NBA Playbook Examines Carmelo Anthony's Early Successes Running the Pick-and-Roll

Awesome

Exactly how I was hoping we would use Melo…he could be deadly running the PnR with Chandler and Amare…

I hate watching him isolate, kill the clock and not get his team involved…

Melo will be a better player in NY than in Denver because of how we will use him

by Chris3035 on Dec 27, 2011 2:01 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Also, I just think that he and George Karl hated each other and never got on the same page.

Do the Shumpty Shump, come on and do the Shumpty Shump

by DangerZone on Dec 27, 2011 2:31 PM EST up reply actions

plus the whole iverson thing

prob made melo chuck up shots whenever he got the ball.

by Fabfreebird on Dec 27, 2011 2:52 PM EST up reply actions

it was great how palpable melo's presence was

you could just tell our whole team was better as soon as he stepped on the court. he bailed us out with his shooting, but he was also our best play maker. he is like kobe in that it has often been a criticism that his team could be better off without him (personally, i think that criticism has always been nonsense for both those players), and that clearly wasn’t the case during the game.

Anxiously awaiting the day my username will be appropriate

by knickswin on Dec 27, 2011 2:14 PM EST reply actions 3 recs

On Xmas day, we truly were Melo's team

These clips just show how vital to our offence Melo was. Long may it continue

by Bertilad on Dec 27, 2011 2:22 PM EST reply actions

Great stuff. Rec'd.

Using Melo on a PnR instantly busts a defense apart. I’d like to see more of a 2-man game develop with Stat though; it would be impossible to defend. But I also like Stat as a decoy because you can’t leave him to go double.

I think as the season goes along and the chemistry develops, and as Melo’s awareness grows, the permutations that come out of this are gonna be off the charts.

Melo will have an MVP-type season. Its not just about the stats, but the wway he destroys defenses and all the easy shots he’ll create with just a touch of ball movement.

Melo+Stat+Ball movement = World Domination.

by Crackback on Dec 27, 2011 2:34 PM EST reply actions

also, melo's bball iq gets wayyyyyy underrated

i hear people call him “low bball iq” and “chucker” . . . just ridiculous. melo used to be a point guard in high school. he is a very smart player.

Anxiously awaiting the day my username will be appropriate

by knickswin on Dec 27, 2011 2:41 PM EST reply actions

he's got high bball IQ no doubt

…but he’s a chucker.

Last night, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Somebody knows

by Rorschach44 on Dec 27, 2011 4:44 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah. He's smart, but he still forces shots.

What do you mean they won 4 cups in a row? Is that possible?

by OzzyFan on Dec 27, 2011 6:51 PM EST up reply actions

true but...

how long were we crying for someone who can take and make the types of shots he can make when they need to be took?

We finally have a dude who can get it done in the clutch. Those types of players tend to force shots from time to time and are given that freedom but only because they’ve proven they can make them.

I won’t go into the black hole discussion again cuz I disagree but all I know is I’m glad Melo is with us and not against us.

sreh ladien e' ta janjia

by Lord Smackington on Dec 28, 2011 1:46 AM EST up reply actions

I think it's all about the team and coach and system

In Denver, I saw Melo as a chucker, and last season he bothered me quite a bit. I think this year, he and the team are too concentrated on playing winning basketball to let those inner-chucker demons come crawling out.

That said, in games like Boston where he had nothing going, I was practically rooting for iso-Melo cause he was rolling

KNICKS NOW
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by WSD on Dec 28, 2011 11:55 AM EST up reply actions

all true

but I happen to believe all NBA players have that inner chucker demon, including the unselfish playmakers like Nash, Kidd, Paul etc…I’ve even seen both Nash and Paul jack up terrible shots they should never have taken but sometimes it’s like that for whatever reason.

Think about it, why wouldn’t a player wanna score? Not wanting to score is akin to saying I’d rather not have sex today. They’re both awesome, to willingly decline when you have an open opportunity something must be wrong.

Once you mature though you realize banging chicks all the time is fun and all but at the same time, kinda unsatisfying. At that time you’re either to stubborn or stuck in your ways to do anything about it or you turn the corner and slow down, start making better choices, your game evolves. Yeah, you can still score but you’re more thoughtful now, less selfish and you honestly care about making other people happy.

sreh ladien e' ta janjia

by Lord Smackington on Dec 28, 2011 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

Carmelo is not a Chucker anymore than Dirk is a Chucker.

