Knowing what was expected for the New York Knicks this season, their poor 4-11 start, with losses in 10 of their past 12 games, shouldn’t be that disappointing to Knicks Nation thus far.
But hearing Carmelo Anthony complain of lingering knee pain and later, seeing him walk off the court in Houston with severe back spasms, might be cause for some serious concern.
So much so, it’s something that rookie head coach Derek Fisher should take into careful consideration as the rest of the current NBA season progresses.
It’s not that Fisher doesn’t already have enough on his plate with learning how to be an NBA head coach for the first time, figuring out the best rotations on an inadequate roster replete with one-way players, trying to teach his new team a new triangle offensive system and getting the Knicks to consistently communicate and execute defensively.
However, in the team president Phil Jackson’s grand scheme, it’s not about this season. It never was.
New York’s five-year plan hinges directly on two things: Carmelo Anthony’s production and that of any sufficient complementary pieces that Jackson can ultimately place around him.
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The latter part of that plan begins next summer, when the Knicks will finally have enough salary cap space to make significant enough moves which might give Anthony the additional star power he would need to make New York legitimate Eastern Conference title contenders.
That’s fine, but the Knicks have to get to that point first.
None of that will mean a thing if Anthony, the franchise player and cornerstone of that design, isn’t healthy enough to be the type of player Jackson hoped he’d still be when he signed him to an expensive near-max, five-year deal in July.
After playing a combined 77 games with the Denver Nuggets and the Knicks in the year he was traded to New York, Anthony only played in 55 games the following season and 67 during his lone NBA scoring title year a season later.
He rebounded to remain healthy and play 77 games again last year. But already, after the Knicks’ 12th game of this season (a loss in Milwaukee, on Nov. 18), Anthony admitted to Knicks beat writer Marc Berman (of the New York Post) that he had been battling knee pain since the team’s second game in Cleveland.
"“It’s been sore since maybe the Cleveland game,’’ Anthony revealed at the time. “I’ve been trying to go though it and play through it. I try not to think about it. Some days are better than others.’’"
Since that game, Anthony’s minutes, which (at a career high 38.7 last year) were more than he and the Knicks would have liked last season, began to climb.
Over the next dozen games, prior to leaving New York’s last game in Houston with back spasms (on Monday night), Anthony averaged 36.6 minutes game while ranging between 38 and 42 minutes in half of those contests.
The last thing Jackson can afford within the larger framework of the Knicks’ rebuilding process is for the foundation of his eventual vision for success to start breaking down sooner than expected — especially with Anthony now playing his first season on the wrong side of his 30th birthday (which occurred on May 29).
Thus, as eager as Fisher is to quickly attain his own measure of success as a new coach, it’s of far greater importance for him to ensure that he doesn’t risk New York’s potential progress while gambling with Anthony’s health now.
If that means resting Anthony a little more often when Fisher’s instincts point in a different direction at times, it’s a tactic that Anthony’s coach may have to strongly consider when his star player returns to the lineup — even if that might result in more loses and hinder Fisher’s attempt to turn the Knicks’ season around.
Jackson, Fisher and Anthony are all in this together, on the same five-year timetable, knowing full well that their blueprint for trying to return New York to a long-awaited contending status wouldn’t realistically begin to take shape until the start of Year 2.
With that in mind, Fisher needs to be as prudent and as patient as possible with not pushing Anthony too much this season until more substantial help begins to arrive next summer.