Carmelo Anthony Discussion Thread - All Things Melo

clumsy

Rotation player
I have been watching Melo alot now and i have to say there is 1 weakness in his offensive game. He is in love with that Right Corner 3 a lot. If you notice a lot of times when they get him the ball there, he does a step back, 3 point shotfrom the right corner and he consistently misses that. In fact i don't even know why he stands there, that's bad coaching by Woodson.

http://vorped.com/bball/index.php/player/page/919-Carmelo-Anthony


He's not the greatest defender but he's not a bad defender either. He is average.
 

skisloper

Starter
Forget all that.

Melo should speak up for himself when the time is right.
If Refs aren't doing their job, someone should let them know.
I don't think Melo should do it all the time, but it's inhuman to have someone be cool with the BS that goes on with the refs.

You seem more like a fan of the refs than Melo, trust me. Melo not complaining to the refs isn't going to help us drastically. We're going to be ignored on calls that should be on our favor.

Melo doesn't need to make no one better, we need to acquire better teammates. You're stupid if you think anyone in the league can make this roster look good. Look who he's passing to. The only real offensive minded player on the team is JR Smith, and you can't get assists passing to him. He's so dumb that if Melo passed him the ball under the basket with no one around him, he'd probably dribble it twice for no reason and thereby negating Melo's assist... or he'd miss twice intentionally to pad his rebounding totals. I guess he could pass to Hardaway... he's not bad. If he passed to Felton, Felton would just pass it right back. Point is, no matter how good or bad a passer he is, he just doesn't have the team around him to warrant a lot of passing. Melo's job isn't to be Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. When we get a PG who can do these things, Melo will still contribute. Melo ALWAYS passes out of double teams, he does what he needs to do as 27 godlike scorer. Melo averages 2.3 turnovers a game while averaging 27 points, that's very efficient scorer. He doesn't get a lot of assists, because his main three shooters (Felton, Smith and Shumpert) are all shooting 33% this season. But you want to blame Melo for that? You're dumb. Melo is actually a strong passer as well so what if it isn't a "highlight" no look pass.. a pass is a pass. He also gets a lot of "hockey assists." And lastly, his rebound numbers and turnover numbers are very good... not to mention when you are the best guy on the team bar none, you will be the receiver of the assist, not the person passing for the assist most of the time. You have a flawed way of thinking these things out.

I have no love for Melo, I ripped him better than anyone did on this site and I'm providing him support when he does well. I'm a Knicks fan first.


You seem to be more of a fan of the refs or anything that isn't related to Knicks success.


did did up just say u have no love for melo ? It's more like an obsession.
I could not be anymore of a die hard knick fan. I see the flaws in The way melo plays the game not his ability to play it. I do believe if he had Phil Jackson like Jordan and Kobe did those flaws would vanish and melo would be a champ not champ of scoring.
 

Crazy⑧s

Evacuee
Ahahaha, hilarious that you had to edit your post after completely failing to read mine and correct yourself.

I'm done with you, you embarrassed yourself and you know it. Have a good day :)

image.png
 

Kiyaman

Legend
A 5 Star response

Ok metro, you want some information and research, let's go there.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....lo-say-hes-not-the-alpha-dog-on-a-title-team/

Here's a little snippet from an ESPN article where Chris Broussard talks to league executives (I value these peoples opinions slightly higher than a deluded fan of one player who still thinks the ghost of abcd's 5th grade posting level is quality forum material).

Amusingly, this league executive compares Melo to Stephon Marbury, a comparison which anyone who wasn't a Marbury nuthugger would realize is actually NOT a compliment ;)

Further to this they appear to share my opinion that he doesn't play like a leader (complaining about foul calls and not getting back in transition being one example of this) and that he doesn't play enough defense. Interesting.

