K P 6 wrote:moocow007 wrote:So I'm still waiting for someone to explain what the Knicks alternatives were (realistic one's, not fantasy ones like "why can't Anthony be Lebron James" ones) for the bulk of Anthony's tenure in NY as far as offensive alternatives were. Have to have had plenty for Anthony to have disrupted. No? So what were they? 3 weeks of Linsanity? Half a season of Amare Stoudemire? Ray Fatty Felton? JR "6MOY" Smith? Round pegs in square hole Triangle offense? Derrick Rose?
Ironically, the Knicks best season during Antony's tenure (2012-2013) so happens to be the season where he ISO'd the most (highest usg% BY FAR of his career) and took the most shot attempts per game of his Knick career (2nd most of his career).
This is not about defending Carmelo Anthony, it's about trying to understand what "potential greatness (or even just some decent ok-ness)" Anthony spoiled by his ISO shooting ways? Jeremy Lin? The same guy who clearly has rocketed to stardom once removed from Anthony's selfish shadow?
Really, this is an indictment of the Knicks organization's inability to build teams (which we've seen long before Anthony got here and very well could see long after he's gone). Seems to be a continuing lack of perspective going on here. And, yes, we needed Lebron James not Carmelo Anthony but if it were that easy to get a Lebron then every team would have one, no?
That season the team had good pieces to compliment Melo. Get Melo involved and shoot 3's. also had a ton of leadership. He also played a lot of 4 that year if im not mistaken. For me its when the team needs him to lead and pick up his ball movement and leadership is when he just doesnt look right.
But that's not his game. It's never really been his game. Same thing with Stephon Marbury. But here's the thing, none of that should have been a surprise for anyone (not for when Anthony was in Denver, not for when Marbury was in Phoenix) prior to him coming here and yet it seems that folks still are shocked by what they got. Anthony is (was) always a player who's offensive skills far outreached his defensive and passing skills. He's never been Willis Reed or Michael Jordan or Lebron James in terms of being in the forefront sheep herding and goading his teammates on. And yet, that also seems to be something that folks can't accept.
Which is why they say he's a robin and not a batman.
That could be, but I think you then would be surprised how few "Batman" types there are in the NBA. We're talking maybe 5 total, tops in terms of guys that can make mostly crap teams great by doing things beyond scoring. Again, I think the danger that folks have is expecting too much and being unrealistic.
I understand as fans, we want our players to do what we expect them to do, want them to do, dream that they could do, but can't accept what they actually are and are realistically able to do. Anthony, as he showed in the 2012-2013 season, is an offensively talented player that can be the focal point offensively IF you can build a team around him. Was the same situation in Denver (where they build teams around him that fit his skills) where he was very successful.
What's also interesting is that, Anthony has pretty much always been the best player on every team he's been on so him being more of a Robin (or a Nightwing type...upgrade over basic Robin but not quite Batman right?) says more about what he's lacked that A LOT of other players (that fans jock up on) have had...a Batman or multiple Batman like players. And that it may not be Anthony so much as the front offices at various points in his career not being able to build the type of teams that these so called "great players" have had that have won.
We can't force him to be what he's not but the ability is sure there.
A lot of people can do a lot more than they can but don't. That doesn't mean that they should be vilified for it does it? And that's what is happening. Same kind of thing has happened throughout Knick history. Ewing was basically run out of town because folks blamed him for not being Michael Jordan. Marbury was run out of town cause folks blamed him for not being Magic Johnson or (ironically) Isiah Thomas. That's what I'm getting at. Unrealistic expectations that set people up to cast stones that aren't warranted. I can understand if Anthony has failed to do the things that he should have been acquired to do (see Aroldis Champman right now with the Yankees) but he's held up that end. What he's not been able to do is to be Lebron James or the like. But that was never a realistic expectation (same with when the Knicks traded for Marbury and folks expected him to somehow lift an otherwise crap team run by crap front offices to anything special).
He's a scorer who now relies on the post game even more. Its frustrating because he's such a physical beast but settles for jumpers. In his defense he gets no calls. He's such a dead eye catch and shoot guy but still wants to be ball dominant. Great player but has flaws. Time to move on. Reminds me of JR, embrace what you have and you will get the best out of him. A team will take advantage of what he does well.
I mean he is getting older so the slow down is expected. He also has a lot of mileage on his wheels even for a player his age. Also for pretty much his entire tenure in NY, ball movement has been brutal, with no real PG that can make his life easier and a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't expectation to carry an offense due to lack of other real serious options. In Denver, where the offense actually functioned at a high efficiency under George Karl, Anthony was far more active moving and not the ISO centric monster that he turned into in the 7 years in NY.
Definitely time to move on. And you can argue that they should have never traded for him to begin with.
