Carmelo Anthony needs a true play maker by his side to take Knicks to the next level – NBA Feature
Carmelo Anthony had a great experience at the London Olympics, where he was one of the top scorers for team USA and showed his shooting skills, particularly his three-point shooting.
New York Knicks fans would have keenly watched Anthony’s game during the Olympics and will now be hoping that the forward would bring the same type of confidence and shooting streak to the Knicks next season, leading the team deeper into the playoffs.
Anthony was traded to the Knicks during the 2009-10 midseason trade window from the Denver Nuggets, and was teamed up with Amar’e Stoudemire to take the Knicks back to conference supremacy. However, Anthony has so far failed in living up to his expectations and doing for the Knicks what many thought he would do.
Anthony has not missed the postseason in any of the nine seasons he has played in the NBA. However, he has only taken his team past the first round once, during the 2008-2009 NBA season when the Denver Nuggets reached the Eastern Conference Finals. On all other occasions, Anthony and his team lost in the first round.
Anthony was drafted in the same class as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade back in 2003. In nine NBA seasons, LeBron led Cleveland to Eastern Conference supremacy, coming close to winning an NBA title on more than one occasion while Wade won the championship for Miami. Both are now part of arguably NBA’s best team and are just coming off a championship winning season.
Anthony has been unable to do that for the Knicks. And that is because Anthony is not the type of player to lead a team. He is a great shooter, and one of the finest clutch players in the league, but he does not have the on-court vision of a point-forward like LeBron James. He is not a great passer and an average defender at best. He is not able to take charge of a game and do whatever is necessary to get the victory. He is a player who prefers a slow paced game and needs to be fed the ball in the right position to be able to score.
In the Olympics, Anthony was surrounded by playmakers such as Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James. His job was to shoot and he shot very well once he got the ball at the right places on the court. In the Knicks line-up, he does not have a legit point guard to make plays for him.
The Knicks parted ways with Jeremy Lin after the end of the season partly because he did not fit in with the playing style of a Carmelo Anthony dominated offence. He wants the offense to play through him. However, he does not realize that he needs a play maker to help him with his game and to help the Knicks move to the next level.
The Knicks have Raymond Felton and veteran point guard Jason Kidd on the roster for the next season. This will be the ideal time for them to change their offense and for Anthony to accept his role as a shooter rather than a play maker. He needs to let others run the offense, and concentrate on finding open shots. Unless Melo makes that transition, the Knicks are not going to move up in the Eastern Conference.
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