Category Archives: Carmelo Anthony
Since we’re in a world of rapid reading let me preface the following by saying I think any chance of a deal happening with Orlando is extremely slim.
That said, Stephen A. Smith went on record on the radio the other day noting a source saying that the Magic are exploring a possible deal that would send Dwight Howard to New York for Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler, who can’t be dealt before March 1st.
After touching a ton of bases yesterday I was able to confirm that the Knicks have been “very actively” trying to include Amar’e in a deal for Dwight Howard. It seems that there is some friction in the locker room over the idea that the Knicks desperately tried to deal Stoudemire for Chris Paul before the star PG was moved to the Clippers.
Now what does this mean? This means the Knicks are being active as it relates to making changes. Alan Hahn confirmed the team’s interest in J.R. Smith on the network the other day and it sounds as if Kenyon Martin is also a player who is in the mix as well.
This also means that a deal for Howard probably means the Knicks taking back Turkoglu’s contract who could thrive in Mike D’Antoni’s system.
Again, this deal can’t happen until March anyway, but the bottom line is that the Knicks and Magic are apparently having some dialogue as it relates to the framework of a deal, which is newsworthy because Howard didn’t have the Knicks on his list of teams to talk deals with.
I still firmly believe that the Nets are the front runners.
Tagged Dwight Howard Rumors Knicks |
Part of being a credentialed member of the NY media is that you have to be opinionated and very good at what you do, in my opinion. People get paid to be heard. I’m very lucky and have a ton to be thankful for and I am fortunate to have a platform to speak my mind about a sports team in this city.
I was one of the first credited “bloggers” to be able to attend MSG in 2008 and I will never forget how cool it was. I soon learned that, like most things, the idea of something awesome somehow and sometimes doesn’t quite meet expectations. At my job we call it “looking under the hood” or an inside perspective and as a fan of the Knicks I didn’t like what I saw.
Having played, coached, scouted and written about basketball I can say this the media room is not the locker room. This is to say not everyone is on the same page or the same team. In fact, it’s incredibly competitive and that can often make it all pretty uncomfortable, but everyone in the media room has a gift and a talent as you all choose who is your favorite point of view.
Carmelo Anthony is in New York because he wants to be here. Like A-Rod. I’m not a fan of A-Rod, not because he isn’t an all-time great player, but because I like to poke fun at my sensitive Yankee fan friends. I got into a fist fight for calling him “Double Play Rod” in my younger days when he bounced out against the Angels in the playoffs. As a Mets fan I knew my only chance to hold anything over the Yankees was in 2000. They could keep their 20 something rings if we were 1-0. (more…)
“Maybe I need to stop shooting a lot I don’t know,” Anthony said. “It’s just a bunch of stuff that goes through my mind right now. Obviously, that’s the case when the shots are not falling. You start thinking that maybe you’re shooting too much.
Anthony is averaging 21.3 FGA per game which is almost 1.5 more than his career average. He is, however shooting 5% less (.404) than his career average. I think the issue is that he doesn’t have any trust in his jump shooters around him. That doesn’t answer why Amar’e isn’t getting touches.
Spacing in the Knicks offense is the issue.
Carmelo Anthony has zero trust in his shooters at this stage. You saw it last night at the end of one of the overtimes. Toney Douglas was WIDE open for the win and he didn’t get him the ball. Melo was triple teamed and read the blitz late and the ball flipped out of bounds. Thanks for the photo @alanhahn.
Jordan had Kerr, B.J. Armstrong and John Paxon. He didn’t rely on Pippen to make big jump shots. Can you remember one clutch kick out catch and make from Pippen in his career? Kobe has Fisher, who has made more big shots over his career than any guard mentioned, along with Big Shot Bob Horry and a pro like Lindsey Hunter. Most recently Vujacic, Farmar and who can forget how huge Trevor Ariza was from the arc.
Miami has James Jones, and Mario Chalmers and added Battier to bury threes from the corner.
We all remember JJ Barea burying shots along with Jason Kidd and Jason Terry.
