Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  107 responses

Carmelo Anthony Struggling to Adjust to New Knicks Offense


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The New York Knicks lost a tough one in Dallas last night, as Carmelo Anthony was held to a ghastly total of just six points. Afterwards, he admitted that he’s having trouble with the new way his team runs their offensive sets.

‘Melo isn’t entirely sure of his place in the new alignment, something his coach admits is a struggle for everyone at the moment, and Anthony says it’s been tough to adjust to not having the ball in his hands so much.

From the NY Post:

Anthony scored 6 points in a 2-of-12 disaster and sat and watched the second unit nearly steal a win over the defending champion Mavericks. As a capper, Anthony bolted the locker room early, heading for the bus, saying to a reporter, “Not tonight.” Fifteen minutes later, Melo returned to the locker-room area to speak to a small group of writers and admitted adjusting to the new alignment has him confused on the court.

The Knicks fell to the Mavs, 95-85, last night to go 2-4 since Melo returned to a new structure created by Jeremy Lin, whose emergence stoked a 7-0 spurt with Melo missing most of those games with a groin injury. “I think any time you go from the early part of the season and having the ball and distributing and now waiting for it to come to me, it’s quite an adjustment for myself,” said Anthony.

As has been the case lately for the Knicks, it was the backups (with the help of Amar’e Stoudemire and his 26 points) who led the way late in the game, as they nearly stole a win from the Mavericks with Carmelo Anthony watching for much of the comeback.

With so many new players on the roster, and so little time to prepare in this lockout-shortened season, it was inevitable that the Knicks’ offense wouldn’t easily gel. That being said, as a leader Carmelo must overcome his frustrations, and figure out a way to get his team back on track.

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  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    The Knicks losing is like darkness, and Red comes out of the woodwork to take pleasure in our pain. :( Someone turn on the lights!

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    it makes no sense that they would just hand the offense over to Jeremy Lin. Melo should be the focal point of the offense, ALWAYS. Then Amar’e. Then if those two are sitting then run the offense through Lin.

  • l2ising Phoenix

    lights please, lights please, turn on the lights

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    He was struggling before Lin was inserted into the lineup, so……..

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com/ O

    It seems like Amare is FINALLY finding his game. I think Lin is trying TOO hard to get Melo involved in the offense as opposed to running around and finding the open man. Not to mention have you seen how hard heads have been fouling Lin whenever he drives into the paint? Lin is a marked man. It’s only going to get tougher on the kid. As far as Melo goes, he hasn’t found his shot and needs to focus on taking it hard to the rim until he does. Melo knows he doesn’t have the power or speed like LeBron and because of that Melo stays getting stuffed or trying to lay it up instead of slamming it down. Truth be told, they need a better coach to figure out how to maximize their game and who isn’t scuuurred to tell Melo to stop taking shots and take it to the rim and get fools in foul trouble…

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/03/deshawn-stevenson-lebron-didn%e2%80%99t-play-like-he-should-have-played-in-nba-finals/ bike

    Well, the Lin party had to come to an end sometime. Another week or two of bad play by Melo and Knicks will unearth the closet haters. Then will come the Linevitable headline: Flash Lin the Pan?.

  • http://dennysisforwinners.blogspot.com DennysFishTacos

    No more Paul Pierce comparisons, because Pierce is five years younger and can take him any night of the week and twice on Sunday. Carmelo Anthony is the second-coming of Glenn Robinson.

  • http://slamonline.com datkid

    paul pierce is not younger than melo. and for the record melo can take paul. but whatever.

  • T-Money

    O: Melo can’t bang on dudes right now because he’s criminally out of shape! I haven’t seen him play above the rim this year at all.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Most criminals are in better shape than Melo.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    Melo’s out of shape? I don’t agree with that.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    who would have thought? nobody cares orange, and nobody is surprised either.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com/ O

    Sorry Orange, Melo is tipping the scales more to the east than he was when he first came into the league. He’s not even hiding it either with those young ass jerseys he be rocking. And Melo’s had WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more success than Glen Robinson. If Melo was able to figure out how to play with Billups he’ll figure out how to play with Lin.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com albie1kenobi

    the biggest issue is d’antoni hasn’t been able to figure out how to play Melo since his arrival. that’s a fact.