In regard to bad shots, here's a snippet from the Knicks own coach Mike Woodson on Melo taking bad shots:

"They've got to try and take better shots sometimes," the coach said after Monday's practice. "Sometimes, some of those difficult shots that you?re accustomed to making that you?re not making, you got to figure out a way to get better shots." (On Melo and JR)

In my last post I provided a specific example of how Melo took one of the worst shots in league history as the final shot this season, but let's delve a little deeper. The clutch aspect of Melo that his supporters are so quick to jump on when praising his ability as a player. Melo is 1-15 on game tying/game winning shots as a Knick. His one shot that fell in that situation? A layup! Oh my goodness, so when Melo actually attacks the hoop and gets a close range shot in the clutch he scores but when he takes a turnaround fadeaway jumper over two defenders he doesn't?! What kind of sorcery is this? Could it be that Melo is so accustomed to taking bad shots that these habits are causing us to lose games sometimes? Surely not ;)

Your assessment of Melo being a top player because you're comparing him to his teammates makes absolutely no dent in my arguments whatsoever. I already stated Melo is the best player on this team, repeatedly. That has nothing to do with how he measures up as a player in this league.

Being 8th in free throw attempts again is subjective, you present it without the supporting fact that he attempts THE MOST field goals per game in the NBA. Out of the 7 players ahead of him in free throw attempts, only two of them are even in the TOP 10 for field goals attempted. So when you see the stats from the correct perspective, you can see that Melo gets his free throws from taking more shots than anyone else, and when you combine that with his poor FG% compared to the rest of the list you can only ascertain that he doesn't attack the rim like the rest of these players do, hence settling for jump shots too often.

Stats obviously provide certain points to measure a player against, but stats can only record so much. Melo's success on defense relies on him playing one on one (just like Bargs), the only type of defensive play where you can actually measure the stats. Melo plays well defending players in the post, no question. I never stated anything otherwise. His deficiencies exist when trying and failing to chase players around screens, or in transition, where he actually has to put effort and exert energy into defending his man, or in help defense situations which stats do not measure in any way, shape or form. Again, this is not all Melo's fault. The Knicks dreadful defensive schemes don't put him in the best position to succeed in this regard, however I'm sure you won't even note this part of the post because your brain only allows you to read anything as an attack on your beloved Melo.

You are clutching at straws trying to tell me I only post here when Melo is playing bad... What? My post in this thread and the only criticisms I have posted about Melo in months came after his 62 point game...

If I am a "lazy poster" as you put it, it's because I honestly don't care that much. I like Melo, I like him on this team and I enjoy watching him play. I don't enjoy seeing him play so far below his potential by settling for jumpers so regularly, arguing with officials and playing below his ability on defense. I don't post often to debate you because at the end of the day it's a pointless exercise, everyone knows you are stubborn to a fault and I have grown up beyond the point of finding childish insults amusing, I prefer to debate people who are secure enough in their own opinion not to have to start spouting out personal attacks and recalling the former "glory" (lol) of a group of posters who somehow believed their "domination" of an internet forum (lol some more) was anything more than a group of children spamming mildly amusing internet pictures in an attempt to deflect from the fact that their debating skills were 1st grade level at best.


:agreed::agreed::agreed:
Now thats a first round KNOCK-OUT .. the young Mike Tyson style
:thumbsup::gony: :thumbsup:
 

Kiyaman

Legend
I'll hold on to Prigs, I feel like he's a good teammate and really the only good defensive PG on the team. I want to see more of Murray.


ur first wise response this season .. u must have forgot to take ur Melo-vitamin in the morning.

Proverb .. Woman must have the last word.
 

CoolClyde

Moderator
Ok metro, you want some information and research, let's go there.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....lo-say-hes-not-the-alpha-dog-on-a-title-team/

Here's a little snippet from an ESPN article where Chris Broussard talks to league executives (I value these peoples opinions slightly higher than a deluded fan of one player who still thinks the ghost of abcd's 5th grade posting level is quality forum material).

Amusingly, this league executive compares Melo to Stephon Marbury, a comparison which anyone who wasn't a Marbury nuthugger would realize is actually NOT a compliment ;)

Further to this they appear to share my opinion that he doesn't play like a leader (complaining about foul calls and not getting back in transition being one example of this) and that he doesn't play enough defense. Interesting.

