Carmelo Anthony’s Inefficient Offense Continues in Loss to Brooklyn Nets

By Joseph Crevier @JosephMCrevier on November 7, 2014

The New York Knicks geared up to face the cross-town rival Brooklyn Nets Friday night, in desperate need of a victory. Instead, the Knicks dropped their third straight game due to poor defense and yet another awful game from their $124 million man, Carmelo Anthony.

There was much debate regarding whether Anthony was worth max money last offseason because of his one-dimensional offensive game and supposed inability to make his teammates better. Well, Phil Jackson and the Knicks decided Anthony was worth that money, inking him to a five-year deal running through the 2018-19 season. Implementing a totally new system, like head coach Derek Fisher has been attempting to do, is always a difficult task, especially when your superstar is not cooperating.

During this three-game slide, Anthony has shot a combined 18-64 (28 percent), while grabbing a mere 16 rebounds. Perhaps the triangle offense has Anthony’s game all out of whack, but really there is no excuse to perform so poorly as the clear alpha dog on the team. Volume shooters will always endure shooting slumps. That’s just reality. However, when a 6-foot-8, 240-pound player is fully capable of storming the offensive boards, creating some easy put backs and slowly digging himself out of his struggles, prolonged slumps are simply unacceptable. Anthony needs to get back to what he does best, regardless of the type of offense implemented by the coach. Not only would this strategy help the Knicks actually win some games, but it would create a chain reaction throughout the remainder of the roster. When the superstar is not performing up to par, neither will the role players.

Where does New York go from here?

Clearly this whole triangle offense is not clicking with Anthony or anybody else on the Knicks. In no way am I suggesting they abandon the system totally because Jackson is the master and was very successful implementing the system with Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, both of whom are/were high-volume shooters. There is a point, though, when Jackson will realize that the Knicks do not have the ideal personnel on the roster to be successful in the triangle and more importantly complement Anthony’s game. New York has no other offensive threats nor do they have any lockdown defenders with the exception of Iman Shumpert.

Phil Jackson has plenty of issues to address, possibly via trade later on in the season or next offseason. Either way, this roster is not even close to competing for a playoff spot and it begins with Carmelo Anthony’s struggles.

Joseph Crevier covers the New York Knicks for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, @JosephMCrevier, and Facebook or add him to your network on Google.