In basketball offenses are designed to have certain players take a certain amount of shots. Carmelo has usually been his teams primary option on offense so that means that he needs to take a certain number of shots. Not taking shots when the offense is geared for him to take a certain number actually is bad for the team because it forces other guys to take shots they are not prepared or accustomed to taking. We saw that in the finals, when Lebron who is supposed to shoot the ball 20 times a game stopped shooting. The end result was guys like Chalmers and haslem jacking up shots that they were not accustomed taking. Contrary Dirk who also needs to take a certain number of shots for his teams offense to work kept taking his shots even when he wasn’t hitting them. He got praise for playing game 4 with a fever but he actually played like shit. He shot 6 for 21 but because he took his shots he drew the defense and his guys got better shots. By definition a chucker is a guy taking shots that he is not supposed to take.

by Robert Curre on Dec 28, 2011 2:58 PM EST up reply actions

I agree with all of that

Not to say that both Dirk and Melo don’t take “bad” or "difficult " shots because they do and when they go down, it’s amazing and we heap praise on them but If we lose and it doesn’t go down they become “chuckers”

It’s all perception and labels, Billups shot a helluva lot more bad shots than Melo but he’s looked at as a “leader”, a “great teammate”, a “hardened vet” and a “very smart, crafty” player. I rarely hear critics outside of these P&T walls suggest Billups is taking too many bad shots. People like to think of Melo as a chucker because it’s easier to put him in a box and not have to evaluate his game.

sreh ladien e' ta janjia

by Lord Smackington on Dec 28, 2011 6:02 PM EST up reply actions

wow

the potential this would give them is crazy dantoni bringin out his playmaking makes the knicks offense 10x better, they should do this alot more as toney d running the offense looks really stagnant as soon as they stop trying to make toney d our PG and continue to develop this the skys the limit even with baron back melo as a playmaker is deadly

by abe88 on Dec 27, 2011 3:07 PM EST reply actions

Melo is the real deal

I have begun to appreciate his game much more than I thought I would. thanks in large part to this kind of analysis. Both Melo’s game and my fanhood continue to evolve. Thanks for this great place Seth. rec’d

I'm still pondering on something clever to put in this signature.

by YuckFou on Dec 27, 2011 3:08 PM EST reply actions

D'Antoni:Melo::Nelson:Dirk Nowitzki

NBA Team Analysis and Player Comparison

by mindfeck on Dec 27, 2011 3:12 PM EST reply actions

Melo had a great game, but will need to continue to develop and grow into his new role

If you look at the shot totals for everybody but Douglas and Shumpert who have some ability to get their own, most of the other Knicks were not consistently involved in the offense. That will come as Melo continues to develop.

This will be especially vital as the Knicks will need to get Amare involved more, unless we expect him to continue to do a Dirk Nowitzki impersonation for the remainder of the season. Dirk doesn’t always need a lot of shots to score, but generally Amare does, unless you expect him to shoot 73% for the season.

by Robert Curre on Dec 27, 2011 3:49 PM EST reply actions

I'll take 70%

unless you expect him to shoot 73% for the season.

When you consider that most of Amare’s shots were open looks I think we can expect some pretty high efficiency numbers from him. Also, those kind of numbers suggest not a lot of wear and tear on Amar’e which is another big plus. Of course it is only one game.

I'm still pondering on something clever to put in this signature.

by YuckFou on Dec 27, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

You seem to misinterpret usage rate with wear and tear.

That is not the case. Minutes lead to wear and tear not shots. Amare still logged 34 minutes last game, and should he continue at that rate he will have some wear and tear as he will play over 2200 minutes this season.

by Robert Curre on Dec 28, 2011 10:35 AM EST up reply actions

Of course he wasn't Nash 2.0

But he showed great instinct and court vision…in just one game! I was excited about Melo at point forward, and this game proved what I thought was true – Melo has excellent court vision, and definitely isn’t a high volume, low efficiency scorer. He is a true superstar, especially when he gives effort on defense, like he did on Opening Day.

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.

Vince Lombardi

by moose35 on Dec 27, 2011 4:33 PM EST reply actions

He has always had instinct and court vision which is why he can be frustrating as hell to watch at times

Because Frankly Carmelo Anthony has far more talent than he ever deems to use on a consistent basis. D’Antoni wasn’t bsing when he said that Carmelo could average a triple double every game. He has the skills to do so, the question is will he consistently use them.

by Robert Curre on Dec 28, 2011 10:38 AM EST up reply actions

see...

I think that has more to do with his previous coaching. I think some coaches shy away from asking too much of “super stars” because they don’t want to anger or alienate them. So they just let them do what they do because they are extremely talented and can win games by themselves if need be.

I don’t have any inside info on what happened in Denver but if Melo always had the ability(which I’ve seen, so I believe it to be true) then I think it’s up to the coach to bring it out of him and have it utilized in game situations.