In regard to bad shots, here's a snippet from the Knicks own coach Mike Woodson on Melo taking bad shots:

"They've got to try and take better shots sometimes," the coach said after Monday's practice. "Sometimes, some of those difficult shots that you’re accustomed to making that you’re not making, you got to figure out a way to get better shots." (On Melo and JR)

In my last post I provided a specific example of how Melo took one of the worst shots in league history as the final shot this season, but let's delve a little deeper. The clutch aspect of Melo that his supporters are so quick to jump on when praising his ability as a player. Melo is 1-15 on game tying/game winning shots as a Knick. His one shot that fell in that situation? A layup! Oh my goodness, so when Melo actually attacks the hoop and gets a close range shot in the clutch he scores but when he takes a turnaround fadeaway jumper over two defenders he doesn't?! What kind of sorcery is this? Could it be that Melo is so accustomed to taking bad shots that these habits are causing us to lose games sometimes? Surely not ;)

Your assessment of Melo being a top player because you're comparing him to his teammates makes absolutely no dent in my arguments whatsoever. I already stated Melo is the best player on this team, repeatedly. That has nothing to do with how he measures up as a player in this league.

Being 8th in free throw attempts again is subjective, you present it without the supporting fact that he attempts THE MOST field goals per game in the NBA. Out of the 7 players ahead of him in free throw attempts, only two of them are even in the TOP 10 for field goals attempted. So when you see the stats from the correct perspective, you can see that Melo gets his free throws from taking more shots than anyone else, and when you combine that with his poor FG% compared to the rest of the list you can only ascertain that he doesn't attack the rim like the rest of these players do, hence settling for jump shots too often.

Stats obviously provide certain points to measure a player against, but stats can only record so much. Melo's success on defense relies on him playing one on one (just like Bargs), the only type of defensive play where you can actually measure the stats. Melo plays well defending players in the post, no question. I never stated anything otherwise. His deficiencies exist when trying and failing to chase players around screens, or in transition, where he actually has to put effort and exert energy into defending his man, or in help defense situations which stats do not measure in any way, shape or form. Again, this is not all Melo's fault. The Knicks dreadful defensive schemes don't put him in the best position to succeed in this regard, however I'm sure you won't even note this part of the post because your brain only allows you to read anything as an attack on your beloved Melo.

You are clutching at straws trying to tell me I only post here when Melo is playing bad... What? My post in this thread and the only criticisms I have posted about Melo in months came after his 62 point game...

If I am a "lazy poster" as you put it, it's because I honestly don't care that much. I like Melo, I like him on this team and I enjoy watching him play. I don't enjoy seeing him play so far below his potential by settling for jumpers so regularly, arguing with officials and playing below his ability on defense. I don't post often to debate you because at the end of the day it's a pointless exercise, everyone knows you are stubborn to a fault and I have grown up beyond the point of finding childish insults amusing, I prefer to debate people who are secure enough in their own opinion not to have to start spouting out personal attacks and recalling the former "glory" (lol) of a group of posters who somehow believed their "domination" of an internet forum (lol some more) was anything more than a group of children spamming mildly amusing internet pictures in an attempt to deflect from the fact that their debating skills were 1st grade level at best.

the best post in the thread. nuff said.
 

metrocard

Legend
^ lol this guy

Ahahaha, hilarious that you had to edit your post after completely failing to read mine and correct yourself.

I'm done with you, you embarrassed yourself and you know it. Have a good day :)

That "I quit" post. Sounding like Crazy8 before he had his nervous breakdown on this site.

This is your best reply? I didn't even see this post. I edit most of my post, you know I always got a lot to say. At least I'm honest with myself. You've lied to yourself about 3-4 times in one thread.
No response = Totally stumped on what to comeback with.
You made a post saying it would be your last one,but you lied to yourself and made two more.
Shows how much belief you have in yourself. I guess all those webcam dates you had with your kangaroo lovebuddy didn't keep your swagger strong enough. Don't worry mate, it'll get there.

Smokes got smoked for free with no defense and his gay lovers had to come in and play captain save a ho. It's only making it look worse not letting a man defend himself alone, failed save. But then again, we know you guys practice masculinity skyping with each other every night on that CatFish romance lol.

