The Truth About Melo
by Tommy Dee on August 5th, 2012 at 10:47 am

Here’s what we know about Carmelo Anthony.

He struggles to get out of the first round of the playoffs. The reality of that fact is that 5 of the 9 teams Anthony lost to in the first round went on to the NBA Finals and 4 of those 5 won titles. But facts are facts, in his career he’s only won 1 playoff series.

Carmelo also gets blamed for forcing a trade to the Knicks, who had to give up “too much” for his All-NBA services. Last I checked players don’t actually and officially make trades, front offices do, and from someone who was in the trenches, daily, of what on going and laborious series of events in 2010-11, there was a time Denver absolutely didn’t want to trade him to New York. Melo was only extending in New York was what I kept hearing, but had Denver played hard ball, who knows what would have happened. Would they have traded him to New Jersey? Would Melo have gone to free agency? Another fact is that when you look at the players in the deal Felton is back with the Knicks and Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, combined, make Melo’s money. Where the Knicks going to pay them that? Bottom line is that it’s hard to say right now that the Knicks gave up too much for Melo.

Patrick Ewing turns 50 today and the expectations placed on Anthony for this year are certainly Ewing-esque. Knicks fans want a championship and championship ball is defined by ball movement… errr, defense. Um, I mean ball movement and defense? See, fans thought Mike D’Antoni couldn’t win a title despite his supreme ball movement style because he ignored defense. The Knicks improved last year under D’Antoni, drastically in fact, but one could make the argument that the Knicks defense would always have struggled in big games as long as D’Antoni was running the shots. Right? Or was it because Melo is a malcontent? Anthony gets blamed for D’Antoni walking out on the Knicks, but there were much deeper locker room issues than just Anthony. Ask anyone close to the team- there were different clicks. More than two, in fact. While D’Antoni was here, from Nate Robinson and Larry Hughes to Anthony and Jeremy Lin, the locker room was never fully unified. Coach D’Antoni is nice guy for sure, but that is a fact. It was never his nature to challenge players to their faces especially off the court.

Ewing was an all-time great NBA player. He was one of the greatest players in NY sports history. He unfortunately played in Michael Jordan’s era in terms of title chances and maybe even more unfortunately was penalized for stepping one foot on the floor in Miami. I would have given anything to see the Knicks battle Jordan’s Bulls in 1997. Ewing also was never fully appreciated by the fans until after his career ended here. Why?

The media.

Patrick’s relationship with the media was cantankerous and before the age of social media and a wide range of information gathering, fans relied on the papers to tell the story. Patrick was moody and rarely outgoing. He was sensitive and didn’t open up about himself. That’s just who he was and yet somehow that made him a bad person despite it never making him a bad teammate. The guy was a warrior.

Anthony has no choice now. All the excuses are gone and the only thing that remains is for him to become the player everyone expects him to be like the one who is dominant during the Olympics. Like Ewing had the Bulls, Melo has an uphill climb with the heat firmly entrenched in the conference, but if the Knicks can win the Atlantic Division then they gain home court advantage that Ewing always had which set him up for constant series wins and big games at home during the playoffs. That’s the goal for this year.

Look, Melo maybe setting himself up for a massive fail, but don’t let anyone convince you he’s Stephon Marbury because those teams weren’t as good. Don’t let people convince you that Melo doesn’t want to win or that he’s a malcontent.

Like with Patrick, he has a mountain of expectations on his shoulders. Let him prove it to you one way or the other this year.

arkrud wrote:It is wait and see.
The only thing I know for sure - this team will be soo booooooring to watch.
The only hope they will defend well... then it will be at least nostalgic.

Winning is always fun.

CashMoney wrote:

arkrud wrote:It is wait and see.
The only thing I know for sure - this team will be soo booooooring to watch.
The only hope they will defend well... then it will be at least nostalgic.

Winning is always fun.

Yes, but losing ugly is the worst!!! This team HAS TO WIN or it will be an excruciatingly slow death. You don't want to have an OLD team that plays walk it up ball and doesn't win. I don't think that will happen but it is a possibility. NONE of us know for sure just how these guys we brought in will work out. I have my gut feeling that this team will be a top team, but that's it. there are no guarantees.

My guess is that this team should under any circumstance be a top defensive team. We simply have way too much defensive talent now, not to be a top team on D. That being the case it's hard to imagine this team not being one of the Elite teams in the East if not the league.

arkrud wrote:It is wait and see.
The only thing I know for sure - this team will be soo booooooring to watch.
The only hope they will defend well... then it will be at least nostalgic.

I really enjoyed the 18-6 run under Woodson. I had grown very tired of long losing streaks and under .500 ball. I also was tired of how deep a hole the Knicks would dig themselves coming out of training camp. Hopefully that trend is over now also and the Knicks get off to a good start. It would be nice if the Knicks were competing for home court in the playoffs next spring instead of playing guys major minutes in hopes that they get in.

fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Look, Melo maybe setting himself up for a massive fail, but don’t let anyone convince you he’s Stephon Marbury because those teams weren’t as good. Don’t let people convince you that Melo doesn’t want to win or that he’s a malcontent.

On this board, being considered Stephon Marbury would be a step up for Melo at this point.

[sets the trap...steps back slowly]

Melo lovers desperatly need to believe that Melo is hated around here.

H some fans arent thrilled with having a guy who cant win postseason games and shoots .419 in playoff games marketed as this wonderful savior that we should all be thanking our lucky stars is even on the roster. We are all just waiting for him to do something great.
For the Knicks.
When that happens super. Until then he's just another overpaid overhyped minion of James Dolan. He made his bed. Go be a big boy and deliver the goods.

