New York Knicks: All-time starting five, no teammates allowed

Knicks All-Time No-Teammates Starting 5: Carmelo Anthony, SF

There are two ways I could make the argument for Carmelo Anthony: one, on his merits; and two, on technicalities.

Starting with technicalities, the strongest candidate outside of Melo at the small forward position would be Bill Bradley, but he is disqualified as a teammate of Walt Frazier.

Next we get into Bernard King, who is also disqualified. King was Patrick Ewing’s teammate in the eighties, even though they technically never played together. After Ewing was drafted first overall by the Knicks in 1985, King sat out the following season with a knee injury. By the time King made his return to the New York lineup at the end of the ’86-87 season, Ewing was out with his own injury.

Having explained the players who didn’t make the cut, it’s time to pay Carmelo Anthony his proper respect. While you could argue he performed his best at the #4 position with the Knicks, we won’t let modern NBA lineups get in the way of his ranking relative to traditional small forwards.

Anthony made seven All-Star teams in New York and two All-NBA teams. He won the NBA scoring title in 2012-13, his best season with the Knicks. Not since Bernard King had Garden fans seen a prolific scorer like Anthony. His explosive offensive game led the Knicks to one of their best regular seasons in franchise history, when they went 54-28, won the Atlantic Division, and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2013. A true anomaly season during Jim Dolan’s ownership of the team.