New York Knicks: Is Carmelo Anthony Scrutiny Deserved?

If you’re a New York Knicks fan, you almost certainly have strong feelings on Carmelo Anthony and the state of the team since he’s called Madison Square Garden home. As the second-most polarizing NBA star in the league (hello, Bron) in the most visible market in the world, one can understand the intense scrutiny that Melo is under. Is all that scrutiny fair?

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WHY HE DESERVES THE SCRUTINY

To be considered among the NBA’s elite, one must do two things — be consistently great (and available), and have playoff success. Anthony has missed 11, 15, 5 and 42 games over the last four years. Some quick math shows us he’s missed 23 percent of his team’s regular season games (73 of a possible 312). I don’t care if you’re the King of Basketball, if you only play in 3/4 of your team’s games, you’re not doing enough.

In the playoffs, Anthony’s teams have won just one of four series and haven’t been a serious threat since he’s been in the Big Apple. The Knicks expected Anthony to show up and be the superstar that the Knicks have been waiting for since Patrick Ewing took his talents to Seattle. Instead, he’s posted a playoff record of 7-14 with two consecutive absences from the NBA’s second season.

Then there’s the fact that he’s largely a one-way superstar. I don’t think anyone is challenging Anthony’s ability to put the ball in the basket. Preventing that from happening, well that’s a different story. Anthony has posted a non-positive DBPM (defensive box score plus/minus) in EVERY SINGLE SEASON OF HIS CAREER. His absolute best season was in 2011-12, when he got up to 0.

In a nutshell, that tells us his defensive ceiling — the best he’s ever played — resulted in him being average. For some reference, LeBron James is on an 11-year run of a positive DBPM, Kevin Durant has been in the positive three of the last four years and Paul George has been in the plus four out of five seasons.

WHY HE DOES NOT DESERVE THE SCRUTINY

First, let’s address the lack of playoff success by taking a close look at the roster surrounding Anthony. These players are the four other opening day starters since Melo has been in New York (2010-11 is his first game with Knicks, not opening night):

2014-15: Shane Larkin, Iman Shumpert, Amar’e Stoudemire, Samuel Dalembert
2013-14: Raymond Felton, Iman Shumpert, Pablo Prigioni, Tyson Chandler
2012-13: Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton, Ronnie Brewer, Tyson Chandler
2011-12: Toney Douglas, Landry Fields, Amar’e Stoudemire,Tyson Chandler
2010-11: Chauncey Billups, Landry Fields, Amar’e Stoudemire, Ronny Turiaf

I generally have a real distaste for blaming the front office for too much — especially when evaluating a superstar — but those lineups tell us all we really need to know. Aside from Stoudemire’s tremendous 2010-11 season when he was dominant, there’s no legitimate offensive threat on that list.

Going a step further, the draft hasn’t exactly bore fruit. Kristaps Porzingis — this year’s No. 4 overall pick — is the only first-round pick the Knicks have on their roster that they actually drafted. Their previous first-rounders (Tim Hardaway Jr, 2013, Iman Shumpert, 2011, Jordan Hill 2009, Danilo Gallinari, 2008, Wilson Chandler, 2007) are all gone.

The Knicks went all-out to get Anthony in the first place, giving up Chandler, Felton, Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, Eddy Curry, Anthony Randolph, a first-round pick and two second-round picks to get Anthony and spare parts. Can we really fault Anthony for the front office’s inability to surround Anthony with more talent?

Part of the problem is Anthony will always be compared to LeBron. Some will point out that LeBron brought his teams to the playoffs every year despite some horrific supporting casts. For Melo, he might be a once-in-a-generation talent, but he’s always being compared to a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

One thing Melo can do is produce offensively. He’s No. 4 among active players with a 25.2 points per game career average (No. 12 all-time), he’s No. 34 in NBA history in points scored (20,924) and he led the league in scoring in 2012-13 (28.7).

In Anthony’s last full healthy season (2013-14), he averaged 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals with a shooting line of .452/.402/.848. Can you name the last player to average 27/8/3/1? It’s happened 19 times and the last was Chris Webber in 2000-01. Aside from Webber and Melo, every other player on that list is a Hall-of-Famer.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/8/2015.

Heady company to say the least. Yet for some reason, we’re deluged by hate on social media with questions about Melo’s ability.

SO DOES HE DESERVE IT?

He’s been labeled a ballhog, a ball-stopper and a regular season star. I might be in the minority, but I want the best offensive player on my team taking the lion’s share of the shots. With that said, can you name a single player that Anthony has made better on the offensive end? We know he’s not Steve Nash, but certainly he’d have an effect based on the attention he draws.

Then there’s the playoff (dis)appearances. In the 21 games that Melo has appeared in with the Knicks, he’s shooting just 40.4 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from the 3-point line. His playoff PER has decreased in five consecutive appearances, from 24.3 with the Denver Nuggets in 2008-09 down to 20.4 in 2012-13 with the Knicks.

When he’s healthy, he’s terrific offensively. I can only imagine how good he could be if he had more talent surrounding him. But in my eyes, a greater supporting cast should be the difference between bowing out in the conference semis and winning the NBA Finals.

For Melo, it’s been the difference between being in the lottery and struggling in the playoffs. Until he makes a deep playoff run, he’ll continue to receive (and deserve) the brightest of spotlights on his game.

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