Over the summer, Carmelo Anthony had the chance to put himself in position to be a part of one of the top contending teams in the league. He was a free agent, and the Chicago Bulls believed the small forward was the perfect offensive force to complete their team compromised of mostly defensively-dominant players.
Of course, Anthony decided to be loyal (the extra $20-plus million probably helped) and remained with the rebuilding New York Knicks. Unfortunately, he got to see on Wednesday just what he could have been a part of after getting demolished by the Bulls 104-80. While Chicago was having its way for much of the game, the Knicks looked lost trying to figure out how to correctly run the Triangle offense. Anthony managed to score just 14 points on five-of-13 shooting. To be fair, New York played without starting point guard Jose Calderon, but the Bulls were also without Jimmy Butler.
It appears the Knicks have a long way to go before they can resemble anything close to a team capable of making it to the playoffs. Still, Anthony has no interest in sitting at home come playoff time from Al Iannazzone of Newsday:
Yet in the improved Eastern Conference, the Knicks are roundly viewed as a borderline playoff team and a franchise in flux. They’re looking for the big score in the free-agent market in the next two summers en route to becoming an elite team. But talk of this being a placeholder season rankles Anthony. “I don’t like to hear that because now is the time we can set that foundation,” he said. “There are goals that I set from that standpoint as far as having the chance to win our division again, getting home court in the playoffs. It’s going to take some work, but those are goals I set for us.”
The Knicks’ chances of missing out on the playoffs for the second straight year are better.
“I wouldn’t know how to deal with that,” Anthony said.[…]Anthony said, “We’re never going to know the system all the way. We’re never going to have it all the way down pat.”
Anthony’s desire to make the playoffs is understandable. Who doesn’t want to make the playoffs? The problem is the last thing he said: the Knicks currently don’t have a whole lot of players that understand or can even truly be effective (at least for much of this season) in the new system under rookie coach Derek Fisher. Iman Shumpert can cut, but can he finish? Sam Dalembert can apparently make some passes from the high post but is that something you want to rely on? Can your offense continue to be smooth when your backup point guard is probably a third stringer on most other teams? Hell, J.R. Smith is so confused that he doesn’t even know whether he should shoot, even when he’s open! But hey, when Andrea Bargnani returns from his injury… never mind.
Jokes aside, they do have a very intelligent and efficient point guard in Calderon. If he can calm things down a bit on the offensive end and make sure Anthony isn’t trying so hard to fit in that he forgets what kind of a scorer he is – as he did against the Bulls in the opener – and help facilitate for the still-dangerous Amare Stoudemire, there is enough potency in the starting lineup to make some noise down the line. For what it’s worth, Anthony understands that the whole thing is going to be a season-long process.
OTHER NEWS AND ITEMS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Dan Gilbert offered some perspective on why one bad fight doesn’t necessarily end relationships, from Dave McMenamin of ESPN: “Gilbert described their relationship as “very good, very solid.” It’s so light between the two these days that they even joke with each other. “I just saw LeBron,” Gilbert said during a news conference Wednesday, addressing the media for the first time since February. “He looked at me and said, ‘Looks like you grew an inch.’ I said I could use it.” Gilbert was asked if he “deserved” to have James back on his team after the way he reacted to James leaving in the first place. “I don’t know if ‘deserve’ is a word that I sort of look at in this context,” Gilbert said. “No, unless you’re really doing some significant harm to another human being, I don’t think the bridge is ever burned. We had a night there where emotions were flying high on all sides. “Except for the fact that it’s in the media … things like that happen a lot in business where people have phone calls and heated exchanges, and people are writing each other emails and letters, and then the next day they’re eating lunch and doing business. It’s not a be‐all or end‐all type of thing.”
- David Blatt doesn’t like the expectations that have been put on the Cavaliers, from McMenamin of ESPN: “Anybody talking about us winning it all, I think they’re being unfair to those great NBA teams that are out there that have either won it or have been there to win it, and also to us as a team that’s talented but new,” Blatt said Tuesday, two days before the Cavs’ season opener Thursday at home against the New York Knicks. “We have a lot of work to do before we can start claiming anything before it’s time.” Um. Welcome to the NBA, David.
The Utah Jazz may be looking to let Enes Kanter walk after this season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “After ending discussions on the possibility of a contract extension with the Utah Jazz, center Enes Kanter plans to enter restricted free agency next summer, his agent told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday. “We have mutually agreed with Utah to concentrate on the season and look at our options again in the summer,” agent Max Ergul said in a telephone interview. “Enes likes Utah and the organization very much, and now he can concentrate on continuing to grow as a player and helping them win.”
Michael Jordan explains why he likes and even admires Lance Stephenson, from The A.P.: “One of the reasons why I admire his game is he takes on challenges,” Jordan said Tuesday. “For us to get any place in the East, we need someone to challenge LeBron. He challenged LeBron.” Jordan said he doesn’t advocate all of Stephenson’s antics, but he couldn’t overlook his competitiveness… Jordan likens Stephenson to former Chicago Bulls teammate Dennis Rodman, a free spirit who insisted on doing things his own way while in the NBA. Jordan said he’s not going to try to change Stephenson’s personality and will give him his freedom — to a degree. “If I feel like he’s going the wrong way, that is when I will step in, like most parents do, and say, ‘Look you need to focus on this and think about that,'” Jordan said.”