These cabrons cried on this forum over 30 times that they're leaving for good but always come back not being men of their words. Nothing gayer than sissymen coming in to give his buddy fake approval because he got out debated in a thread he accidentally got himself into. Smokes open regrets this with a great passion. This is one of the greatest flees from a poster in KO.com history.

did did up just say u have no love for melo ? It's more like an obsession.
I could not be anymore of a die hard knick fan. I see the flaws in The way melo plays the game not his ability to play it. I do believe if he had Phil Jackson like Jordan and Kobe did those flaws would vanish and melo would be a champ not champ of scoring.

Why is it Melo's flaws?
He's not the perfect player obviously, no one is.
You sound like you know how to play the game of basketball and you have a resume with knowing the formula to win. Please share that with us.

Why can't you simple understand Melo doesn't have the personnel to lead a team anywhere but an 8th seed? It isn't hard to figure out.


Crazy⑧s;282613 said:


WTF?????
 
Last edited:

smokes

Huge Member
metrocard, 75% of your last post was based on the fact you thought I didn't say "per game" when in fact I did. You rode my d*ck for paragraphs crying over what you thought was a mistake and then came to realize it wasn't 10 minutes later and edited it out, even though the whole rest of your post was premised on that fact.

I don't need to write anymore, because you beat yourself in this debate. Hardly a surprise, you are the master debator of KO.com ;)
 

metrocard

Legend
[h=1]article from last year

Report: Melo Wants Knicks GM Glen Grunwald To Add Scorer In Offseason[/h]
carmelo-anthony3.jpg


http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/05...-gm-glen-grunwald-to-add-scorer-in-offseason/

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – After the Knicks fell to the Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, many criticized superstar Carmelo Anthony’s supporting cast.Shooting guard J.R. Smith struggled mightily and center Tyson Chandler was nowhere to be found. Even Jim Boeheim, Anthony’s coach at Syracuse when the Orange won the 2003 NCAA National Championship, called out the ‘Bockers. The Hall of Famer said that the Knicks are not built to win with their present cast of characters, so the blame shouldn’t be pinned on Melo.
“A lot of people think I said it because I’m a Melo fan,” Boeheim told the New York Post on Tuesday. “But I’m just being objective as a basketball head coach who watches 60 Knicks games a year.”
It turns out that Anthony might agree with his former coach.
The six-time All-Star is worried that general manager Glen Grunwald won’t add an additional piece in the offseason, a source told the New York Post.
“He believes the team needs to add a bona fide secondary scorer for the Knicks to take the next step and win a championship,” Marc Berman of the Post wrote in regard to what the source told the newspaper.
The source also told the New York Post that Anthony is very fond of Iman Shumpert — who played very well in the second round of the playoffs — but the small forward thinks that it will be two years before the second-year player develops into a superstar player.
Anthony, who is dealing with a partial tear in his left shoulder, can opt out of his contract after next season.
Grunwald said last week that New York will be “creative” in attempting to improve the roster, but he did admit that the core of the Atlantic Division-winning club would most likely return for the 2013-2014 campaign.
With limited cap space to work with and the majority of the roster under contract, Grunwald doesn’t have much wiggle room to make significant changes.


and the Knicks answered Melo with this guy

knicks3.jpg
 

metrocard

Legend
metrocard, 75% of your last post was based on the fact you thought I didn't say "per game" when in fact I did. You rode my d*ck for paragraphs crying over what you thought was a mistake and then came to realize it wasn't 10 minutes later and edited it out, even though the whole rest of your post was premised on that fact.