  • http://slamonline Jimbo

    Melo is a pure scorer…. use that to your advantage d’antoni. Lin is good offensively but like @nbk said they should run the offence through melo

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    All this Melo is out of shape talk is hilarious. He looks to be in great shape to me. I love his burst after all that time off he had to heal his groin. I believe Melo’s going to have a great second half of this season. Melo just need to stay focused on his defense, rebounding, and timely hooping during winning time. Everything else will fall into place.

  • JV#10

    Melo played well with Iverson in Denver. So it should not be such big issue playin with Lin. Both Iverson and Melo scored over 25 game. So maybe biggest issue is D´Antoni and his style.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Melo is literally having the worst season of his career. And he’s shooting 39%. For the so-called “best scorer in the league” he better be out of shape. Or he has regressed, and regressed an alarming amount.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Yeah, Carmelo might be a rich man’s Glenn Robinson. Good comparison.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Considering Melo put up 26PPG in D’Antoni’s system in the same amount of games last season, I think it’s pretty clear that the guy is out of shape. Especially if you watch him without some replica New York blinders on like our dear resident troll who is more optimistic about the Knicks then Javale McGee’s Mom is about Javale McGee.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    There are a lot of factors why Melo hasn’t played well during this compressed 66 game lockout shortened season. Some of it’s been the team has been without a true point guard. Some of it’s injuries Melo’s suffered during this hectic season. Some of it’s guys figuring out how to play with each other on the fly. The Knicks are not just bringing Melo back into the starting lineup, but they’re bringing in JR Smith, Baron Davis and Josh Harrellson into the rotation off the bench. I wouldn’t be surprised if D’Antoni eventually started Baron Davis, and brought Lin off the bench to tell you the truth. Bottom line, still a lot of time to figure things out and be ready come playoff time.

  • MeloMan3.0

    Orange, I am probably Melo’s biggest supporter… I’ve watched him no stop for a decade now… and he is out of shape, its obvious. I don’t know what he did during the lock out, or maybe he’s taking too long to heal from his surgeries in the summer, but its clear that he’s out of shape. And it hurts my heart watching him go out there like this

  • red

    was there already another guy in here with the name Red? I rarely post.. I guess i’ll change my name.

  • http://slamonline.com 1982

    This is still D’Antoni’s fault. F’n play the damn team, even if you’re losing. When Miami tried to gel last year, they just played terrible fourth quarter basketball. But that’s how they got to the point they’re at today. You keep them out there until they learn to fix their mistakes. If keeping Melo on the bench is your playoff strategy, then I guess D’Antoni is doing the right thing. But if you’re just trying to win meaningless games when you’ll likely make the 8th seed at the very least, you’re wasting your time.

  • Da real

    Why is everyone so scared to keep it real?? They won all those games without him ( and Lin blew up the second he got hurt) and then he came back an the Knicks suck again. Lin is doing his thing and Baron and Amare look good. Shumpert and Smith are both playing well and Fields, Chandler and Novak are playing their respective roles. The problem is Melo. He’s not a team player and he doesn’t go hard half of the time. Say what you want about Lebron, but he plays hard every game. Get rid of Melo and the team will better, even if they get nothing back in return.

  • Cool Dude

    Stick melo in the second unit. The knicks were winning without him.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com/ O

    I’m a hardcore Knicks fan, but there’s NO way you can compare the Stat/Melo combo to James and Wade. James and Wade are offensive and defensive beasts. Stat and Melo are offensive minded but aren’t beasts like dem South Beach boys. I wish they were, but they’re not. And as far as defense, Stat and Melo aren’t even defensive cubs much less defensive beasts. I give props to Stat for last night when they assigned Tyson to guard Dirk and Stat stepped up and requested that he guard him, but that about it. MAYBE they can turn into decent defensive players – like they claim they want to – but they need a coach to get on they ass about it on a daily basis. Knicks have an incredible amount of pieces to put together a championship team THIS season, but the coaching staff have no clue on how to put it together.

  • Mike Jones

    melo is the best pure score in the league. he is the best player in the triple threat situation. it has been a tough year with injuries hurting him to get into any kind of routine for the year, but it comes down to this when the knicks are in the playoffs are you going to want the ball in the second units hands, NO, are you going to want the ball in Lins hands, NO, Amare NO. THe team need to understand anthony is the franchise and he is a volume shooter he needs to be taking at least 20 shots a night. ANd the Fans need to get behind the man not get off him.
    Melo you are the Man.

  • http://Slamonline Jimbo

    Cosign @mike jones except that I would also prefer Lin and Amare if there are no other options.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    The Knicks need to conform to Melo. The Knicks will not go anywhere with Lin as the star of the team. Ask the other two teams that cut him. Flip Murray had the same kind of success first games in league. BOOK IT!!

