Amar’e Stoudemire called Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni “an offensive genius’’ and implored his teammates yesterday to buy into the coach’s famed speed-ball system.
As the Knicks bad luck would have it, the player needing to change most was absent during yesterday’s offensive-intensive practice. The slumping Carmelo Anthony was excused because of “a family issue’’ but will be available tonight against the Bucks and tomorrow for the big showdown against his old club, the Nuggets, in a rare, lockout-inspired Garden back-to-back.
D’Antoni, reputed as the Einstein of offense when he coached Phoenix, is leading one of the league’s sickliest, selfish offenses hurt by having no true playmaker. The Knicks are averaging 93.5 points, shooting 41.3 percent, have lost four straight and own a 6-8 record. What could owner James Dolan, so giddy about the Rangers’ Stanley Cup chances, be thinking now?
“If we got Carmelo and Amare on the same team, and we can’t get over 85 points, we don’t deserve to win,’’ D’Antoni said. “Pretty soon we’re going to have to hold them to the 60s to win. That’s not going to happen. We’re holding people under 100. We got to score over 100 points. My gosh, I never thought we couldn’t do that. It’s really perplexing.’’
D’Antoni could be seen in animated conversation with Knicks interim GM Glen Grunwald after practice. When asked about the talk, D’Antoni said, “Nobody is happy where we are. We got to get it turned around. It’s got to start tomorrow. It should’ve started yesterday or the day before.’’
It has been painful, watching the forced one-on-one, especially by sore-wristed Anthony, who is in a horrendous shooting slump (35 of 102 in his last five games).
Ironically, the defense has improved to the detriment of the offense. During training camp, the time was spent on defense.
There were indications yesterday that D’Antoni, in the final year of his $24 million contract, threw the kitchen sink at his reeling club, employing creative wrinkles to jump-start a dead attack that hasn’t bested 41.6 percent shooting in any of their last seven games. D’Antoni will be a dead man walking if he can’t get Anthony to buy into the system or get injured point guard Baron Davis, who could play next week, turn around the malaise.
Stoudemire made a similar remark last March when Anthony first joined the club and the team struggled.
“Coach D’Antoni is an offensive genius,’’ Stoudemire said yesterday. “He’s been very successful with his offense. We just have to make sure we believe in his strategy.’’
The Nuggets so far have the upper hand in early gradings of the Anthony blockbuster. If Anthony stinks out the joint Saturday, fan outrage could grow more.
D’Antoni is in a tricky spot, because though he wants a more up-tempo attack, he does not wanting to discourage Anthony’s fourth-quarter explosiveness.
“When you’re that good and talented, you just don’t say, ’Today, I’m not going to [shoot],’ ’’ D’Antoni said. “It’s tough. In his mind every shot that he puts up, he’s trying to make. That’s not the only issue. He can struggle and we should still score. Maybe not 110 but in the 90’s.’’
According to Synergy Sports, the Knicks lead the league in isolation attempts but are ranked in the bottom in its efficiency. Stoudemire said isolations should be contained to the final 10 seconds of the shot clock after the ball moves to first create open shots.
There are other issues, including depth. The Anthony trade could forever haunt the Knicks because they gave up the farm. But they lost another key player not in the Anthony deal, last season’s 3-point reserve sniper Shawne Williams, who rejected the Knicks for the Nets.
“There’s not just one clear-cut reason,’’ D’Antoni said. “It’s a little bit of not really adhering to our offensive principles.”