I don't need to write anymore, because you beat yourself in this debate. Hardly a surprise, you are the master debator of KO.com ;)


I guess they teach you guys how to read in NZ

Heres where you got exposed

- Your source being Chris Broussard
- An outdated article that isn't related to the All Star MVP caliber play of Melo the past two weeks
- Comparing Melo to Marbury
- Not understanding Melo's shot selection and how high of a % he hits with those shots you "consider" bad shots
- Saying Melo takes the most fields per game, when he's tied with LaMarcus Aldridge who has taken more field goals overall, and it doesn't even credit your point because Melo shoots better than Aldridge and Melo is 2nd in the league in scoring. You didn't even take the time to look at the numbers. If Melo lead the NBA in FGA per game by 2-3, then it would be a strong point. But it isn't. Every top scorer in the league take 18-21 shots a game. You were wrong both ways. You're just salty I made the point clearer than I did.
- Saying Melo shouldn't complain to refs and failing to watch Knicks games to know when Melo is fouled or not, which kills any credibility you have talking about this team.


Smokes, you're childs play. I've beaten you here before in debates from your rookie days on the site and this is just bringing nostalgia to the thread every-time you come in a weak fashion. I demand for you to do your research and give me a post worth thinking about with information I can read about that supports what you're saying. Nothing less than that.

Well, the dudes that did ride your small wang was the C & C buttboys. Without any surprise I wouldn't be shocked if you skyped or PM'ed up asking for helping because you couldn't come up with anything intelligent to share with the forum. No one PIECE of information. Even when you brought up Melo leading the NBA in FGA Per Game, you failed to bring up the number. You guessed that like a fool and was made to look like a fool thinking he was the only one in the league leading the number by himself. Where I come from, they call you a payaso.

You make this too easy sometimes.
 

Kiyaman

Legend
Kiyaman you have "issues"...

I have nothing but love for Melo. What an incredible performance. :gony:

and thanks 8's for the hightlights. :thumbsup:


No! I dont think Kaya (aka Kiyaman) is the one with the issues ..
Im sure the guy who spent close to a billion dollars renovating MSG, paying a $92M cap to a 17-27 record Knicks team with a 9-15 home record has all the "issues".
Especially, when Dolan gave all the power of the Knicks team to the franchise player (ISO-Melo), the star player that's been calling all the shots on who gets playingtime, and who dont get playingtime, gave owner Dolan a $30M per. altermatum at the start of the season.

Funny how Forbes announce the worth of the Knicks organization being above $1 billion dollars, at a time when ISO-Melo antics got $37M of the Knicks cap sitting on the bench in dress clothes crying injury, without them ISO-Melo goes on a 5 game losing streak, which gets the media/press taking shots at ISO-Melo .. then Melo comes out to go nut nut nut to score 62 points on the NBA 3rd worst record team in the league 76ers.
Hooray for Melo .. untill a 2nd season Raptors player (Ross) who never shot above 12 shot attempts a game in his career score 51 points vs the NBA 6th best record team in the league Clippers.
And what does ISO-Melo go n do in the next game after his 62 game performance, Melo goes nut nut takes 31 shot attempts to score 35 pts on the NBA 6th worst record team in the league Lakers, the Knicks won the game on the 4th quarter scoring of rookie THJ shooting 7-12 on 4-5 3-balls for 18 points.
 

metrocard

Legend
Carmelo's Wife 'Definitely Thinks' He'll Re-Sign With Knicks

Jan 28, 2014 1:02 AM EST
Anthony_Carmelo_nyk_130331.jpg
Carmelo Anthony's wife, La La Anthony, expects her husband to re-sign with the New York Knicks.
"I definitely think he will stay," La La Anthony said in an interview with Bravo TV's "Watch What Happens Live." "I know that he wants to stay, and I support him wherever he wants to go.
"Listen, I used to live in Denver with him. If I can live in Denver, I can live anywhere. I just want him to be happy."
Anthony is expected to opt out of his contract to become a free agent this summer.
The Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers are the most probable teams to sign Anthony should he decide to leave the Knicks.