Shot makers all. Floor stretchers all. Complimentary pieces to stars that create winning teams.
Ryan Anderson has made 49 three pointers by himself, leading the league. The Knicks as a TEAM have made 113 shooting 30% from the arc ranking them 23rd in the NBA. While Anderson’s 49 again ranks im on top of the ledger, Douglas, Shumpert and Walker, the options Melo has to choose from have made 45 combined. Landry Fields, the team’s “shooting guard” has made 8 in 16 games.
8. And he rarely makes one from the corner. He made one in the first quarter of the opening game vs. the Celts. Remember, the corner 3? The key to proper offensive spacing? The Knicks made:
2 in Golden State (Walker, Novak)
2 in LA (Novak and STAT)
3 in Sacramento (Jorts, Douglas, Bibby)
2 vs Toronto (Melo, Novak)
1 vs. Bobcats (Shumpert)
3 at Wizards (Bibby x2, Shumpert)
4 at Detroit (Bibby x2, Jorts, Fields)
0 vs Bobcats
3 vs. 76ers (Jorts x2, Douglas)
3 at Memphis (Novak x2, Fields)
2 at OKC (Jorts, Bibby)
3 vs. Orlando (Jorts x2, Shumpert)
0 vs. the Suns
2 vs Milwaukee (Jorts, Fields)
3 vs. Denver (Walker x2, Douglas)
The purpose of this exercise is not to dictate that the most corner 3s you make lead to immediate wins, but to look at the shot charts at it relates to spacing. You’ll see a lot of misses from different spots on the floor and in games where the offense sputters there’s a ton of mid range. Melo is one of the game’s best mid range players and it’s clear that help defenders are coming at him and leaving guys wide open. He lacks trust. When he had Billups as his PG he had a safety outlet for one of the game’s most clutch catch and makers.
Billups is gone. The solution? He needs to earn that trust and vice versa. He needs guys to knock down big shots without hesitation. Trust is built. I’d like to see Amar’e utilized in a situation where he gets the ball and consistently knocks down mid range shots, which opens up his drive to the basket. When he drives the defense has to react.
In Melo’s case, I’d like to see more post ups. Those create double teams. But of course…
…stars need shot makers.
One thing is for sure, Melo trusts J.R. Smith.
Tagged Knicks rumors J.R. Smith |
I heard all the issues as it related to Amar’e Stoudemire’s 5th year, the reason why he chose to come to NY and a very questionable decision by the Phoenix Suns two summers ago. Knicks fans were worried, and still are, that there was no way that Stoudemire’s legs would hold up over the course of his career in the Big Apple.
I said at the time Stoudemire would benefit from following the career of Karl Malone, the alpha- power forward who went from delivering vicious dunks as a youth to delivering mid range pick and pop jump shots. That added years (and more production in his 30s) to his career.
SI’s Zach Lowe is now on the case.
Still: The lack of pick-and-roll plays for Stoudemire was jarring. This is one of the league’s most devastating pick-and-roll finishers — so much so that David Thorpe of ESPN.com suggested last week in a must-watch video that Blake Griffin should emulate the way Stoudemire worked with Steve Nash in Phoenix. Stoudemire finished precisely zero plays as the roll man on Sunday (per Synergy Sports), and as mentioned above, he did not work the play as Melo’s direct partner. Stoudemire loves slipping screens — cutting quickly down the lane without really setting a stationary pick. Passing to a guy who slips a screen involves a split-second reaction; it’s a play based on quickness and timing, not one when a ball-handler can take a few dribbles around the screen, survey the defense and find the screener in the lane. Maybe Anthony and Stoudemire just don’t have that kind of timing down yet.
Maybe. Or maybe Stat knows the significance of establishing his jump shot. Ironically, Patrick 
Ewing would become a 15-18 foot jump shooter, and maybe the best at the position ever. Ewing was automatic from range. Amar’e often rushes action towards the basket. Focusing on his jumper allows him to slow down and with that the pace of the offense does as well.
