Carmelo Anthony's injury needs to be a final wake-up call for the New York Knicks.

Power forward is where he belongs.

Anthony is done for the season while he rehabilitates a left knee injury, a partially torn patellar tendon that he suffered two games into the Knicks' schedule, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Much has been made of this setback, from Anthony's four-to-six month timetable to his decision to play in the 2015 All-Star Game despite being hurt.

But this side of Anthony's surgery, with the Knicks' season already lost, there is only one concern: New York's future and how the star forward fits into it.

Offensive Advantages

By the time next season rolls around, Anthony will be 31, years removed from having the luxury of patience. He himself has become more reflective since re-signing with the Knicks, readily acknowledging that Phil Jackson's rebuild must begin in earnest and be completed in haste.

“The time is now,” he said earlier this month, via ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley. “The time is now to kind of start building for the future. I don’t think we can wait. Not just for my sake, just in general, I think the time is now. The window is now. I think we’ve got to take advantage of that.”

Indeed, this is a weird thing to say for someone in Anthony's position. His Knicks have the NBA's worst record and, by all appearances, are lifetimes away from championship contention.

This need to accelerate the process is borne out of Anthony's age. The belief that it can be expedited is rooted in the Knicks' financial flexibility through the coming summers.

And yet, while successful free-agency ventures are a necessity for the Knicks at this stage, using their best player properly is equally, if not more, important.

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Anthony's success at power forward as been well-documented, making the Knicks' decision to play him at the 3 extremey puzzling.

To that end, the jury is already out on what's best for Anthony and the Knicks. It's been out for a while since the 2012-13 season: Anthony needs to start at power forward.

Each of the two previous seasons, which were the best individual campaigns of Anthony's career, saw him spend a majority of his minutes at power forward. More than 75 percent of his playing time came at small forward this season, giving way to predictable regression.

Anthony's player efficiency rating (21.7), while still above average, was the lowest it's been since 2011-12, the last time he spent most of his time at small forward. His PER was markedly better at the 4; he registered a 25.8 at power forward, according to 82games.com, which would rank fifth in the entire league and out-paces his score at small forward by 4.7 points.

None of which is especially surprising given what's happened over the last three years:

Playing Anthony at power forward has been a no-brainer long before now. The league is trending toward floor-spacing modules that emphasize the importance of shooters manning four of the five available spots. Starting Anthony at the 3 is merely a way of embracing traditional—and therefore outdated—lineup combinations.

There's no discounting the added tactical advantages, either. Anthony will always get his touches in the post, but when playing power forward, he forces those accustomed to defending closer to the basket on the perimeter.

Drawing opposing 4s out of their comfort zones is a boon for the offense. Whether Anthony works off the dribble or comes off screens as a spot-up shooter, he's typically quicker than his opponent, making it easier for him to create space or establish himself as a direct threat off pick-and-rolls.

And with the Knicks offense devolving into a 28th-ranked, brick-laying disaster, this team isn't in position to ignore any trace of possible upside.

Defensive Necessity

Thought Anthony was a defensive liability before?

Think again.

Injuries and Father Time have changed everything, as The Wall Street Journal's Chris Herring noted during the Knicks' first game back from the All-Star break:

Would love to see Fish slot Melo in as PF next yr. Was already less than ideal as a defensive wing. Even more so now, w/ surgery & being 31.
— Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) February 21, 2015

Shifting back to the 4 won't turn Anthony into an active and engaged defender. It doesn't even guarantee better defensive results. Statistically speaking, Anthony has fared better when guarding opposing small forwards:

Still, this isn't about maximizing Anthony's defensive performance per se. Twelve years deep into his career, he's set in his ways. Opponents knocked down shots at above-average clips against him this season, and that's unlikely to change.

But going up against opposing small forwards, patented wing scorers, will wreak hell on his body. His lateral quickness probably won't be the same after this latest surgery. Even if it is, Anthony has nearly 33,000 minutes—playoffs and regular season—on his treads. The Knicks have to start thinking about preservation.

