SH Blog: Carmelo ready to play power forward, Barkley dislikes Lakers offense

“Anthony returned to his alma mater on Monday for a preseason game against the Philadelphia 76ers and started at power forward. He scored 23 points in the Knicks’ 98-90 loss. Tyson Chandler was at center, of course, while Ronnie Brewer, making his Knicks’ debut, started at small forward. Depending on Stoudemire’s availability, that could be the starting front court on opening night against the Brooklyn Nets. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be there,” Anthony said on Sunday about the power forward spot. “I don’t have no problem. I’ve played it last year. I played four-five the whole summer. I have no problem playing that position. It’s just a matter of us having guys at that position with Amar’e being healthy and things like that and Kurt Thomas and Rasheed (Wallace). So now I guess it’s back to the drawing board with me at the power forward position.”

• Zach Lowe of Grantland explains that – despite some disadvantages – it’s in the Knicks’ best interest for Anthony to play more often at the power forward position: “There’s also the fact that playing power forward brings its own share of help duties, jobs at which Melo wasn’t especially good last season… Playing power forward requires Melo to hedge on pick-and-rolls and be ready to help along the back line when his man isn’t directly involved in the pick-and-roll. It’s a different skill set, but it’s still help defense, and Melo has seldom been early or urgent with his help defense. Still: The uptick in scoring that New York experienced last season with Melo at the four alone stands as justification for incorporating it more this season.”

• Here is Anthony talking about how he thinks about winning a championship all day long all the time:

• Kobe Bryant is likely to miss the preseason game against the Clippers on Wednesday, and it’s not just because it’s a preseason game, according to Mark Medina of LA Daily News:

• Dwight Howard will also join Bryant on the sidelines, according to Mike Bresnahan of Los Angeles Times:

• Charles Barkley had some things to say about the Lakers. Some good, some bad, according to Bresnahan: “I’ve always said I want my accountants from Princeton, not my offense,” Barkley said in a conference call Tuesday with reporters. Barkley wasn’t completely dour on the Lakers. The Lakers and the Celtics are the two biggest things that have ever happened to the NBA,” he said. “The Lakers and Celtics are money-making gold mines. [The Lakers] are in the conversation for the next five years with a legitimate chance to win the championship. There are only a couple teams who can say that. The Lakers are just amazing to me.”… Barkley even provided a way for the Lakers to prevail if they meet Miami in the NBA Finals. “The only way to beat them is to beat them up physically,” Barkley said, calling the Heat a “very small team.” “LeBron James is great but he can’t stop Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard.”

• Kevin Martin doesn’t think the Rockets are ready for the elite teams in the West. Perhaps a little too honest? From Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld: “Can the Houston Rockets compete with elite teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder this season? After a long pause, Kevin Martin kept it real: “Uh, no. No. Definitely not with the Lakers, Thunder and teams like that. They’re experienced, veteran teams that have Hall of Famers. We’re not there.”

• Martin, by the way, is a pretty impressive pick-and-roll player, according to Jason Friedman of NBA.com: “What most people, even the diehards who devour the game, might not know, however, is just how effective Martin has become as a playmaker via the game’s bread and butter play, the pick-and-roll. Last year K-Mart ranked in the 94^th percentile when operating out of the pick-and-roll, averaging .988 points per possession according to Synergy Sports. And though all the standard sample size caveats apply, it’s at least worth noting that Martin currently ranks No. 1 in the league when operating out of the pick-and-roll, producing a ridiculously gaudy 1.385 points per possession so far this preseason.”

• Rookie point guard Austin Rivers appeared to badly hurt his ankle on Monday, but Marc J. Spears has some good news in regards to the injury:

• Rick Carlisle makes fun of his team’s turnover tendencies, from Dwain Price of Star-Telegram (via SLAM): “Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was asked about his team’s overwhelming turnover count, and how are the turnovers are being manufactured, when he turned in this two-sentence joke during his pre-game press conference Monday. “We’re doing it every way you can do it,” Carlisle said before Monday’s game against the New Orleans Hornets. “If we were a sex manual it’d be a best-seller.”

• According to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, J.J. Hickson will be the starting center for the Blazers on opening night:

• John Salmons has not been with the Kings for unknown reasons, from Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: “The Kings are uncertain when John Salmons will return to the team. When he does, he’ll have to play his way back into the rotation. Salmons has missed the last five preseason games, including Monday night’s 103-88 loss to the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center. Salmons was excused from the team for personal reasons. “No timetable,” Kings coach Keith Smart said of Salmons’ return. “Just in communication with him, and I told him just take your time and come back when you’re ready.”

• Raymond Felton thinks a tough season is ahead for Jeremy Lin, from Chris Broussard of ESPN: “Felton was very complimentary of Jeremy Lin, saying Lin’s run last season was “one of the best I’ve seen in a while.” But he said Lin had better be ready this season, because he has a target on him. “I’m happy for him; he’s down in Houston starting in a new situation where the team is basically his,” Felton said. “I hope he has a good season. But it’s going to be tough. It’s not as easy as people think it is, playing the point, knowing that people are coming at your head every night. “It’s going to be difficult,” Felton added. “It’s not going to be like it was last year when he made that run. It’s going to be tough, because everybody’s coming for you because you have that name. That’s the difference this year — every night as the main guy, every point guard in the league is going to be coming at you. So he’s got to be prepared for that.”

• The Spurs made some transactions today. Bad news for a couple of players, according to Gary Washburn of Boston Globe:

• Ethan Sherwood Strauss of TrueHoop discovered a man that tried to cheat in a Game 7 back in 1993: “Much as I would love to retroactively scold Olajuwon for a two-decade old, split-second decision, it is hard to see how he could hit No. 22 earlier in the possession. And it is hard to see this because 22 is not on the court earlier in the possession. Fewer passing angles are more difficult than the one to an invisible man. There is no player 22 sighting in this entire overtime until the final play at exactly the six second mark. When Hakeem has the ball with eight ticks left, there is no 22. Two seconds later, he pops up on screen like an animation trick, ready for a pass. This guy really is a ghost, a sudden visitor from another world.”

• Mark Jackson loves the defensive development of his backcourt, particularly of Klay Thompson. He also couldn’t think of a better shooting backcourt, from Eric Pincus of Hoopsworld: 
  
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