Carmelo Anthony said he expects to play some power forward this season. Anthony said the Knicks may use him there to take advantage of a matchup on a given night, but it sounds as if he’ll vacillate between small forward and power forward. "I’m pretty sure I’ll be at the 4; especially with the makeup of this team, I’m pretty sure I’ll be there," he said.

http://espn.go.com/blog/newyork-knicks/post/_/id/63022/carmelo-anthony-pretty-sure-hell-play-pf

With the news that Melo will likely be at the 4 for much of the year, this is how I see the current depth chart, feel free to edit accordingly [guys in brackets are presumed D-Leaguers in Westchester]

Guards: Calderon, Grant, Galloway, [Trice]
2/3's: Afflalo, Early, Sasha, Thanasis, [Wes Saunders]
3/4's: Melo, Derrick Williams, Lance Thomas, [Dajuan Summers]
Bigs: RoLo, Seraphin, KP, O'Quinn, Admundson, [Darion Atkins]

my one worry is with Melo moving down to the post, that likely puts Afflalo at the 3 on occasion. the Guard depth is shallow, with 3 guys to play all of the minutes at the 1 and a good amount of time at the 2, plus with Calderon's injury history (last 4 years - 42 games played, 81, 73, 53), its likely there will be stretches where its just Grant and Galloway. Is Trice any good? i think its clear we need him or another guard stashed on the Dub-Knicks for depth purposes.

really love our front court though. Melo is a killer at the 4, RoLo is going to be great, and the mix of guys who are young and still have upside (DW, Seraphin, O'Quinn, not to mention our Unicorn, Mr. Kristaps Porzingis) lead me to believe one or two guys will emerge and be better than expected.

Doesn't make sense to put Melo at 4 all the time, he gets beat up, and negates our size advantage. Just play a traditional lineup, and run triangle like Phil intended to do!

Opening day starting lineup will probably be:

PG - Calderon
SG - Afflalo
SF - Melo
PF - DWill
C - Lopez

We should substitute out DWill if he continues his career suckage with O'Quinn or Porzingis if he shines early. Grant for Calderon at some point this season is also a no brainer.

Coming off a knee issue at his age, I would have hoped that he took off some weight, especially if he planned on playing at the 3.

Also have to consider the state of his injured leg and if its completely healed.

lbs. + leg determine where he plays, IMO.

In a sense the floor is divided into 2 halves. You have the side Triangle and the Pinch Post on the other side of the paint. This makes things very easy for any guard because they really only read half of the floor once they get into the Triangle actions. If the ball is reversed from the Triangle side and you're a guard in the Pinch Post side of the floor, you mostly are focused on working the Two Man game with the Pinch Post player and you will have other players on the Triangle side of the floor as passing targets, if you attack the basket and the defense collapses to try and stop you.

EVERYONE will become a passer at some point in this offense. The 3, 4 and 5 can become passers when they get the ball and watch teammates cut. It's so different from most every offense that puts most of the passing into the hands of the PG.

dk7th wrote:

blkexec wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Any reports of Anthony's weight compared to the same time last year?

Coming off a knee issue at his age, I would have hoped that he took off some weight, especially if he planned on playing at the 3.

Also have to consider the state of his injured leg and if its completely healed.

lbs. + leg determine where he plays, IMO.

I don't know, but if you follow Melo.....who's also mentored by Kobe. They believe in putting on weight before the season......Because they typically lose weight during the season. I'm not saying I agree, just stating some facts I've heard.

nonsense. melo usually starts off in okay shape-- as in not supreme or elite-- and then gains during the season.

How do you guys gauge this? How do you tell what kind of shape a player is in? How does dk7th tell if a player is in OK, supreme or elite shape?

ChuckBuck wrote:If Melo starts and plays the majority at the 4, it means some of these pieces are on the move and will be traded at some point, as we have a crowded stable at both forward positions.

Doesn't make sense to put Melo at 4 all the time, he gets beat up, and negates our size advantage. Just play a traditional lineup, and run triangle like Phil intended to do!

Opening day starting lineup will probably be:

PG - Calderon
SG - Afflalo
SF - Melo
PF - DWill
C - Lopez

We should substitute out DWill if he continues his career suckage with O'Quinn or Porzingis if he shines early. Grant for Calderon at some point this season is also a no brainer.

DWILL needs to earn a starting spot, no way you can hand one of the biggest under achievers in draft history, a starting spot

martin wrote:

dk7th wrote:

blkexec wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Any reports of Anthony's weight compared to the same time last year?