The point is Melo is an isolation player and is as good as anyone in the league at it. Stoudemire must adjust his game offensively in order for the Knicks to have chemistry with them on the floor together. It can work and it can only help the durability of Stoudemire moving forward. One thing is for sure, Stoudemire will do anything to win.
Here’s the video from his Facebook page to prove it.
Finger point to Hahn.
This brings back Five-Star memories.
These are my fingers typing the keys with the love and passion for Knicks basketball.
I can’t tell you how good this feels.
Ok, now that that’s done, it’s time to get down to business and as we’ve learned time and time again, that business is the game of basketball. Knicks basketball.
So here are a few things to keep in mind. I know that this is the first order of business around here, but can I ask that the Fire Mike D’Antoni stuff wait until they lose their first game?
Before then the roster still has to be completed and (thanks to Chris Sheridan) the parameters of the deal include two important talking points as it relates to the Knicks.
Owners dropped their insistence on what would have been known as the Carmelo Anthony rule, preventing teams from executing extend-and-trade deals similar to the one that sent Anthony from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks last season. This means that if Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Chris Paul want to leverage their way out of Orlando, New Jersey and New Orleans, they will still be eligible to sign four-year extensions with their current teams before being immediately traded elsewhere.
Teams above the salary cap will be able to offer four-year mid-level exception contracts to free agents each season. Previously, owners were asking that teams be limited to offering a four-year deal one year, a three-year deal the next, then four, then three, etc.
The deal also includes an amnesty provision, which will allow teams to cut one player from their roster whose salary will not fully count against the salary cap or luxury tax.
The amnesty clause is key for the Knicks. People have mentioned possibly using it on Chauncey Billups, but that’s ridiculous, Balkman is the player who will moved, and if the Knicks had kept Corey Brewer and signed him to an extended multi-million dollar deal he would have been chopped anyway. I know, the Knicks could have used him in the playoffs, but his agent wanted a place to land him a deal before bargaining. More business.
The MLE was always going to be in play here because big market teams have to spend and they have to be rewarded for spending. But this is the trick. The Knicks have to use it on a one-year deal which brings players like Kurt Thomas or Jeff Foster into play. Source tells TKB that Foster doesn’t appear to be in the plans in Indy and Kurt Thomas would love to return to NY. What about a cheaper, more creative option?
I’d also look closely at Chuck Hayes, who may be looking for more years and there in lies the problem. This MLE has to be used on a 1 year deal if you are under the impression that the Knicks can land CP3 or Howard, and when you do the (quick) math it would appear as if the Knicks can make a play for a 3rd star. The great Dan from KnicksFanBlog has more here.
I, myself, think that if the Knicks keep Shawne Williams and Turiaf, and maybe Jared Jeffries, who sources say isn’t sure where he stands within the organization’s plans, they should turn their attention to a perimeter shooter.And that’s not even mentioning Jerome Jordan and Jorts. Even with the addition of Shumpert the Knicks need someone who can stretch the floor, a roll that Roger Mason was expected to fill next year. As it relates to balance they need someone to play 15-20 minutes and be a stretch player from the perimeter. Unless they expect Toney Douglas to play more off the ball this year. Maybe Landry Fields has improved this off season.
As you can see there are a lot of questions and I have to say, I’m so freekin’ happy to begin the attempt to start to try to help answer them. Fan of the coach or not, I think real Knicks fans are hoping for a season similar to the one that occurred the last time CBA negotiations went down, at least the last part of the season.
Tagged knicks are back |With no end to the NBA lockout in sight, the All-Star group is set to lead a four-game “Homecoming Tour,” starting with a matchup in James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio on Dec. 1, followed by a Dec. 4 game in New Orleans, a Dec. 7 game in Chicago and culminating with a Dec. 10 contest in East Rutherford, N.J. That game will played at the Izod Center, the former home of the Nets.
James, Paul, Wade and Anthony are committed to play in all four games. Proceeds from the tour – which will include events such as food drives, educational outreach programs and clinics in each city – will benefit the four headlining players’ charitable foundations, and tour sponsor Google Plus will stream each game live.
Great! Live professional basketball in the area!
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