Via ESPN

Now question is, for how much?
 

jimkcchief88

All Star
Smokes just give it up man....Metro has flamed you worse than I have seen since the Starbury Wars. Just stop hating, ok. Return to sense and sensibility. Melo just dropped 62 and 35 and you haters are still talking??? C'mon man what game are you haters watching????...bad shots for the average NBA joe are high% shots for Melo. It's no coincidence that Coach K and team USA run it's offense thru Melo. Next to Durant, Melo is the best pure scorer in the league. The numbers bear it out. Chris Broussard is a high yellow donut. Where did he earn his stripes??? On the court???? Where did Chris play his college ball??? That's what I thought he is another player hating donut. Don't aspire to be like that clown. Just kick back and enjoy the Melo show like any good Knicks fan is supposed to do.
 

metrocard

Legend
Dolan=MAX CONTRACT

I hope not man, we need players on this team badly. Having a core of Bargs, Felt, Smith and Stat is the worst possible thing.

La La was recently added to the cast of the Starz show, Power, which films in New York. Looks like the Anthony family are well settled in NY.
 

skisloper

Starter
I hope not man, we need players on this team badly. Having a core of Bargs, Felt, Smith and Stat is the worst possible thing.

La La was recently added to the cast of the Starz show, Power, which films in New York. Looks like the Anthony family are well settled in NY.


I guess we will see how willing Melo is to create cap space to get him what he feels he needs to win a title...Personally I think Melo will want the MAX contract. This does not make him less of a person but one that will care more about the business aspect that him winning a title.........Just get the feel Melo does not put 1 and 1 together,,,,..he cant have both
 

metrocard

Legend
I guess we will see how willing Melo is to create cap space to get him what he feels he needs to win a title...Personally I think Melo will want the MAX contract. This does not make him less of a person but one that will care more about the business aspect that him winning a title.........Just get the feel Melo does not put 1 and 1 together,,,,..he cant have both

It would make more sense for Melo to take a pay cut for him, he'll get a lot money from endorsements, the good thing about the NBA is players make most of their cash from endorsements unlike boxing where they get very little money in that aspect.
 

metrocard

Legend
Smokes just give it up man....Metro has flamed you worse than I have seen since the Starbury Wars. Just stop hating, ok. Return to sense and sensibility. Melo just dropped 62 and 35 and you haters are still talking??? C'mon man what game are you haters watching????...bad shots for the average NBA joe are high% shots for Melo. It's no coincidence that Coach K and team USA run it's offense thru Melo. Next to Durant, Melo is the best pure scorer in the league. The numbers bear it out. Chris Broussard is a high yellow donut. Where did he earn his stripes??? On the court???? Where did Chris play his college ball??? That's what I thought he is another player hating donut. Don't aspire to be like that clown. Just kick back and enjoy the Melo show like any good Knicks fan is supposed to do.

Jim, we killed them. Why not burry them like the gentlemen we are?

Here's another stat.
Chris Herring ‏@HerringWSJ 26s Per Synergy, Melo's passes to spot-up shooters out of double-teams have led to an 77.3% effective field-goal rate -- best in the NBA.


and this post is from H20Knicks on NYKFANPAGE

Allow me to go through a myriad of stats to explain why putting Woodson's inability to design an offense and Melo's teammates inability to do anything other than sit around twidling their thumbs is not melo's fault


Part 1: How many of the Knicks shots are used by Anthony?
The Knicks are 15th in the league at 82.9 FGA per game. Carmelo averages 21.3 FGA per game. This means Carmelo takes 25.7% of the Knicks shots. Not half, or even a third, as the "all we do as is watch melo shoot" camp would have you believe.

We can take this a step further. You can say that the Knicks take 82.9FGA/48min = 1.727FGA/48 min. Carmelo plays 39.2 mpg. If you take 1.727FGA*39.2min, it tells you that the team has 67.7 FGA when Melo is in the game. Thus, when Melo is in the game he takes 21.3/67.7 = 31.5% of the team's shots. Not half, not a third. This is just when he's in the game. Not counting the 8 minutes where players arent playing with Melo.


Part 2: Who is more deserving of those shots
Carmelo Anthony is shooting 44.7% from the floor this year, and 42% from downtown. The only Knicks shooting better from the floor are Stoudemire (54%), THJ (45%), Chandler (56%), and KMart (50%). Bargnani is nearly identical at 44.2%.

