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New York Knicks: Don’t Count Out Carmelo Anthony

By Paolo Santamaria

Oct 30, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots over Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) in the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots over Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) in the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Let’s get this out of the way: Carmelo Anthony is a top-10 player in the NBA. Yes, he sat out much of the season with injury and watched from the sidelines as the Knicks limped to the NBA’s second-worst record, but that’s no reason to forget about the best pure scorer in the NBA.

It’s a lofty claim, sure, but Carmelo Anthony (Melo) is nothing short of spectacular on the offensive end. With a career average of 25.2 points per game on 46-percent, 35-percent and 81-percent shooting splits from the field, three-point range and free throw line, Melo has an array of moves that allow him to score in a variety of ways.

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Just shutting down the paint or driving him off the three-point line hardly deters him; Melo will find a way to score, as he has always done, never averaging below 20 points per game for his entire career.

And it’s no wonder why–he arguably has the prettiest shooting stroke in the NBA.

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He also has an incredibly refined post game for a 6-foot-8 small forward, allowing him to slide over to the power forward position in small ball situations. The year he won the scoring title (2012-13), while pouring in 28.7 points per game on 45-38-83-percent shooting splits, actually came with him primarily playing the 4.

With moves like this, it’s hard to imagine him being stoppable in any way:

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Finally, despite not being overwhelmingly athletic, Anthony finishes with strength around the hoop, absorbing contact and sending home jams like this one:

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Beyond his excellent shooting stroke and arsenal of moves, Melo uses his great strength to rebound very well for his position, averaging nearly seven a game for his career, topping out at eight per contest in the 2013-14 season.

Moreover, his offensive rebounding is among the best, with an offensive rebounding rate of 6 percent over his entire career. LeBron James, another great rebounder for the forward position, has just a 4.6 percent career offensive rebounding rate. Compared to LeBron, Melo grabs 1.2 percent more of all available offensive rebounds while he’s on the floor.

There are, of course, several knocks on Melo’s game.

First of all, many cite his lackluster defense as a reason as to why he is an unreliable superstar and leader–a fair assessment. However, Melo has never played on an elite defensive team and, for much of his career, mainly guarded wings. Since his switch to the power forward slot, he’s been much more serviceable defending the post.

While he is nothing more than an average defender, he more than makes up for it offensively, especially considering how careful he is with the basketball.

Melo posts an incredibly high usage rate, the percentage of his team’s possessions he uses (either by shooting or turning the ball over), and averages fewer than three turnovers per game. In his virtuoso 2012-13 season, Anthony led the league in usage at 35.6 percent but posted a mind-boggling 9.3 percent turnover rate, with just 2.6 per game.

Comparatively, in Russell Westbrook‘s league-leading usage campaign in last season, he posted a 38.4 percent usage rate with a 14.3 percent turnover rate and a sloppy 4.4 turnovers per game.

Putting the ball in Melo’s hands guarantees the Knicks a good shot, or at the very least, a useful possession. His effectiveness in taking care of the basketball helps him combat one of the other knocks on his game–he cannot be a team leader. In the 2013-14 season, Melo’s Knicks missed out on the playoffs, but just barely, despite losing most of their team to injury.

They closed the season with four wins in a row, finishing 7-3 over their last 10 games, just one game back of the eighth seed. Though Melo sat out the last two games, he brought his team within striking distance, a team devoid of the pieces that once made it a 54-win team the season before.

Further combating the “cannot-lead-a-team” criticism, Carmelo Anthony has already shown he can lead a great team deep in the playoffs. In 2009, his Denver Nuggets battled the gauntlet that is the West, making it to the Conference Finals before falling to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

This success, however, came in arguably the perfect system for Melo, leading to the most valid criticism of his game–he needs a certain type of point guard to truly succeed.

In his two best seasons–the ’09 playoff run with Denver and the entire ’12-13 campaign, he had the benefit of playing with point men who could both distribute but were also comfortable playing off-ball as spot up shooters: Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd, respectively.

They meshed with Melo seamlessly, and since that time, Raymond Felton and Jose Calderon have failed to provide Melo the same style he excels alongside.

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    • Still, the future is bright for Anthony and the Knicks as they recently drafted Jerian Grant in exchange for trading the Atlanta Hawks Tim Hardaway Jr., an inefficient shooter and iso-player who limited Melo’s touches.

    Grant is a four-year college player from Notre Dame, earning first team All-American honors his senior year while averaging seven assists per game. In addition to being an NBA-ready facilitator, Grant has a nice shooting stroke, averaging 35 percent from three over his college career.

    Admittedly, his shot selection diminished his senior year, but his junior year three-point average of 41 percent should bode well for maximizing the effectiveness of Melo’s game.

    Because of his ability to draw double teams, Melo needs solid spot up shooters surrounding him; however, his lack of passing prowess necessitates a capable point guard paired with him, one who creates passing opportunities and distributes without being ball dominant.

    And it looks like the Knicks could have found that in Grant, who has already showed promise in the ongoing Las Vegas Summer League:

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    "View post on imgur.com"

    And that isn’t even mentioning hopeful Euro-stud and fourth-overall pick Kristaps Porzingis and free-agent signings Arron Afflalo (a solid 3&D guy and former teammate of Melo’s in Denver) and Robin Lopez (an above-average rim protector who will help Melo defensively).

    Sure, the Knicks may be coming off a 17-win season and their worst in franchise history, but don’t count them out of the playoff race, even if it is just the eighth seed. Last time I checked, they still have Carmelo Anthony. And if history tells us anything, counting out Melo is nothing short of insanity.

    Next: 25 Greatest Individual Seasons in NBA History

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