KNICKS 101

The New York Knicks have spent the off-season creating a veteran laden roster with their eyes on bringing a championship back to Manhattan. While the team needs Carmelo Anthony to continue to play like a superstar the roster depth will allow Anthony to focus less on scoring and take the rest of his game to a new level. No one wants Anthony to become ordinary but less individual success should translate to more team success.

One of the biggest knocks on Carmelo Anthony throughout his career has been his lack of success and consistency on the defensive end of the court. While it's been easy to call Anthony's offensive concentration an act of selfishness most don't look at the fact his teams relied upon his offensive dominance to compete.

Being the main scoring weapon for your team is a position filled with a lot of pressure and takes away from your ability to get your teammates involved and put in the kind of effort defensively to be a elite and complete player. Anthony believes that the makeup of the Knicks current roster will take the pressure off him and allow him to have a more well rounded game. That should lead to the Knicks having more success.  

Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com reports that despite Carmelo Anthony having to carry his teams offensively his entire career, with one of the NBA's deepest and supporting casts at his disposal, Anthony is ready to sacrifice his high scoring to help the Knicks succeed.

"I don't want to try to put all that burden on myself to go out there and try to do everything, so I'm willing to make any sacrifice in my game regardless of what anybody else says," he told ESPNNewYork.com on Friday. "If my scoring goes from 27 to 23, I'm cool with that. Right now, I'm willing to make any sacrifice that I have to."

Anthony said his motivation to change his game comes from his focus to buy into the team system. Anthony said he's been inspired by his veteran teammates, such as Jason Kidd, who has taken the leadership role in pre-training camp, Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas, whom he said are all working harder than ever in the gym. He even included free-agent power forward Rasheed Wallace, who's been recently training at the Knicks' practice facility.

"We go up there and you'd be surprised the work that the older guys put in, from Camby to Jason Kidd to Rasheed," Anthony said. "The work that the guys are putting in, you would think that they were still in their early 30s or something like that."

Anthony is arguably in the best shape of his life and would seem ready to elevate his game to an MVP level. However, Anthony is at a point in his career that he'd be willing to sacrifice the title of MVP to someone like LeBron James or Dwayne Wade if it means bringing a championship title back to New York.

"At the end of the day, as long as we win games, everybody will be happy," he said. "I don't really think about it. My mindset is to make this one of the best years for myself and for the Knicks."

Anthony is beginning to sound like a true leader. He's all about team and sacrifice. No longer is he interested in individual success while his teams fall short of their goals. It's time to win a championship.

Anthony doesn't want to be Charles Barkley. He wants to be Clyde Drexler. He joined Amare Stoudemire with the purpose of winning a championship. It's time they learned how to elevate their games and play together. The depth and experience of this Knicks roster puts both of them in their best position for success since joining forces.

While it remains to be seen how much success the Knicks will have with the oldest roster in the NBA what cant be called into doubt is the rosters experience and depth. The reserves on the roster have already played their best basketball but still have plenty of play left in their game. They not only know what to do but how to do it. They are no longer looking for individual awards and accolades. These players are looking to work together to capture a title. Most of them wont be in New York after three years or so but in that time the Knicks know they have a window to contend for a title.

Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Basketball, Carmelo Anthony, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Jason Kid, Kurt Thomas, LeBron James, Marcus Camby, NBA, New York, New York Knicks

Related Videos

Returning Soon!!!!

No related posts.