Carmelo Anthony is a 9 time NBA All-Star, 2 time Olympic Gold Medalist (soon to be 3 time, unless a massive upset occurs in Rio), and an NBA scoring champion. He finished the season 13th in scoring (21.8 points per game), but his Knicks had the 3rd worst record in the East (ahead of Philly and Brooklyn). At 32 years of age, his best chance for gold comes at the end of the NBA season. If Carmelo wins Olympic Gold, he will be the first male basketball player (across all nations) to win 3 gold medals.
What we’re here to talk about is Melo’s ability to post up. It wasn’t until about a season and a half into being a New York Knick that Melo decided to allow himself to play the Power Forward. Once that happened, he thrived by absolutely obliterating smaller players with his size and strength, and embarrassing bigger guys with his quickness and bag of tricks. Ever since then, Carmelo’s post game has continued to be one of the only functional aspects of the Knicks offense. Pay close attention to his footwork and how low he gets. He fluctuates between wisely taking what the defense gives him and just putting his head down and going through everyone to get to the rim. He’s poised in the paint, with his pump fakes, pivots, stepthroughs, and power through contact. He’s really a joy to watch when he gets rolling.
I recognize that Melo catches on the wing a lot and isolates from there. It isn’t ideal post play, but at the same time, he’s a bull and he just bullies players so he can back in. Yes, it's a lot of faceups, but you can still learn from it. For future reference, bigs (and any player that wants to play in the post), you catch the ball just above the box (like Melo does on a lot of these), and go from there. The reason for that is one dribble, and you’re right at the rim. If you catch on the wing, you’re allowing the defenses to zone the strong side (think Thibs’ Bulls) or shade defenders your way (think the 2015 Warriors in the Finals against LeBron). If you’re still reading this, you probably already know this, but when you’re posting up, you do the work BEFORE the ball is entered to you. Rim run. If you're bodied up at the free throw line or higher, rip through and get behind your guy. When he tries to seal a side, swim move over. Work to get post position, then LOCK your defender in.
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