New York Kicks Roundup: Playoff Edition
Games 1 and 2 of the Knicks-Celtics series has shown the best sneakers by some of your favorite players. Between Carmelo Anthony’s brand spanking new Air Jordan Melo M9 Playoff Edition to the back-to-back appearances of the throwback Air Jordan 2, 5, and 8 unearthed by Quentin Richardson, pure sneaker gold has been touching the floor of Madison Square Garden. The only footwear possibly giving them some competition are Spike Lee’s custom Knicks-inspired Cole Haan shoes. Okay, maybe that’s like comparing apples to oranges. The Knickerbocker signature colorways are strong with this group though. Check out our roundup below and leave a comment with your favorite from the past two playoff games.
AIR JORDAN MELO M9 PLAYOFF EDITION
NIKE LEBRON X PS ELITE “SUPERHERO”
EYBL KD V ELITE
AIR JORDAN IX RETRO PLAYER EXCLUSIVE
AIR JORDAN II RETRO PLAYER EXCLUSIVE
AIR JORDAN V RETRO PLAYER EXCLUSIVE
AIR JORDAN VIII RETRO PLAYER EXCLUSIVE
Carmelo Anthony Scoring Champ Wallpaper
Well, Kevin Durant instagrammed a note saying that he would sit out tonight’s game, in order to rest for the first round of the playoffs. With that news, Carmelo Anthony has locked up the 2013 Scoring Title. To celebrate, I’ve put together this wallpaper. To download, as always, just right-click and save the image as.
Novak Wears Syracuse Garb, After Losing Bet To Melo
As most of you know, Carmelo Anthony is a Syracuse Alum. In this year’s NCAA Tournament, Syracuse has met up with Indiana, Mike Woodson’s alma mata, and Marquette, Steve Novak’s. Syracuse beat both teams, but before each matchup, Melo made some friendly wagers with the two. The losing team’s alumni had to dress up in the winning team’s clothing.
No word what Mike Woodson has done, but, after Syracuse’s win over Marquette, look what Steve Novak had to wear on today’s plan to Miami:
Needless to say, Melo was a happy man.
Terry Richardson Shoots Melo for WSJ
Terry Richardson shot Carmelo Anthony for the cover story of the most recent Wall Street Journal magazine. The piece is quite good and worth your time, but here are the images.
Melo’s Air Jordan Timeline While In Denver
Carmelo Anthony is under a microscope after his lackluster play against Golden State on Monday night. The Knicks were held to 63 points, with 14 from Melo’s output. How efficient he will be over the course of four more games on the road is up in the air, considering he’s sustained a sore right knee, which had him sidelined for three games. As Melo’s performance is being scrutinized by press in the face of his health, and the state of his team that can succeed in his absence, there’s one thing not at the center of controversy—his sneakers. Melo signed with Jordan Brand in 2003 when he entered the league fresh off an NCAA championship at Syracuse. The white, university blue, and yellow taxi colorways of the Denver Nuggets became a staple of his signature shoes; metallic silver, and black were part of the alternate design.
Being a member of Jordan Brand, Anthony also enjoyed the perks of having a limited run (e.g. Player Exclusive, Future Sole) of Jordans also in Denver colorways. He would wear those on court as much as his own signature shoes. Today, the Jordan Melo series continues with the M9, released this January. In the past couple of years since he’s been in New York, the M8, M8 Advance, and M9 are all you see in Melo’s rotation, not any special Jordan Retro versions in Knicks orange and blue. Is it safe to say Carmelo Anthony’s sneakers as a Knick have eclipsed his Denver era? The Melo collection has shown an evolution in design and popularity. There’s no denying the M6 as one of Melo’s best because they were one of his most light-weight shoes ever. Before that, the M5.5 contained notes of the Jordan 5 and 6: like the 3M tongue and silhouette, but it was all Melo at the end of the day with his emerald birthstone incorporated into the design, along with a TV ad campaign that took him back to his hometown of Baltimore.
The tide is changing for Melo’s sneakers. His most recent shoes are slowly breaking away from being referred to with the Jordan prefix, now becoming an major event that isn’t just another Jumpman23 release. The M9 is pushing the envelope with Flywire materials setting it apart from other Air Jordan releases. That’s an achievement for Melo’s branding. Immortalizing his legacy in the sneaker world can be mentioned in the same breath as his retired jersey. Patrick Ewing has seen this type of fanfare recently with the resurging popularity of his own signature kicks. Before that moment comes for Melo, take a walk down memory lane of his classic material.
