New York Knicks: Triangle Saving Carmelo Anthony’s Energy?
The New York Knicks are three games into the 2014-15 season, and new head coach Derek Fisher has begun his career with a somewhat surprising 2-1 record. He, along with Phil Jackson, have brought with them the triangle offense, a philosophy that helped Jackson claim 11 NBA titles as a head coach (and Fisher 5 as a player).
The results thus far are mixed; much of the time the execution is sloppy. That is to be expected with the recent overhaul and emphasis on ball movement and playing through the post, a far cry from the isolation heavy offense the Knicks ended up seeing last season, leading to a season that resulted in a losing record. Players like J.R. Smith have already come out and said they are personally struggling to adapt to the system, and there have been times when it’s shown.
There have been times, however, when the Knicks have actually looked pretty good. Including their defeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers super-team, New York also knocked off the Charlotte Hornets, led by Carmelo Anthony‘s 28 points. With the sudden uptick in fortunes for the New York Knicks, it’s fair to wonder how the triangle offense is effecting the resident superstar.
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So far this season, Anthony is averaging 22.3 points on 50 percent shooting, taking only 3.3 three-pointers per game after launching 6.2 and 5.4 the past two seasons. Whether that is a result of the triangle completely will be revealed over time, but it’s hard to brush off the increase in efficiency as a mere coincidence.
Less free lancing on that end of the court has the added effect of both slowing the game down for the New York Knicks (they play at a pace of 88.61 possessions per-48 minutes, the slowest in the league) and limiting the amount of points that opponents can score against their poor defense; 95.7 points allowed per game (tied for 7th in NBA) versus a 108.8 defensive rating (5th-worst in the NBA).
Of course it’s a small sample size, and the offense continues to be a work in progress, but having a coordinated attack on that end of the court has shown marked improvements just about everywhere else; including the win column. It’s hard to make the case that the triangle is conserving Carmelo Anthony’s energy considering he still sports a 32.4 percent usage rate (the percentage of a team’s offensive possessions a player uses when on the court) which is good for the sixth-highest mark among players that have averaged more than thirty minutes this season.
Instead, Carmelo Anthony has taken a huge step back in his rebounding, whether that be by design or circumstance, dropping from his career-average of 6.5 rebounds per game, to a lowly 2.7 so far this campaign. He’s snapping up only 8.5 percent of available defensive rebounds while on the court, according to NBA Stats. If this becomes a trend, it certainly could become a problem for the Knicks down the line.
Overall, it’s hard to tell if the triangle offense is indeed “conserving energy” for Carmelo Anthony, but so far it has made him far more efficient. By picking his spots, and taking higher percentage chances, he’s taken his game to a higher offensive level in terms of field goal percentage. And that could pay huge dividends down the line for the New York Knicks.