Carmelo Anthony clearly doesn’t see a repeat of the 17-win dumpster fire that the New York Knicks called a 2014-15 season.
Nor does he see only marked improvement. Considering his reaction to record projections floating around the social-media sphere, he expects the Knicks to be so, so, so, so much better than they were last season.
Informed of the win bracket in which New York is being placed—the 25 to 27 win area, for the most part—Anthony exuded the usual confidence and disdain for preseason predictions, per ESPN.com’s Ian Begley:
None of the preseason predictions have been particularly kind to the New York Knicks.
ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight site projects the Knicks to win 27 games this season – ten more than they did last year.
The NBA’s annual GM survey left the Knicks out of the top five of its “Most Improved” category (though New York did receive votes).
Earlier in the summer, ESPN’s forecast pegged New York at 25 wins. Likewise, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI) gives the Knicks just a 3.1 percent chance of making the playoffs.
Yuck.
These predictions might cause a stir among a fan base starving for a winner. But, truth be told, they mean little to the players.
“If people are predicting 27 wins, I laugh at that,” Carmelo Anthony said after practice on Tuesday. “We use that as kind of motivation. It’s a good thing to kind of be under the radar. I know what type of team we have. It’s just a matter of going out there and putting it together…. I think we’ll be better than people predict.”
This is the same Melo who laughed at the Knicks’ 37-win projection leading into the 2013-14 campaign, on the heels of their 54-win 2012-13. New York’s record that year, in 2013-14: 37-45. So no, Melo’s faith is not gospel.
But unlike years past, specifically last year, it’s not incredibly misplaced or especially forced. The Knicks forged an identity over the offseason, albeit a developing one. They’re clearly not married to the triangle after adding guys like Jerian Grant, Kristaps Porzingis and Robin Lopez, and they’ve assembled the pieces necessary to seriously, and demonstrably, compete on the defensive end. One only needs to look at their preseason defensive performance to see that this team has the makings of a surprisingly stingy unit.
In the end, that may be enough for Melo to look like a genius. If he stays healthy, he can carry the Knicks offense. They ran the equivalent of a top-10 attack with him in the game last year, per NBA.com, and that was a team that was noticeably worse on paper. And if Melo can carry the offense, and if the defense can be as good as advertised, the Knicks not only have a chance at rising above the most lukewarm projections, they could enter the Eastern Conference playoff conversation.
It’s not a given, that’s for damnn sure. But it’s more feasible to take such a stance this season, even though the Knicks, as a collective, have not, than it was for them to assume it last year.