  • David chacon

    Melo will be ok..they just need to fire d’antoni..and please get fields out of the starting unit, that guy should be coming off the bench. Start either shump or J.r. at the two.

  • http://www.nba.com Red

    Max stop it Lin is a superstar & Steve Nash’s poster child! Lol @hater, having an opinion=hater? KK stop listening to Hip Hop kid. And sorry Orange, you guys went ballistic with “Linsanity”, this is well deserved lol. Yeah @other Red, thanks.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    ^ Hating is having the opinion of a hater… And you’re like Dave Chappelle at the Player’s Hater’s Ball. Hate hate hate.

  • http://www.nba.com Red

    And a hater would be..? Someone with an opinion that clashes with the majority view? K exactly idiot, lol.

  • Lan

    It was a tough loss vs Dallas. the Champions were treated with their due respect by the refs.

  • http://www.nba.com Red

    LOL @ blaming the refs, the Knicks really are delusional.

  • da real

    @Mike Jones, Jimbo, 8 years in and you still dont see what Melo really is?? CANCER! I would not be surprised if more than half of the teams in the league didnt want him. You think Indy wants him?? They winning games with Granger and Hibbert. Thats half of what NY has. Its not Dantoni, he gives everyone the green light and dont wild out over D like vangundy and adelman. If you cant get off in this system its on you. Get rid of MELO!!!!!!

  • Robin

    They just suck this season. Horrible. I blame them for the Knicks failure so far this season. They have to step up BIG TIME….

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    Called Anthony Glenn Robinson a long time ago…

  • Matt Park

    At least he’s admitting it and he seems open to playing together with Amar’e AND Lin… I think the Knicks can figure it out. They just need to feed Anthony in the post more, use him as the pick-and-roll handler, and let him do his thing by creating space on a side of the floor and clearing out. I mean, let ‘Melo be…’Melo.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com/ O

    WOW! The Knicks are horrible without Chandler and Jared. No one wants to play big D! Are they homophobes? (Get it? Big D?) We might HAVE to trade Chandler and Melo for big D. Howard if we want a shot at the title. Even though i’d prefer a Dwight/Melo combo over a Dwight/Stat duo. But a trade might – depending on the deal – would free up some cap space to gas up Deron this summer to link up with NYC.

  • anynomous

    Hopefully, Melo figures it out by the PO. The knicks should be more concerned about their defense though. That`s problem #1. They`re giving up over 100 points too easily and the opposing point guards (hint: lin`s counterparts) are lighting them up right now – dwill, rondo, parker. Dallas` PG would`ve lit them up if they had one. Problem #2 is: Having too many guys who need the ball in order to be effective – lin, Melo, stat, bdavis and jr. Problem #3 is: Having too many guards who all expect some real playing time – jr, bdavis, novak, douglas (has no role), lin, shumpert, fields. Problem #4 is: Having your most important players be your most injury-prone players. Problem #5: Lack of offensive fluidity. Problem #6: Too high of expectations – a product of living in NY and the claims by dantoni, stat, and bdavis that they are championship contenders…. the list goes on and on.

  • Drig

    anynomous…………..Doesn’t half of the things you said fall on the heads of Mike D and GM?

  • Justin G.

    @anynomous…Is it really Lin’s fault that those point guards you named are lighting them up? You’ve just named three of the top 5-7 point guards in the league. They do that to everyone. And does anyone else see the humour in Orange telling someone else they have “delusions of grandeur”?

  • Dingo Rob

    Start Melo on the bench for 2 games

  • dan

    we cant judge anything by the “game” last night. obviously the knicks just came out to help the spurs run their layup drills

  • kev

    overatted

  • kev

    overrated

  • Mooney10

    Melo cannot do anything unless he has the ball, that is the sad reality of his game. He doesn’t play defense, he is stagnant without the ball and he doesn’t pass, haven’t seen him get consecutive assists in like 20 games, needs to go back to basics and figure that you don’t have t take 20 shots a game to be effective, get to the line!

  • Mike From Spain

    I always thought that the Knicks should have gone for an elite PG and not for Melo, much better fit. The frontcourt is settled, the wings are great energy and defensive minded young ones, the missing link was the PG until Lin emerged. But before Lin emerged, I did not think Melo was a good fit. I don’t remember if the Knicks could get Deron at some point, now that he’s in the same conference it is more difficult but…

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