AIR JORDAN MELO 1.5 (2003)
AIR JORDAN MELO 18.5 PE (2003)
AIR JORDAN XII MELO PE (2003)
AIR JORDAN II MELO PE (2004)
AIR JORDAN II MELO PE (2004)
AIR JORDAN XII MELO PE (2004)
AIR JORDAN XII MELO PE (2004)
AIR JORDAN XX MELO PE (2005)
AIR JORDAN XIII MELO PE (2005)
AIR JORDAN XIII MELO PE (2005)
AIR JORDAN X MELO PE (2005)
AIR JORDAN MELO M3 (2006)
AIR JORDAN MELO M4 (2007)
AIR JORDAN XX2 DENVER NUGGETS PE (2007)
AIR JORDAN XXIII MELO PE (2008)
AIR JORDAN MELO M5 (2009)
AIR JORDAN MELO M5.5 (2009)
AIR JORDAN MELO M6 PE (2009)
AIR JORDAN MELO PE (2009)
AIR JORDAN MELO M6 (2010)
AIR JORDAN MELO M6 FS (2010)
AIR JORDAN MELO M7 FS (2010)
AIR JORDAN MELO M7 (2011)
AIR JORDAN XII MELO PE (UNWORN)
AIR JORDAN XII MELO PE (UNWORN) (C. NICEKICKS)
AIR JORDAN XIII MELO PE (2011)
Melo Needs to Sit
Carmelo Anthony is the center of the NBA universe tonight. He is the biggest story, like Dwight Howard was on Tuesday, as he led the Lakers to a thumping of his former team, the Magic.. Despite Melo trying to play off that playing the Nuggets is just another game, deep down he wants to put forth a performance like Howard.
It’s time for Melo to set aside his ego and use his brain. He has no business being on the court against his former team.
Melo looked the worst I have ever seen him in a New York uniform against the Warriors. Not everything has been pretty with Anthony since the Knicks have traded for him. Across his time in New York, fans have witnessed some embarrassing performances. This beat them all and it wasn’t remotely close.
The only logical explanation (nothing was logical about it, actually, pretend I used a different word) for the way head coach Mike Woodson handled Anthony’s minutes against Golden State is he was trying to let his best player get through the rust before the return to his original team.
Time to take a step back, this is completely insane.
If Melo isn’t going to recognize that he needs to sit on his own, Woodson and the training staff need to tell him he can’t play. Since it appears Woodson isn’t willing to take that stand, it’s on Glen Grunwald, the General Manager, to step in. If Grunwald isn’t going to speak up, Knicks owner James Dolan needs to get on a plane to Denver and order Carmelo Anthony doesn’t touch the floor tonight.
Reading through the stories from the beat writers, it seems likely Melo is going to get shut down or at least miss the Blazers game on Thursday night after he plays against the Nuggets.
It is completely unacceptable to risk your franchise player, who is clearly hampered by an injury and has already been overworked because the head coach has been coaching with a short sited view.
On Monday night, Anthony was clearly not comfortable enough to push his knee to the limit. Against the Nuggets, in a game Melo so desperately wants to play well in, I doubt the effort level comes in as low. This is what has me worried.
The Nuggets aren’t moving away from Denver. This game will be there again next year. A chance to get to the Eastern Conference Finals in a wide open East, outside of Miami, might not be.
That opportunity disappears if Anthony goes down. Plain and simple — it’s not worth the risk and someone has to do something about it
The Carmelo Anthony Trade – Doesn’t Have To Be One Or The Other
The culture of sports is about winning and losing. Someone wins and someone loses, there is no middle ground.
This has been driven into our heads and it isn’t about the games specifically, it has filtered into the coverage by the media. There is an oversaturation of debate, as there is a right and there is a wrong. I fall into this trap myself on many occasions.
As the Knicks head out on their five game West Coast swing, I am dreading this week of basketball more than any I have in a long time. It isn’t because of the difficulty of the games, but dealing with the Carmelo Anthony trade debate as he returns to Denver for the first time.
Did Denver win the trade or did New York? Over the next couple days I expect to see this question posed at nausea.
The Knicks got the franchise player they could build their team (and marketing plan) around, while the Nuggets put together a squad that was a perfect fit for their head coach George Karl.
Since the deal, the Knicks have gone 88-66. The team New York broke up was 28-26, nothing spectacular.
New York has lost in the first round in both playoff series with Melo on the team, but can this really be held against him? Against the Celtics in 2010-2011 Chauncey Billups and Amar’e Stoudemire both got hurt. In Game Three of that series Anthony played with a banged up STAT, Toney Douglas, Ronny Turiaf, Landry Fields, Bill Walker, Jared Jeffries, Shawne Williams, Roger Mason and Anthony Carter. That is not a team worth anything more than a 1st round exit. The Knicks accomplished what they were supposed to.
