Carmelo Anthony And The New York Knicks Are Kind Of Dysfunctional

The New York Knicks are off to a worse start than planned this season, allowing the locker room drama to leak out sooner than expected. Carmelo Anthony was the first to fire shots at the rest of his team, though he did it in the most fun way possible -- with seemingly rhetorical questions while making veiled comments about the effectiveness of fellow All-Star Amare Stoudemire while discussing their role in coach Mike D'Antoni's offense.

Anthony, disappointed with the Knicks 6-10 start, talked to the New York Post over the weekend while seemingly addressing this doozy of a rumor from the Post's Marc Berman:

According to a source familiar with the situation, Anthony has been too obsessed with his points and Stoudemire is too concerned with Anthony taking over the team. There's also too much finger-pointing, according to the source.

It's unclear why Stoudemire didn't speak on the record regarding the above rumor, but Anthony apparently went on a bit of a diatribe (as transcribed by the Post).

"We as a team need to do a better job getting Amar'e the ball," Anthony admitted. "I have the ball in my hands. Maybe it's on me. Maybe I have to give him the ball a little more, help him out with that. We'll talk probably [today] and try to figure it out together. If I'm doing too much, I want him to tell me. I want the guys on the team to tell me if I'm doing too much."

"Maybe I should take the blame for the games we're losing," Anthony said. "Coach does run the offense through me. I'll take the blame. It's obvious I'm beat up. I don't want to use that as any excuse. Maybe it's time to revaluate everything, reevaluate my body, sit with the trainers, see what's going on."

"Maybe I need not to take so many shots. That's just a bunch of thoughts that go through my mind. Coming down, taking less shots. Figuring out ways to make other guys better. Should I pass it more?"

There are quite a few questions included in that block quote as Anthony takes an introspective look at his role in the Knicks' woes, but it remains to be seen what exactly is going to be done about it. Obviously something needs to change, though, as these types of rumors and comments shouldn't be making their way to the media just 16 games into what should be a playoff season.

For more on the Knicks, be sure to visit Posting and Toasting.