straight seasons, but Carmelo helped them avoid the draft lottery for eight straight seasons.

Why It’s Amar’e Stoudemire

Amar’e Stoudemire is the biggest reason New York’s NBA franchise has a bright future.

Without waiting around to see who he could team up with in last summer’s free-agency period, Stoudemire went ahead and took his talents to Madison Square Garden. His declaration that “the Knicks are back” would ultimately become a reality.

If Stoudemire wasn’t on the team, it’d be safe to say Carmelo wouldn’t have taken the Nuggets’ front office hostage, figuratively speaking, to get traded to the Knicks.

Last season, Stoudemire was the proprietor of the Knicks’ resurgence into the playoffs. For the first couple of months he was a legitimate MVP candidate who helped Raymond Felton put up All-Star-like numbers—17.1 points and nine assists per game.

No disrespect to Felton, a solid veteran point guard, but he wouldn’t have averaged those numbers without Stoudemire.

According to ESPN’s John Hollinger (a metric guru of sorts), Stoudemire had both a higher player efficiency rating and estimated wins added total than Carmelo. Stoudemire also averaged more free-throw attempts and shot a higher percentage from the field.

Perhaps the biggest telltale sign that Stoudemire is the Knicks' leader: He has organized team workouts to take place next month in Florida. He’s even taking care of his teammates' lodging and food (besides dinner).

While Stoudemire’s not the only NBA player to initiate this type of event, the chances of Anthony doing the same aren’t as likely—at least from an outsider’s perspective.

Final Verdict

In my opinion, Amar’e Stoudemire is the leader of the New York Knicks.

I give Stoudemire a very slight edge over Carmelo. 

The biggest reason why?

He literally brought the franchise out of the pitiful grave Isiah Thomas and James Dolan had dug for them—a truly amazing feat.