Jordan’s presence appears to be having an impact on Stephenson already: “I have to cut down on the antics,” Stephenson said. “I have to do whatever it takes to stay on the floor. If I get too much into the antics and get teched out, I can cost the team.”… Stephenson doesn’t remember much of the conversation, saying he was starstruck meeting his childhood hero. Stephenson said he has collected every pair of Jordan-brand sneakers that have hit the shelves since coming into the league. “I was in a daze,” said Stephenson, entering his fifth NBA season. “I’m like, ‘I’m talking to Michael Jordan right now.’ And I’m just shaking and sweating.” Still, Stephenson walked away feeling like Jordan believed in him and saw his potential.”
Rick Carlisle and Dirk Nowitzki were critical of their team’s defense in the season opener against San Antonio, from Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas: “We just have to be better,” Carlisle said. “It’s as simple as that. Once again, they got us a lot late in the shot clock. We just have to keep working.”… “We’ve got a long way to go,” Nowitzki said. “Obviously we’re not going to be perfect in game one of 82. We’ve got to get more used to each other. I think we made some mistakes in pick-and-roll coverages. We’ve just got to get better and used to each other, with all of these new guys. There’s certain calls on defense with pick-and-rolls where everyone has to react in a split second. If those calls are still kind of new to you, you push the wrong way, and they make you pay. We can get better at it.”
- Nowitzki can start being better by not falling over every time someone drives past him like he did against Boris Diaw. His response and reasons for what happened were great, for what it’s worth.
- Klay Thompson’s camp and the Golden State Warriors front office have been trying to negotiate a deal for the rising star, but the specific dollar amounts have not been easily agreed upon during discussions. According to John Middlekauff of 957 The Game, they look to come to terms on a new deal by Friday: “Source: Progress has been made between Klay Thompson & the #Warriors. I’m told a deal is getting done by Fridays deadline.”
I’ve already made my predictions on the Warriors winning it all this year and explained some of the reasons behind that logic here. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports also made the bold claim, and now we have Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN chiming in on why Golden State is in for a huge season: “Will they win it all, though? Of course, taking the field is the smartest play in a brutal Western Conference. Among the teams available, though, the Warriors are a good bet. Their main flaw (injury risk) is held up as an excluding factor because Golden State hasn’t yet finished as an upper playoff seed. Many of the consensus picks to win it all have substantial flaws, though. The Clippers have an utter lack of wing defense and aren’t exactly devoid of injury risk. The Thunder already have an injured superstar, an Etch A Sketch offensive system, and a roster thinness that’s beginning to mirror the pinched pennies that pay for it. The Bulls also have injuries. The Cavaliers have no rim protection.”
- With Kevin Durant out for the next several weeks, expect a lot of nights like this from Russell Westbrook. Unfortunately, you can also expect plenty of bad end results, like the 106-89 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
- Check out this interview between Howard Beck of Bleacher Report and commissioner Adam Silver for a wide-range of topics discussed. Some things of note: Silver says shortened games is not necessarily what the fans might want, the widespread growth of legalized sports gambling is inevitable, thinks a female head coach will exist sometime in the future, and expansion is not something he plans on pursuing.
Did Dwight Howard have ill feelings towards Kobe Bryant even before they got into it in the season opener? The pettiness described in this piece by Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report suggests that that is very much the case: “Before this tipoff, Howard was one of the first players on the court. He slapped hands with former Rockets teammate Jeremy Lin, then retreated under the basket and stayed there while Bryant came out for the usual handshakes with opposing players. Bryant spent extra time with Rockets James Harden and Trevor Ariza, but Howard didn’t come forward. So Bryant and Howard did not have the customary fist bump or any acknowledgement. If Howard is ready to let it all go, as he urged reporters to do earlier Tuesday (“It’s over with now,” he said), he could’ve been waiting there for Bryant to go through the motions of what can be just a formality instead of avoiding it.”
Deron Williams says he feels no pressure and has renewed confidence after getting his troubled ankles fixed over the summer, from Mike Mazzeo of ESPN NY: “Everybody’s pretty much written me off,” Williams told the team’s official website. “People say I’m never gonna be like I once was. I’m on the downhill. And so what pressure do I have?”… Williams finally feels healthy for the first time in three seasons after undergoing offseason surgery to clean out both of his oft-injured ankles. “I’m a lot more confident,” Williams said. “I just didn’t have a lot of confidence in my ankles (the last two seasons). They wouldn’t allow me to do the things I was capable of doing.”… “I’m just playing, man,” Williams said Tuesday. “I can actually play. I can actually run, cut, jump, so it’s different.”
Charles Barkley thinks Kobe Bryant will average 20 points this season and says the star guard needs to accept the fact that he’s getting old, from Richard Deitsch of SI: “20 points per game. Because he is going to shoot the ball, but the Lakers aren’t going to make the playoffs. They are not one of the elite teams in the West. Hopefully he can stay healthy for 82 games. He should try to play 25-30 minutes per night. Kobe’s problem is Kobe doesn’t want to accept he’s getting old. There’s nothing you can do about that. You can’t outwork age. Kobe’s got two years left on his deal. I don’t want to see what happened to Steve Nash. They will keep rolling you out there. Sports are like boxing, they’ll keep putting you out there even when you can’t fight anymore.”
- Barkley’s right about the Lakers simply because of their lack of depth, poor defense and Byron Scott’s strange dislike for the 3-point shot. Based on what Bryant has shown in the first two games, though, it’s probably safe to say the guard is going to average plenty more than 20 points this season.
James Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.