Dynamic Scoring

Sunday’s home loss vs. the Rockets demonstrated the scoring abilities of free agent acquisition Arron Afflalo. Afflalo served as Carmelo Anthony’s teammate in Denver but was a dominant scoring option with the Magic a couple of years back.

Even with his awkward shot, he loves to score in mid-range and three-ball situations and he isn’t afraid to post-up.

“Spell Check” has provided sorely needed scoring especially since the bench unit has underperformed during the losing streak. While ‘Melo plans to return to action against the 76ers (illness), he cannot be expected to provide all the scoring load for the Knicks. In fact, he shoots better in comfortable situations without forcing shots.

‘Melo shoots the best when he is attempting around 17–21 FGs this season. These are approximately his best shooting games this season:

Anthony will score efficiently when used appropriately, barring an off night. But even on off nights, he seems to realize his poor performance and hasn’t forced as many shots as previous seasons.

Now, for other scoring options, Jose Calderon has shot far more impressively then the start of the season. Calderon is shooting 51.2% (21-for-41) in mid-to-long distance this season, now. That’s pure money.

The Knicks’ pick-and-pop play has impressed me but also frustrated me because how little they run it. This frustration is usually caused by the unnecessary benching of Robin Lopez at times. Regardless of foul trouble, Lopez is a terrific screener and will free up Calderon for him to drain mid-range jumpers (as the Knicks continue to lead the league in those shots). Might as well be efficient if they want to continue that type of shot. New York leads the league in mid-range shots, just like last year.

Which leads me to my next point…

Three-Point Proficiency

The Knicks have good three-point shooters on the team. Langston Galloway was leading the league in 3P% a week ago and ‘Melo, well who can forget the All-Star Game record and the Team USA game vs. Nigeria.

Calderon, Early, Williams, Afflalo, Vujacic, Thomas, and yes Kristaps Porzingis can find accuracy from downtown. Managing to create those shots have been a problem, though.

Instead of chucking up desperation or contested threes, the Knicks need to push the pace and move the ball. This will allow three-point shooters to find space from defenders and knock down treys.

They can do this in the Triangle or spread pick-and-roll. There are plenty of options to obtain good three-point shots for the Knicks, but standing around and playing iso-ball won’t help.

Bench Needs to Step It Up

The starters have played nominally fine even during the losing streak. However, when they leave the court in a usual, ritualistic hockey line change maneuver pulled by Coach Fish, the bench has been substantially lagging behind.

The lack of continuity between the bench role players may be the cause of this, but regardless, the failed cohesiveness is apparent and needs to be fixed.

I’m not going to suggest vicious lineup changes to revitalize the second unit but something internally has to happen with those guys when they step on the court

It’s weird, but Lance Thomas has played favorably recently and with a lot of hustle. I think he can be a leader for the bench guys while proving he can spend time playing at forward with ‘Melo at the 4, and KP playing center. That lineup may help.

Derrick Williams is best when he’s drawing fouls and it’d be cool if Kyle O’Quinn didn’t shoot threes.