Coming off a knee issue at his age, I would have hoped that he took off some weight, especially if he planned on playing at the 3.

Also have to consider the state of his injured leg and if its completely healed.

lbs. + leg determine where he plays, IMO.

I don't know, but if you follow Melo.....who's also mentored by Kobe. They believe in putting on weight before the season......Because they typically lose weight during the season. I'm not saying I agree, just stating some facts I've heard.

nonsense. melo usually starts off in okay shape-- as in not supreme or elite-- and then gains during the season.

How do you guys gauge this? How do you tell what kind of shape a player is in? How does dk7th tell if a player is in OK, supreme or elite shape?

asz->hand pull->dk7th mind..."hmm looks pretty solid, must be real"-> regurgitate @ uk board.

blkexec wrote:

dk7th wrote:

blkexec wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Any reports of Anthony's weight compared to the same time last year?

Coming off a knee issue at his age, I would have hoped that he took off some weight, especially if he planned on playing at the 3.

Also have to consider the state of his injured leg and if its completely healed.

lbs. + leg determine where he plays, IMO.

I don't know, but if you follow Melo.....who's also mentored by Kobe. They believe in putting on weight before the season......Because they typically lose weight during the season. I'm not saying I agree, just stating some facts I've heard.

nonsense. melo usually starts off in okay shape-- as in not supreme or elite-- and then gains during the season.

I never said melo was out of shape.

But I thought I heard somebody say (maybe it was Lebron) that he prefers to put on a little weight before the season, because during the season, he will lose it. And the extra weight gives them stored energy that helps them last during the entire season. Again, just relaying what I read.....Still trying to find the article.

FYI....Melo will never pass the eye test as far as being in shape. Thats just his body type. But you can't be a consistent scorer in the NBA (top 5 every season) without being in shape.

Not sure why to debate it...
This will be easily seen from how he will play.
He was never relying on pure athleticism.
The part of his body that he will need to have in shape will need to be his brains.

CrushAlot wrote:

blkexec wrote:

dk7th wrote:

blkexec wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Any reports of Anthony's weight compared to the same time last year?

Coming off a knee issue at his age, I would have hoped that he took off some weight, especially if he planned on playing at the 3.

Also have to consider the state of his injured leg and if its completely healed.

lbs. + leg determine where he plays, IMO.

I don't know, but if you follow Melo.....who's also mentored by Kobe. They believe in putting on weight before the season......Because they typically lose weight during the season. I'm not saying I agree, just stating some facts I've heard.

nonsense. melo usually starts off in okay shape-- as in not supreme or elite-- and then gains during the season.

I never said melo was out of shape.

But I thought I heard somebody say (maybe it was Lebron) that he prefers to put on a little weight before the season, because during the season, he will lose it. And the extra weight gives them stored energy that helps them last during the entire season. Again, just relaying what I read.....Still trying to find the article.

FYI....Melo will never pass the eye test as far as being in shape. Thats just his body type. But you can't be a consistent scorer in the NBA (top 5 every season) without being in shape.

The guy as a knick has been one of the league leaders in minutes and has won player of the month in April twice. Clyde also has commented on Melo's being in supreme shape at the start of the season and DK denies it because he doesn't watch the games and says he won't believe it unless he hears it.

he is playing too many minutes that is true. but if he is playing that many minutes he needs to be in better shape. he does not close out games effectively enough. he is not a lock down defender at the ned of games and he makes bad decisions often at the end of games. when you make bad decisions when your dumb that's one thing but you can also make bad decisions when you are not getting enough oxygenated blood to your brain and eyes.

fisher lamented that many of those losses last year were by 5 points or less. i checked and there were twelve games that melo played in in those first 30. if he were in better shape he would be able to make plays.

as far as my not watching the games, i don't understand why you continue to lie about that.

dk7th wrote:
fisher lamented that many of those losses last year were by 5 points or less. i checked and there were twelve games that melo played in in those first 30. if he were in better shape he would be able to make plays.

so how do you know this? How can you tell the level of shape a player is in?

Also, what level of shape is each player on the Knicks?

Caledron
Galloway
Early
KP
Seraphin

Vujanic
Thanasis
Thomas
Williams
Amundson

I think we are solid in our rotation of one and twos, it offers a decent mix of penetration, defense and shooters. Our SF position is very concerning. I hope Early or Dwill steps it up this season because we don't have much reasonably coverage for Melo at that position.