Conserving his playing time won't be an option, though. Not immediately. Not when Anthony is still in his prime, and the Knicks, in all likelihood, are still working with a star-shallow roster. They need him. They need his scoring.

In the 1,227 minutes they've logged without him thus far, the Knicks are averaging just 93.5 points per 100 possessions. That would rank as the sixth-worst offensive rating of all time.

Capping his minutes, then, is not an option. But the Knicks can control where he plays.

Athletic wings don't dominate the power forward like they do small forward, even if they're contemporary floor-spacers. For every LeBron James—who, for the record, has spent most of his time at small forward this season—there are more Kevin Loves, Enes Kanters and Ryan Andersons: frontcourt staples who lack explosion and the ability to run Anthony ragged with incisive cuts and nimble dribble drives.

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Pushing 31 and being forced to recover from knee surgery, Anthony's place in the Knicks' lineup is not at small forward.

Covering opposing forwards does, indeed, subject Anthony to the threat of more bully ball, forcing him to line up against hulking beefcakes who can overpower him with their back-to-the-basket sets. But the imminent danger is minimal.

Post-ups aren't as common in today's game. As the number of shooters grows and as the importance of three-pointers mounts, teams are straying away from time-consuming interior sets.

The Memphis Grizzlies run post-ups more frequently than any other team, and those account for under 15 percent of their total offensive plays. Pau Gasol and Zach Randolph are the only two power forwards (minimum 200 touches) who go to post-ups at least 30 percent of the time.

When the alternative has Anthony regularly defending the NBA's Paul Georges, Kevin Durants, and Jameses—or even the Tobias Harrises, Michael Kidd-Gilchrists and Luol Dengs—that's a risk ratio the Knicks can live with.

Clear Answers the Knicks Don't Yet See

Moving Anthony back to power forward is not a panacea. The Knicks will still have to worry about his age and surrounding talent. They will still have to worry about his fast-closing title window.

Using him at power forward is strictly a way of capitalizing on readily available offensive advantages while catering to Anthony's unavoidable twilight. It's a form of treatment for what ails the Knicks—one they've avoided all season.

Melo's Minutes Distribution | Create infographics

As Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal wrote:

Over the last few years, the Knicks have gotten away from what's worked.

Anthony has more success at power forward, so naturally the team is going to transition out of any schemes that feature him as the second-biggest player on the court.

Apparently, playing Anthony at the 4 isn't part of the vaunted Triangle offense.

Derek Fisher is an extension of Jackson, and Jackson has seldom embraced the stretch-forward effigies that have become so popular—in part because he coached during a different era, but mostly because the triangle offense, which the Knicks aren't exactly running now, calls for frequent elbow action.

Where should Carmelo Anthony spend a majority of his time upon returning from injury next season?
Small forward Power forward He should evenly split his time at both slots. Submit Vote vote to see results

Running Anthony at the 4 would be a deviation from this concept, an admittance that the Knicks will butcher and contort and warp the system to meet player needs rather than ask talent to conform.

After suffering through a season like this, an experiment run aground, wholesale changes—unbecoming of Jackson's triangle vision or otherwise—shouldn't be difficult to implement.

Especially as they pertain to Anthony.

The Knicks' future is nothing if not insecure. Fixing part of its livelihood to Anthony only makes sense if the aging star is put in position to succeed.

Which, in this case, is the power forward position.

Running Anthony at the 4 would be a deviation from this concept, an admittance that the Knicks will butcher and contort and warp the system to meet player needs rather than ask talent to conform.
After suffering through a season like this, an experiment run aground, wholesale changes—unbecoming of Jackson's triangle vision or otherwise—shouldn't be difficult to implement.
Especially as they pertain to Anthony.
The Knicks' future is nothing if not insecure. Fixing part of its livelihood to Anthony only makes sense if the aging star is put in position to succeed.
Which, in this case, is the power forward position.

