Carmelo Anthony: The Reason New York Keeps Losing
Carmelo Anthony is averaging just under eight rebounds a night in as many games, but each one has resulted in a loss for the Knicks. And for as well as he’s been grabbing the boards of late, far more often is he denting the glass on the other end with a barrage of misguided shots. ‘Melo is the best player on New York’s roster and the biggest reason why they are losing.
Anthony is shooting under 40-percent thus far on the year and a mere 33-percent throughout New York’s two week victory drought. As a career shooter 47-percent shooter, he is performing well below his normal standards and getting worse as the streak goes on. ‘Melo has shot a dismal 30-percent from the field over the past five games, including an atrocious one point outing against the Bobcats.
While the Knicks obviously need their star player to start knocking down shots, perhaps more then that they need him to stop taking them. Anthony has always been a bit of chucker, but this season he has been a whole new type of hog. Although his average totals are in line with that of his career averages, it’s been at the expense of Knicks success that ‘Melo gets his numbers.
In terms of statistics, as well as sheer talent, Carmelo Anthony is annually amongst the league’s best. But when assembling a team with championship aspirations, he is not a player that you want to build around. For as much ability as ‘Melo has, even more does he possess an array selfish tendencies and regular erraticisms in his game. Despite of his size, first step quickness and a completely balanced attack, ‘Melo rarely uses his rare talents to their completion. More often then not, a Knicks possession goes like this: Whoever today’s trial Point Guard is walks the ball up the court and see’s ‘Melo calling for it on the wing. The star gets the ball in his hands with 20 seconds left on the shot clock and then proceeds to hold it for 19 ticks, never so much as using his pivot foot. All the while his teammates are screening and cutting, looking for open shot opportunities. Yet Anthony just leans into his defender, lazily and transparently trying to create space for the same, forced 20-foot jumper that he took on the previous possession.
Midway through last season, and particularly following his trade to the Knicks, Anthony seemed to have change his game and finally corrected this predictable flaw. He was driving hard to the basket, forcing double teams and then looking for teammates with an open shot. After years of All-Star worthy seasons that ultimately amounted to nothing, ‘Melo appeared to have matured his game as he prepared to take his team to the next level of true success. But, in 2012, not only has he reverted to a star of mere individual success, but he has hit a rough patch that is blatantly exposing the deficiencies in his game and his inability to lead a team to the promised land.
I have no doubt in my mind that ‘Melo will be an All-Star for years to come, as will he regularly compete for scoring titles. But I do not believe that Anthony will be the one to finally put an end to the Knicks 39-year championship drought. Time and again, he will shoot the Knicks into the playoffs before inevitably shooting them right back out of contention. Unless he finally realizes that by getting the most out of his teammates, he will ultimately get the most out of his career.
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3 Rants to “Carmelo Anthony: The Reason New York Keeps Losing”
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totally biased article against Carmelo. He’s actually passing more then ever. and as for cutting and screaming teammates ? no one moves. Period. Not when ANthony has the ball not when he doesn’t have the ball. And do any of you remember just 2 weeks ago BEFORE he was injured? He was the only one making it work with landry fields inconsistent Amare non existant and tyson chandler not able to do anything offensively but clog Amare’s space. Watch a game before you right artiles….
Thanks for the reply Austin, your opinion in noted and with some points I do agree. I recognize that Carmelo has been playing through some injuries, which is admirable. But at the end of the day, injured or not, he’s taking as many as three times the shots that anyone else attempts and only hitting a small fraction of them. And while you’re right that the bulk of the team is at times inconsistent with their production, but in my opinion that is often the result of ‘Melo’s stagnant play, not allowing anyone else to get into a rhythm. I actually have watched a good deal of Knicks games this year and what I have seen, especially of late, is an offense with a game plan based on movement for the first 3 quarters, and then it turns into the ‘Melo show down the stretch. And like you said, at that point, nobody is moving or cutting and the offense just shuts down. Here’s a link to an article from a few days ago, where ‘Melo, himself, admits that he may be the problem for their struggles. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-23/news/30653987_1_anthony-deal-anthony-and-stoudemire-danilo-gallinari
I agree with the thesis of this blog, that CA is poison, but part of the problem is the complete disappearance of Amare, and the failure of anyone to commit to 4 quarters of defense. I would trade both Amare and CA and rebuild properly, and hire a superstar when you have a “core” of good players. We gave up our core for CA. I thought it was dumb then and its looking more and more like it was. With expectations so high for this year, this failure to launch is a signiicant disappointment for Knick fans.