The only way I’d put that on Melo is if Karl said “Melo we need you to make plays for others” and Melo was like

“Fuck you, I’m Melo fat ass”

Now, Dantoni asked him to take on that role and he seems to not only be responding to it but embracing it(for now anyways) so IDK. Maybe Karl underestimated Melo or maybe he thought he was best utilized as a scoring threat only. Maybe Karl doesn’t like the idea of a point forward and prefers the offense be run thru a PG. Again, I don’t know but he seems okay at it and it looks like it’s helping right now, at a time when it’s needed.

sreh ladien e' ta janjia

by Lord Smackington on Dec 28, 2011 12:32 PM EST up reply actions

he's better at it then TD, that's for sure

but its not saying anything either. We got a long way to go to develop an identity on O tho. They’re basically at a point where “bail us out Carmelo or bail us out Ama’re” is the offense. To be expected at this point I guess, but it is encouraging that some shit works.

Last night, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Somebody knows

by Rorschach44 on Dec 27, 2011 4:46 PM EST reply actions

So true.

GO YANKEES, COWBOYS, AND KNICKS!

by DCyanks21 on Dec 27, 2011 8:23 PM EST up reply actions

i really like melo running this

but he should be doing it with STAT more.

In the article, it says:

While not Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler has shown the ability to an explosive dive man in PNR situations.

It should be talking about STAT. He should be the main P&R partner with Melo… Chandler should be ready to get the offensive rebound.

But I am super excited to see what all these guys can do together. Its a really well built combination of stars.

I think it was Bobby V who said: "You are never as good as you are when you are at your best, and you are not as bad as when you are at your worst."

by gbaked on Dec 27, 2011 9:15 PM EST reply actions

You need to space the floor to run the PNR and Chandler does not have that in his tool kit.

But Amare does. He is probably the best shooting big from 17-25 feet this side of Dirk. So even if Amare is out at the 3pt line you have to respect him there. Chandler finishes better than he spaces the floor so until the Knicks are able to find other guys who can space the floor, Amare’s days as a primary finisher in the pick and roll with the starting unit are over. If Jorts actually demonstrates that he can hit open jump shots or Steve Novak actually gets some burn, then you can go back to Amare in pick and rolls with Melo. But for now, Amare is going to have to basically do a Gallinari impression, because the offense needs him to in order to work. The problem is that the team will also need Amare to score 20 pts a game in order to win. Now if Amare can do that on 11 shots, then he is even more awesome than I think, but if not them eventually D’Antoni is going to have to figure out how to get him shots, because while he does need to be the guy spreading the floor, he also needs to be a guy scoring a lot of points.

by Robert Curre on Dec 28, 2011 10:46 AM EST up reply actions

This is true. We should revisit whatever sets were run when Shaq was on the Suns

‘Cause he’s no better as spacing the floor than Chandler, and Amar’e was in beast mode that season. Sadly I bet the answer is “get Steve Nash to be the PnR ball-handler” which is obviously not going to work. Melo is a pretty talented passer for a forward but Steve Nash he is not.

by flossy on Dec 28, 2011 11:21 AM EST up reply actions

The Suns had other guys in the staring unit who can spread the floor and did not have

a small forward also looking for 20 shots. And by the way, Amare scored Most only on Isos when shaq was in Phx. And they actually ran the pick and roll with Shaq when he and Amare were on the floor together alot. Also Shaq did not play as many minutes as Chandler will likely play so Amare was often on the floor with 4 other shooters dude.

by Robert Curre on Dec 28, 2011 11:35 AM EST up reply actions

Until Davis gets back

Or TD and Shumpert magically become better passers, I think Amar’e will just end up getting more isolation plays when he’s not spreading the floor, as you mentioned.

Then again, you could put Melo and Amar’e in a PnR on the left or right elbow and have Chandler on the opposite block. If Chandler’s defender collapses on Amar’e while he’s rolling to the basket, then Melo can take it himself or dish it off to Chandler for the easy dunk.

KNICKS NOW
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by WSD on Dec 28, 2011 12:01 PM EST up reply actions

The problem with that suggestion is it will not get Amare more shots

You two observations are correct brining another big into the play will negate the pass to Amare on the roll and will result mostly in more shots for Carmelo and the occassional dish to Chandler. In which case might as well have Amare continue to hump the 3pt line and pull his man away from the Basket so Chandler and Melo can work the pick and roll. Face it folks Amare’s career as the primary roll man is done. From where the Knicks are positioning him, he is being used as a stretch 4 which means his options for getting involved in pick and rolls is limited anyway. At best from that position he can screen for jumpshooters either at the top of the key or guys curling off the wing. The Knicks are running the UCLA offense right now, not the spread pick and roll. If Amare continues to not get shots, look for him to go back to his pre-D’Antoni days and look to go to the block more. That will get him more touches and possibly to the line more, but he will also face more double teams, but because Amare is a much better passer out of double teams and Douglas and Melo are good spot up shooters, he will be able to make them pay for it. However, that will mean that the team will have to set up much quicker on offense as Amare will only have a chance to post once the PNR fails, so he will have to have enough time to dive to the block and make his move or pass. But in this new offense that is Amare’s option, because his brother big cannot step out on the floor. Remember he ended up running back down into the post more when he played with Shaq.