Hey... if he fails you can always look back at the great olympic moments vs. Angola or Nigeria and remember that despite all the haters Melo truley had the heart of a champion

Bonn1997 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Look, Melo maybe setting himself up for a massive fail, but don’t let anyone convince you he’s Stephon Marbury because those teams weren’t as good. Don’t let people convince you that Melo doesn’t want to win or that he’s a malcontent.

On this board, being considered Stephon Marbury would be a step up for Melo at this point.

[sets the trap...steps back slowly]

Melo lovers desperatly need to believe that Melo is hated around here.

Exactly

H some fans arent thrilled with having a guy who cant win postseason games and shoots .419 in playoff games marketed as this wonderful savior that we should all be thanking our lucky stars is even on the roster. We are all just waiting for him to do something great.
For the Knicks.
When that happens super. Until then he's just another overpaid overhyped minion of James Dolan. He made his bed. Go be a big boy and deliver the goods.

Hey... if he fails you can always look back at the great olympic moments vs. Angola or Nigeria and remember that despite all the haters Melo truley had the heart of a champion

You should look up the shooting % for the Knicks in the playoffs. It aint pretty

and i am sure melo fans will find someone to blame.. amare and the fire extinguisher, lin not being there(although melo really didn't want him there), baron davis exploding knee, no shumpert, george karl, etc....

CrushAlot wrote:

arkrud wrote:It is wait and see.
The only thing I know for sure - this team will be soo booooooring to watch.
The only hope they will defend well... then it will be at least nostalgic.

I really enjoyed the 18-6 run under Woodson. I had grown very tired of long losing streaks and under .500 ball. I also was tired of how deep a hole the Knicks would dig themselves coming out of training camp. Hopefully that trend is over now also and the Knicks get off to a good start. It would be nice if the Knicks were competing for home court in the playoffs next spring instead of playing guys major minutes in hopes that they get in.

I'm confused on why watching this team will be boring to watch. that 18 and 6 run was very enjoyable to watch.

callmened wrote:@FoeDiddy - im optimistic about the season..i expect 50 wins

but this is why it could be boring:
1. offense will consist of ISO plays for melo
2. slow it down conservative offense
3. defense FIRST

im ok with this cuz this strategy is what got the knicks to two championships in the 90s (insert ewing for melo)

I find it funny when people say this stuff. I'm not against the concept of grind it out BB, but other styles have won. The Heat just won with an aggressive D, but they actually want to get out and run. They don't want to play halfcourt slow it down BB on offense.

Just cuz this team may have to play slow doesn't mean it will lead to an ECF's appearance. There's more to it than that. I'm just hoping that this team isn't still going to struggle to score as much as we did last year. Good teams with with a balanced team and not just a good defense.

Bonn1997 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Look, Melo maybe setting himself up for a massive fail, but don’t let anyone convince you he’s Stephon Marbury because those teams weren’t as good. Don’t let people convince you that Melo doesn’t want to win or that he’s a malcontent.

On this board, being considered Stephon Marbury would be a step up for Melo at this point.

[sets the trap...steps back slowly]

Melo lovers desperatly need to believe that Melo is hated around here.

Exactly

H some fans arent thrilled with having a guy who cant win postseason games and shoots .419 in playoff games marketed as this wonderful savior that we should all be thanking our lucky stars is even on the roster. We are all just waiting for him to do something great.
For the Knicks.
When that happens super. Until then he's just another overpaid overhyped minion of James Dolan. He made his bed. Go be a big boy and deliver the goods.

Hey... if he fails you can always look back at the great olympic moments vs. Angola or Nigeria and remember that despite all the haters Melo truley had the heart of a champion

You should look up the shooting % for the Knicks in the playoffs. It aint pretty

I hate to sound apologist, but people forget with Melo that he's been the best or only real consistent scoring threat on most of the teams he's played with (not organizations, but the other players he plays with). So in the post season when you're playing against a team like that, you double the guy force him to a weaker side, make him take bad shots, strong single the next best option...all of which equals a lesser FG%. It's stupidly simple and has happened to many of the great when they didn't have a solid second option. The other way is to look at a team and evaluate the surrounding talent. If they're trash then you let the guy have his big games knowing that he's not going to win it alone...like Jordan before Pippen cam e along. Not that Jordan couldn't have his way with teams, but exerting anything more than a double on him before Pippen came to complete the triangle was relatively needless.

My hope is a healthy team with a full training camp and everyone on the same page...HOPING that that page isn't just get the ball to Melo (unless he's playing point forward)...that this team can not only play well together, but win some games and get deep into the playoffs. Right now Melo is in a tough spot:
- Bigger spotlight than any other player in the game, but he asked for that spot which I respect
- in a championship starved city (NBA that is), imagine if they win one!
- in a era where the media and fans make little or no allowances for circumstances that might deny them rings (Ewing, and Barkley, and Malone were forgiven for not being able to beat Jordan and Pippen, but Melo won't be if James, Wade, and Bosh win a handful of rings while NY "watches")
- an era that also praises James, when he clearly has the biggest ego and colluded, but analysts, critics, and fans are slamming Melo because of his ego...do folks think Kobe, Wade, and other star championship MVPs humble and were they before winning their rings? Yes Duncan is ridiculously level headed, but he's the exception.

Anthony is a pro athlete and acts accordingly, which is not how I'd want friends to act, but he's not my friend and doesn't have to be...unless he brings the Knicks a ring.