New York Knicks‘ superstar Carmelo Anthony is really struggling to find his shot to start the season.
Anthony is shooting only 35.6% from the field in the first five games. If you take out the one and only good shooting game from Anthony against the Washington Wizards, where he scored 37 points to spoil their home opener at the Verizon Center, that percentage dips down to 30.7%. Although Anthony does not seem to be too bothered by the poor shooting, as per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
"“I know that it’ll come back,”“Those shots that I’m taking are shots that I normally make, so I’m not too concerned about that. But I do want them to go in.”"
Of course Anthony is not too concerned, why would he ever doubt himself! Anthony is a eight-time All-Star and led the league in scoring in 2013 with 28.7 points per game. Anthony with a scorer’s mentality will always believe that the next shot is going in.
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Although you would think Anthony might be worried… since he underwent left knee surgery last season… Maybe he will never be the same-old scoring machine Carmelo Anthony again…
Anthony though does not seem worried at the slightest, saying that it is just a matter of getting his legs in-game shape again.
"“It’s there. The mechanics are there. It’s just that lift, that power coming back in the game shape,”“Mostly just legs. I mean the shot is right there. Some of them are shooting them long, some of them I’m shooting them short. It’s just about getting that rhythm going.”"
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Knick fans sure hope that it is just a matter of getting his sea legs back and nothing else. Hopefully the poor shooting is not an ill effect of the surgery diminishing Anthony’s physical abilities.
Head coach Derek Fisher came to Anthony’s defense, saying that Anthony is just struggling to find his place with so many new faces on the roster. That Anthony is just struggling to pick his spot, not knowing when to shot and when to facilitate the offense.
"“It’s a combination of physically getting back to top form, trying to balance new teammates,”“It’s, ‘How does Kristaps (Porzingis) fit out there? How does Robin (Lopez) fit out there? We’re finishing the game with sometimes Jerian (Grant), sometimes Langston (Galloway). We’re starting with Sasha (Vujacic). All these are different things that Carmelo’s adjusting to. So I don’t think it’s just about the legs, but for sure that’s a part of it.”"
Honestly, this just seems like an excuse for Anthony. Anthony is the superstar of the team, everything basically flows around him. His job is to score, he should have the least adjustments to make.
Anthony is by far taking the most attempts on the team, almost taking twice as many shots as the second-leading scorer. Anthony attempts 19.2 shots per game, with the second most attempts per game coming from rookie Kristaps Porzingis at 10.6 attempts per game.
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Hopefully this is just a early season slump for Anthony and nothing more. Just looking forward to when Anthony has a continued scoring outbreak to move his field goal percentage back to his career average.