I think the premise of the entire article is wrong. It assumes that neither Melo nor the team can have success actually running the system properly. The team losing wasn't because Melo was playing out of position. It was simply due to the players around him not executing at a high enough level. Melo was the least of the team's problems. His offense was only hampered by his knee injury and a lack of overall execution by the team as a whole.

It doesn't really matter in the Triangle what position Melo plays on offense. The way the offense works he will end up in the Pinch post or outside at different times on any given possession. It's a completely free flowing offense and players move and get the ball at different spots on the floor. It requires that players have the talent to be effective from anywhere on the floor. The team will win when everyone executes better and plays more efficient BB. It's that simple.

There's no need to change the system or anything. Just play better and bring in better talent.

what the numbers don't show is that playing PF takes a toll... he may not do a lot defending the post but now you have to fight all the pf's for rebounds and in general... deal with a much more physical game offensively and defensively....

lebron's best position is pf too but spoelstra said that he tried to limit his minutes there because it is a grind playing bigger players every game...

It's just not smart to play Melo as a PF. We're gonna have bigger players on the team who can take the pounding. We want Melo shooting from 3 and in the midrange working the Pinch Post as he's always done. He's close enough to the basket to get their in 2 steps or he can just jab step and pull up or work off a down screen and take an open jumper. He needs to work on a low rise set shot as opposed to the high jumper he's taken all his career. Just look at how Paul Pierce was able to extend his career by taking that low rise set shot. Heck that's what i've been using in my older age. It's low impact but I can still get it off quick.

Vmart wrote:Melo at the 4 is a major disadvantage. You want your PF to be highly efficient and average more than 8 rebounds a game. He needs to play sf and do more movement without the ball.

Guys only want to see their big men shooting 3s. That's all this generation cares about. Im sick of reading it.

You need to pay team defense and rebound. You can't do that playing small ball. I'm so sick of it. Play melo at the 4 then complain that team has no interior defense. Guys don't know what the hell they are talking about.

Now for stints? Yeah he can play the 4, but you can't start every game like that. We want to win not make the wanna be fans and know it all writers happy.

I do however like small ball but I didn't like the way the Knicks ran it with basically 3 combo guards. I would much rather have two combo forwards surrounded by traditional player's. Shump was not able to attack the Boozers and Wests when guarded by them. He was too inconsistent.

If the Knicks want to use the triangle they will need another forward who is comfortable on the perimeter but who can switch defensively and guard multiple positions.

nixluva wrote:The most important thing to get straight is that we don't lose because of Melo. We lose because the rest of the team hasn't been good enough. That's the thing Phil is trying to fix. Melo will always be able to get his, that's not the issue. It's about the entire team executing at a high level. The better the rest of the team is at executing the offense and defense the less reliant they are on Melo and his load is lighter.

It's just not smart to play Melo as a PF. We're gonna have bigger players on the team who can take the pounding. We want Melo shooting from 3 and in the midrange working the Pinch Post as he's always done. He's close enough to the basket to get their in 2 steps or he can just jab step and pull up or work off a down screen and take an open jumper. He needs to work on a low rise set shot as opposed to the high jumper he's taken all his career. Just look at how Paul Pierce was able to extend his career by taking that low rise set shot. Heck that's what i've been using in my older age. It's low impact but I can still get it off quick.

the most important thing to get straight is that melo is a tweener that is grossly overrated and grossly overpaid. it was lunacy to give him this contract with a no-trade clause, but yeah, lets look past that and soften the blow with canards like "the salary cap will increase" and "we have this pick" and "so and so's salary comes off the books." and now he is saying crap like "the time is kind of now" to do a quick rebuild. what a fricking clueless hypocrite.

your point of view about melo and the triangle is mere whistling through the graveyard. he doesn't have the passing skills requisite for a frontcourt player and any notion of someone coming in and doing a switch on either end of the court to cover melo's flaws as a defender is misguided.

it's easy to do a quick rebuild when you have a player you can actually build around. it's extremely difficult to find players that come relatively cheaply and who are willing to play hard to cover up the weaknesses of an overpaid, overrated teammate who possesses zero leadership skills.