Smell that? That’s the sound of the 2012 New York Knicks crashing and burning.
Contrary to popular belief, once you pop…the fun does eventually stop. And after suffering their second six-game losing streak of the 2011-12 season, the Knicks may have finally quit on Mr. Pringles. Oh and by the way, your star player has become so frustrated by the whole situation, that he wants out. Here are the sparknotes from this late evening’s media shitstorm:
From the infamous Sourcemaster Flex, Chris Broussard:
D’Antoni, hailed as an offensive genius during his successful tenure in Phoenix, has lost the Knicks’ locker room, the sources say.
“The players like Mike as a person,” one source said. “They think he’s a good guy. But he doesn’t have the respect of the team anymore.”
Despite his often poor body language, many of the players believe Anthony is trying to adjust and sincerely wants to win. He has told people close to him that he is being asked to do things he’s never done, saying that throughout his career he has always had plenty of post-up opportunities and that he is uncomfortable standing on the wing spacing the floor.
“Half the team is trying to do what coach says and the other half is doing something different,” one source said. “Then it spills over to the defensive end because players are (ticked) off about somebody taking a bad shot.”
With Anthony sapping the energy from the offense, the players often lose their incentive to play defense. But even when he’s trying to play defense, Stoudemire struggles. Having spent almost his entire career in D’Antoni’s non-defensive system, Amare Stoudemire has trouble making defensive reads and rotations. Anthony knows what to do defensively, but simply refuses to do it consistently, the sources said.
On top of that, Baron Davis, who just returned from a back injury, is unhappy with his limited role as Lin’s backup. Davis, averaging just 17 minutes a game, has already spoken to D’Antoni about giving him more playing time, according to the sources. While Lin wants to run D’Antoni’s system, Davis is more in line with running the offense through Anthony and Stoudemire, the sources said.
More food for fodder from Marc Berman of the Post:
Carmelo Anthony’s discontent with the Knicks organization became so severe after Monday night’s loss to the Bulls, he told a confidant he preferred to be traded before tomorrow’s trade deadline, The Post has learned.
According to a person familiar with his thinking, Anthony’s disillusionment stems most from a belief Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni and interim GM Glen Grunwald do not trust him. He is surprised that after all the Knicks gave up to trade for him, he has not been asked for more input on personnel decisions, as Deron Williams has with the Nets.
This is a lot to digest right now, but I’m going to do my best to break it down:
1) It’s becoming increasingly clear that in order for the New York Knicks to have any success in the near future, they need to establish some sort of offensive identity. A full calendar year into the Carmelo Anthony-Mike D’Antoni experiment and Melo still can’t find his role in this so-called offensive genius’ offense.
This continual forcing of a square peg into a round hole has clearly imploded, leaving the Knicks with two options. Either trade Melo or get rid of Mike.
2) This has been a rather unusual season for the Knickerbockers. For all of the good fortune that February’s Linsanity brought, the rest of 2012 has been rather unfortunate.
When your two best players have looked like shells of themselves for the majority of the year, it’s going to be difficult to win basketball games. Couple that in with inconsistent defense and the usual lack of gameplanning and preparation from your head coach, and well…you’re up shit’s creek with a broken paddle.
Is Mike D’Antoni a good coach? Conceivably, no. For the better part of the past 3 and a half seasons, the Knicks have lacked preparation, enthusiasm, and defensive intensity. Structurally, after 3 years, you would think I’d be able to understand what exactly our head coaches “system” is. I’d be lying if I had the first clue.
For what we’ve seen, D’Antoni’s “system” revolves around spacing and a lot of three point chucking. Oh and no defense. That’s not gonna produce winning basketball in the NBA, unless you have the tailor-made roster for it. See: 2005 Phoenix Suns.
What we’ve mostly seen out of Mike in four years in New York is a whole lot of excuses. What we haven’t seen…results.
Linsanity was fun and all, and it looked like Mike finally “his” roster. Or it could have simply been the fact that we were finally playing with energy on the defensive end for the first time in about a decade.
I think Mike D’Antoni has the potential to be a good coach in this league. And that’s a weird thing to say about a guy who’s already had success with a team that was a perennial powerhouse in the Western Conference. The fact is players around the league like him and his free-wheeling style.
The problem lies within the fact that the Knicks aren’t a championship roster with proven winners. It’s patchwork ensemble of unproven, albeit very talented players. Aside from Tyson Chandler, no one on the team has won jack shit. Every player on this team, starting at the top with STAT and Carmelo needs a coach that is going to come in, hold them accountable, and kick some ass. Mike D’Antoni is a nice guy…but he isn’t that guy. He isn’t the right coach for this team or this city.
3) Fuck Carmelo. I understand the frustration with D’Antoni, but that doesn’t give you any right to quit on this team on the defensive end on a nightly basis or think that you’re bigger than the team, on any level. The same TEAM that went 8-1 with you out of the lineup.
I like Carmelo Anthony as a player. I respected him for wanting to come here last year, and he was as good as advertised down the stretch last season and in the playoffs. He’s sucked hard dick this year, and whether it’s lingering injuries, frustration with D’Antoni, or his Pitbull dying, we may never know the answer.
The fact is, when Carmelo Anthony is on his game, there’s only maybe 3-5 players in this league I’d take over him. When he’s not however, as we’ve seen this season, he might as well shave his head, tattoo a Steve & Barry’s logo into the side of his head, and call himself Starbury.
For lack of better wording, Carmelo’s royally fucked shit up this season. The team was rolling along fine until he came back against New Jersey. While it’s difficult to pinpoint an entire team’s struggles on one player, I’m making an exception here.
As much as I wanted it to work with Carmelo in New York, it’s apparent it’s not. This team is better off without Carmelo Anthony not hustling back on D, and pausing the offense with his five second back down, spin and bricklaying.
While I know Mike D’Antoni isn’t the answer on the bench, he’s done something Melo hasn’t here: Won some games. For stretches under Mike D’Antoni, the Knicks have played some really good, entertaining basketball.
The same can’t be said for Melo. With him on the court, the Knicks have flat-out stuggled to tread the waters of mediocrity. It hasn’t been fun, and now Carmelo allegedly wants out? Go ahead man….we were better and are better without you.
The New York Knicks don’t need Carmelo Anthony nearly as bad as he needs them. Once he realizes that, maybe this might start to work. I doubt he ever does though…
