Amar'e Stoudemire's usage rate took a hit due in part to Boston's Paul Pierce-less lineup on Sunday. (Errol Anderson/MCT/ABACAUSA.COM)
It is remarkable how quickly the Knicks have become Carmelo Anthony’s team, considering how Amar’e Stoudemire looked like a realistic candidate to lead the league in scoring over the first half of last season. Some of this transition was inevitable given New York’s personnel and the two stars’ respective skill sets.

Stoudemire is a demon in isolation plays, but he has always been more of a pick-and-roll finisher, not someone who initiates offense 25 feet from the rim. Anthony has never played a true “point forward” role for any extended stretch, but he’s a decent ball-handler, and the Knicks have one healthy point guard in Toney Douglas — a point guard still learning the rudiments of the job at the NBA level.

And so Anthony will take on a hefty chunk of the ball-handling/passing load, though the Knicks will distribute it among Carmelo, Douglas and even second-year guard Landry Fields and rookie Iman Shumpert (once he returns from a knee injury in a couple of weeks). New York fans envisioned a powerful Anthony/Stoudemire pick-and-roll combination after the Carmelo acquisition, but a funny thing happened on Christmas: Amar’e was the screener on (by my count) just one of the many pick-and-rolls Anthony ran in the Knicks’ 106-104 victory against the Celtics.

Anthony partnered up with Tyson Chandler on the rest of his (many) pick-and-rolls. This is not to say Stoudemire played a bit role on those plays. The Knicks placed him behind the three-point line, either in the corner or on the wing, using Stoudemire’s shooting range to keep the lane open. If Stoudemire’s defender is scared of leaving to clog the lane, that makes things easier for Anthony, who is still learning the intricacies of handling and dishing in crowded spaces while on the move. The kick-out pass to a spot-up shooter is one of the easiest plays to make on the pick-and-roll, and Stoudemire, with two three-pointers Sunday and a very reliable mid-range jumper, is a nice option to have. He can either stick in his spot behind the three-point line or loop up from the corner to the foul line area as Chandler rolls to the rim.

Chandler’s presence makes it easy to recall how Dallas would occasionally use Dirk Nowitzki in the way the Knicks used Stoudemire on Sunday — as an attention-drawing, spot-up decoy on Chandler pick-and-roll plays. Stoudemire isn’t in Nowitzki’s league as a long-range shooter, but it’s a useful way to keep both stars actively involved, even when only one can handle the ball.

But it will be interesting to watch whether scoring responsibilities ever slide too far Anthony’s way. To wit: On Sunday, Stoudemire used just 18.1 percent of New York’s possessions with either a shot, drawn foul or turnover. That’s very low for a star. If a team distributed its possessions equally among all five guys on the court, each would post a usage rate of 20 percent. Stars routinely crack 30 percent in individual games, and Stoudemire’s career average is about 27 percent. Stoudemire posted a usage rate higher than 18.1 in 77 of the 78 games he played last season; his usage rate was 18.0 in the other game.

Some of this obviously had to do with the Celtics’ lineup. Paul Pierce was out, meaning Boston had no workable matchup for Anthony, who finished with 37 points on 10-of-17 from the field and 13-of-15 at the line. Marquis Daniels, who guarded Anthony down the stretch, is a heady defender, but he’s giving up at least two inches and maybe 30 pounds in that matchup. The Knicks rightfully attacked Daniels frequently in crunch time, and Stoudemire (21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 3-of-4 at the line) would have seen the ball more had Pierce been available.

Still, the lack of pick-and-roll plays for Stoudemire was jarring. This is one of the league’s most devastating pick-and-roll finishers — so much so that David Thorpe of ESPN.com suggested in a must-watch video last week that Blake Griffin should emulate the way Stoudemire worked with Steve Nash in Phoenix. Stoudemire finished precisely zero plays as the roll man on Sunday (per Synergy Sports), and as mentioned above, he did not work the play as Anthony’s direct partner. Stoudemire loves slipping screens — cutting quickly down the lane without really setting a stationary pick. Passing to a guy who slips a screen involves a split-second reaction. It’s a play based on quickness and timing, not one when a ball-handler can take a few dribbles around the screen, survey the defense and find the screener in the lane. Maybe Anthony and Stoudemire just don’t have that kind of timing down yet.

Again: It’s just one game, and the Knicks put up a huge offensive number against an elite defense, so it’s not as if there’s much to complain about. New York should be a very good offensive team regardless of how it distributes possessions. Defense will determine how good the Knicks can really be, and there is a long way to go on that end. And the Knicks can redistribute some shots Stoudemire’s way by making sure Douglas does not lead the team in field-goal attempts, as he did Sunday with a whopping 19. But balance was going to be tricky the moment the Knicks chose Anthony/Chandler over an elite point guard; let’s watch how they figure it out on a night-to-night basis

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/12/26/stat-to-watch-stats-role-in-new-york/

martin wrote:one of the most devastating PrR players will not work with a real PG for another 4-10 weeks and ... why is the obvious conclusion surprising or worth an article?