The next season against the Heat once again the Knicks got their butts handed to them. Was this completely unexpected (I fully admit to thinking Knicks could have success in the series, I was wrong)? With the right match-up they could have potentially won a series last year, but New York’s poor start to the season came back to haunt them.
This season the Knicks are 38-22. Can we take a second to reflect how far New York has come? 30, 37, 39, 33, 23, 33, 23, 32, and 29. That is the win totals from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010. The Knicks have already surpassed the win total for everyone one of those seasons except one.
The Knicks winning percentage before the Melo deal was 51.4%, since the deal it is 57.1%. If you separate this year, when the Knicks had the proper amount of time to put together a supporting cast, New York’s winning percentage is 63.3%. The improvement of the first number is by slightly under 6% and the second one is a 12% increase.
The Nuggets are an impressive 42-22 (65%) and are the hottest team in the league not named Miami. Since trading away Anthony, Denver is 98-57, good for a 63.2% winning percentage. Before the Nuggets dealt Melo, they were 32-25, a winning of 56%. The increase from the last Melo team to this year is 9% and overall 7%.
From 2007-2008 to 2009-2010, Denver’s winning percentages were .610, .659 and .646.
The point of this isn’t to say the Knicks are a better team than the Nuggets. I think Denver is a better team, but there needs to be some context.
The Nuggets were already a good team before the trade, while the Knicks were average to putrid. In the immediate, the improvement of both teams has been essentially the same, but you go bigger picture it’s New York who has seen the higher jump.
It also doesn’t mean there aren’t fair arguments against the trade being made. Should of New York hoarded its assets and waited for Chris Paul or Dwight Howard? It’s a legitimate debate, even though I’m not sure the complications Chandler (he was an RFA that upcoming offseason) and Gallo’s contracts would have brought by waiting.
The he should have waited and came as UFA is also a complaint that can has some legs. There was the unknown of the CBA, if a guy wants his money that’s his prerogative, which can’t be ignored.
The Knicks still ended up where they are today. It has not been a smooth path, but New York is better than they’ve been (even if they aren’t as good as I would like them to be) in a while.
To say the Nuggets “won” the trade is completely unfair.
To say the Knicks “won” the trade is completely unfair.
Both teams had a plan in place for the type of team they wanted to build and both are thriving. Despite the want to appoint someone on top, in this instance it is not needed. Denver deserves credit and so do the Knicks. Each team chose its own direction and up to this point there hasn’t been any significant differences.
Every once in a while it’s ok not to argue, as it is possible for both to be right.
Carmelo Anthony M9 “Poison Green”
These are now available at Mr. R’s in Miami, where you can call to place an order.
Taking A Look At Woodson’s Allocation of Minutes
As a follow up to the outstanding column that colleague Bryan Gibberman put up earlier today about the Knicks rotation, I would like to display the following charts regarding the Knicks’ minute breakdown per player at each position. The first two are hypothetical situations and the last chart displays what occurred in the Warriors game last week. I too am very much bothered by the teams coaching right now, but Bryan covered all of that already so there’s no need to be repetitive.
This chart assumes that Carmelo Anthony will be back sooner than later. Additionally, while rotations tend to shorten in the playoffs, it’s my opinion that would not be optimal for this Knicks team. Notes regarding each chart can be found below them.
Hawes Gets In Melo’s Face, Chandler Pushes Hawes
Nothing like some good, old intense basketball.
Also, as Bryan has pointed out on twitter, it’s refreshing to see this happen and then see the Knicks continue to play basketball, rather than get flustered.
Two M9 Previews – Royal Suede and Bright Crimson
Last weekend, at NBA All-Star weekend in Houston, Jordan Brand previewed two new colorways of the Carmelo Anthony M9.
The first pair, dubbed the Royal Suede’s, features a blue upper and toe box, with orange accents. These are considered an update to the suede M8′s Melo wore last year against the Chicago Bulls.
It’s Time to Get Real About the Knicks
The face that no one wants to see
My favorite time of the year is upon us. The week after the All-Star Break signals the beginning of a period I like to call ‘Basketball Heaven’. While the NCAA is coming into its home stretch, with teams battling to make it to the field of 68, the NBA is resuming the regular, everyday routine of in season play. More importantly, this week signals the time of reckoning for NBA teams. Our team is now 32-19 a week after the break, and after a horrendous loss to the suddenly-impenetrable Pacers, it’s time to get real about the Knicks.
