Jeff Hornacek’s offense has created a twist on the traditional Carmelo Anthony isolation play Melo is good; Melo in an actual offensive scheme is better.by zachdiluzio@zjdiluzio Dec 24, 2016, 11:03am EST
Iso-Melo is an unfairly vilified offensive playcall.
It really shouldn't be — Carmelo Anthony is an extremely good isolation scorer, and if you have an extremely good isolation scorer, you should get him an abundance of isolation possessions. But sometimes, Melo takes a long time to read his defender (and the defense) during his isolations, only to chuck up a brick. And in past years, the Knicks were entirely too reliant on isolations late in games (cough Mike Woodson cough), leaving many fans with a bad taste in their mouths. Therefore, it’s understandable that so many are averse to the idea of isolations.
The real issue with iso-Melo has often been the predictability, combined with a helping of incompetent execution. It was always so freakin' obvious — here come the Knicks, clearing out the weak side, obviously aligning the guard to make an entry pass to Melo at his spot. So, so, so obviously. Opponents knew it, too; smart teams fronted Melo to deny the entry pass while shading help defenders to take away the pass over the top. And when that happened, those offensive possessions often sunk like a rock tied to another rock (especially with the dearth of talent on the roster since 2013).
Picture this, and try not to be triggered into a fit of rage: the Knicks clear out, and Melo moves to a spot somewhere between the elbow and the low block. His defender puts in a ton of effort to make the entry pass difficult, but [Insert random Knicks guard here] can't make a safe entry pass, so he stands there, waiting for Melo to fight off his defender. By the time Melo is able to clear space for that entry pass, the shot clock is at 6, and he has to rush his shot. And when Melo can’t clear that space in time, he has to move closer to the guard to receive the pass, leaving him isolating 22 feet from the rim — outside his sweet spot.
Historically, that's been the bigger problem with iso-Melo; too often, the peripheral execution involved just isn't effective, and it undermines the entire philosophy behind an isolation playcall.
To help alleviate these issues, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek has installed a bunch of interesting plays designed to give Melo his standard flow of isolations with some unorthodox tweaks. As far as Melo is concerned, these plays end up looking like his standard isos. The difference in execution, however, makes them a much better play than the stuff we’ve seen in the past.