When he's in the game, we all agree that Stoudemire should get the majority of touches. Melo generally feeds him well, but the guy does often get forgotten about. For now, he's injured. And he'll never be a high minute player. Amare's only getting 7.2 FGA in 19.4 minutes. If we do what we do above, 1.727FGA*19.4min = 33.5 available shots. Amare only uses 7.2/33.5 = 21.4%. Amare needs more shots than this clearly.

As for Kmart and Chandler, that's more of a matter of the inability of our guards to create, penetrate, and make passes in PnR and penetration opportunities.

THJ should be getting more of JR and Shumpert's minutes. He's taking 6.5 shots in 19 minutes. 1.727FGA*19min= 32.8 available shots. 6.5/32.8= 19.8%. So about 20%. I think that's about right for him this early in his career.

Now, there are several players who aren't even shooting 40%... JR Smith = 36.9%, Iman Shumpert = 39.0%, Ray Felton = 39.5%. Pablo and Beno are both shooting around 42.5% which is pretty solid for a guard. I take Pablo over Beno all day though because of Pablo's 6.0/1.5 = 4:1 A/TO ratio vs. Beno's 6.5/2.6= 2.5/1 A/TO ratio.

But Carmelo doesn't pass the ball!
This year, NBA.com has a ton of new stats on their site. One of them is for passing.

Let's talk Passes per game. The amount of passes per game would be a direct assessment of how willing Carmelo is to not have the ball in his hands.

Carmelo Anthony: 42.9papg in 39.3mpg = 1.09papm
Ray Felton: 59.5papg in 32.6mpg = 1.83papm
Beno Udrih: 37.7papg in 19.1mpg = 1.97papm
JR Smith: 39.5papg in 32.2mpg = 1.22papm

Paul George: 46.7papg in 36.5mpg = 1.23papm
James Harden: 42.6papg/38.8mpg = 1.10papm
Chris Paul: 73.3papg in 34.9mpg = 2.10papm
Jeremy Lin: 45.2papg in 30.7mpg = 1.47papm
LeBron James: 49.8papg in 37.4mpg = 1.33papm
Kevin Durant: 37.7papg in 38.3mpg = .984papm

So they might not pass for a purpose, but in the general sense, the Knicks pass the ball.

Now, let's look at assist opportunities. These are assists AND passes that would've been assists if the shot hadn't been missed. This is reflective of an offensive system. We've already shown that Melo passes the ball at a cmparable level as James Harden and more than Durant. But is the offense putting his passes to use? The answer is No.

Carmelo Anthony: 6.5aopg in 39.3mpg = 0.165aopm
Paul George: 7.1aopg in 36.5mpg = 0.194aopm
James Harden: 11.2aopg/38.8mpg = 0.289aopm
Chris Paul: 10.7aopg in 34.9mpg = 0.307aopm
Jeremy Lin: 7.9aopg in 30.7mpg = 0.257aopm
LeBron James: 12.2aopg in 37.4mpg = 0.326aopm
Kevin Durant: 9.8aopg in 38.3mpg = 0.256aopm

Finally, let's see how those assist opportunities are converted to assists. Are Carmelo's teammates really the worst at using the assist opportunities? Of course.
Carmelo Anthony: 3.0apg/6.5aopg = 46%
Paul George: 3.4apg/7.1aopg = 48%
James Harden: 5.5apg/11.2aopg = 49%
Chris Paul: 11.2apg/20.9aopg = 54%
Jeremy Lin: 4.2apg/7.9aopg = 53%
Lebron James: 6.5apg/12.2aopg = 53%
Kevin Durant: 5.2apg/9.8aopg = 53%

So we have all these passing stats, but if you really want to indict this offense, you want to see how many of Melo's passes are used for assist opportunities. We all know he draws a lot of attention. So is anyone doing something besides standing around?
Carmelo Anthony: 6.5aopg/42.9papg = 15%
Paul George: 7.1aopg/46.7papg = 15%
James Harden: 11.2aopg/42.6papg = 26%
Chris Paul: 11.2apg/73.3papg = 15%
Jeremy Lin: 7.9aopg/45.2papg = 17%
LeBron James: 12.2aopg/49.8papg = 24%
 
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