Courtesy: Rant Sports
Although I was away with my my family for the Thanksgiving holiday, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to expand upon the miserable season of the New York Knicks. They aren’t the only disappointment in the NBA but, I’m a New York native so they’re my focus at this point in time. When discussing this team with my colleagues, we often put everything in the pot and dissect them slowly and precisely.
For example, many may point to just the roster as the main source of their mediocrity, but I will take it several steps further. For one, I don’t care who is the coach and who is on a specific team, without chemistry and the right tools the team will be headed in the wrong direction. The triangle offense may have worked with Jordan and Pippen in Chicago, and with Shaq and Kobe in Los Angeles but look at those aforementioned names. Although New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is a great offensive player, he’s no Jordan, Pippen, Shaq or Kobe! Not even close!
Carmelo has to understand the dynamics of the triangle and be willing to take fewer shot attempts. He has to buy into the fact that trusting his teammates to execute their specific roles, will in turn reward him and the organization in the long run. The G.O.A.T. (Michael Jordan) bought into the system and it helped him win SIX championships! Along the way, he took less shots, shared the load, and helped turn Scottie Pippen into one of the 50 greatest players of all time!
Derek Fisher has to accept some of the blame as well. As the head coach, he’s suppose to make sure that every player from one to fifteen understands his role. New York Knicks center Samuel Dalembert shouldn’t be taking jump shots unless the shot clock is running out at the end of the half, and he’s attempting a buzzer beating shot! During his entire 13 year NBA career, his job has ALWAYS been shot blocking and defense! He’s NEVER been the focal point on offense.
Courtesy: NY Post
Iman Shumpert is known primarily as a lock down defender. On the other end of the spectrum, his athleticism and versatility makes him sort of an anomaly. He was drafted by the New York Knicks as a point guard, the position he played at Georgia Tech. Fisher and the Knicks brass are supposed to recognize this hidden talent and expose it to the rest of the league.
If Carmelo is to become the superstar he thinks he is, he should want to bring out this talent in his teammate and reap the rewards. That’s why he will never be as great as Lebron James or Kevin Durant. These players recognized early that scoring the basketball was a very small part of taking that next step toward greatness. Melo seems to think that unless he’s hoisting up 30 to 35 shots per game, his team has no chance of winning. He’s not completely to blame.
His coaches have never told him otherwise and if they did, maybe he just doesn’t want to buy into it. From Jim Boeheim at Syracuse to Mike D’Antoni, to even Mike Woodson with the New York Knicks, these guys have never got into this guy and made him see the benefits of being a team player. George Karl probably was the last guy to point this out to him and we see how that worked out.
It ended with Melo wanting out of Denver and Karl saying how difficult it was to deal with Melo’s personality. All this coming from a man who coached one of the biggest personalities to ever play the game, Gary “The Glove” Payton! Besides being one of the greatest defensive players ever, Payton also was the ultimate TEAM player. When Shawn Kemp was gaining steam on his way to multiple all star selections, Payton continued to nurture him until they reached the NBA Finals at the end of the 1996 season. He understood that he AND Kemp made Seattle successful and not just him.
To sum it all up, Carmelo has to be less selfish and trust his teammates, Dalembert has to rebound and defend, Fisher has to empower Shumpert and unleash his talents, JR Smith has to focus and show up EVERY night, Hardaway Jr has to be consistent, Stoudemire has to continue doing what he’s been doing this season, and finally, Phil Jackson has to LET GO of that triangle offense!! The New York Knicks don’t have the personnel for it and it DOESN’T WORK for them! At the end of the day, this is just my observation from the outside looking in.
