Read More: Mike Bibby (G – NYK), Iman Shumpert (G – NYK), New York Knicks

Experiencing a number of back court injuries, the New York Knicks will look to add another free agent guard, coach Mike D’Antoni said on Monday.

Recent acquisitions Mike Bibby and Baron Davis both missed the season opener with back injuries, and Davis is expected to miss significant time. New York’s back court health issues were only compounded when backup shooting guard Iman Shumpert suffered a sprained MCL during New York’s 106-104 victory against Boston. Shumpert is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.

The Knicks still have a $2.5 million exception to use, but it might be smart for New York to save that cap space for when the Denver Nuggets free agents who signed in China during the lockout — Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith — become available sometime around May. Carmelo Anthony is reportedly interested in adding Martin as a backup big.

Free agent guards include Michael Redd, Keith Bogans, Gilbert Arenas and former Knicks Eddie House and Nate Robinson. Robinson seems highly unlikely since he and D’Antoni did not see eye to eye while Robinson was in New York.

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Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points in the New York Knicks season opening win, 106-104, over the Boston Celtics. The Knicks needed every one of those points to beat the Celtics, and will, I believe, need Carmelo to score like that all season.

Carmelo Anthony
Wikimedia Commons

Carmelo Anthony is Great NBA Scorer

So far in his NBA career, Carmelo Anthony is averaging 24.9 points per game. That is the 13th highest scoring average in NBA history. Twice in his career Melo averaged over 28.0 points per game for a season. In 2007 he averaged 28.9 points per game, and in 2010 he averaged 28.2 points per game.

There’s no doubt that Carmelo Anthony is a great scorer in the NBA. On December 10, 2008, playing for the Denver Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony poured in 33 points in the third quarter of a game vs the Minnesota Tmiberwolves. That is tied with George Gervin for the most points a player has ever scored in an NBA quarter.

I’ve been a Carmelo Anthony fan since he took my favorite college basketball team, the Syracuse Orange, to the NCAA Championship in 2003. I’ve followed Melo’s career since then, and have always believed he would win a scoring title in the NBA.

When Melo averaged 28.9 points per game in 2007, he finished second to Kobe Bryant in scoring, but was not really that close to Kobe’s 31.56 points per game average. Melo has also finished third in scoring a couple of times, including last season when he averaged 25.58 points per game. This season though, I think Carmelo Anthony will win his first NBA scoring title. Here’s why I think so.

Carmelo Anthony Had Teammates Who Could Score with the Denver Nuggets

During the two seasons Carmelo Anthony averaged over 28.0 points per game in Denver, the Nuggets had plenty of offense around him. The 2007 team had Allen Iverson (24.8 points per game average in 2007), who won four NBA scoring titles, on the team, as well as Earl Boykins (15.2), Andre Miller (13.0), J.R. Smith (13.0), Nene (12.2), and Marcus Camby (11.2).

The 2010 Denver Nuggets had Chauncey Billups (19.5), J.R. Smith (15.4), Nene (13.8) and Kenyon Martin (11.5) on the team scoring points. So in both the seasons that Carmelo Anthony had his highest scoring averages so far in the NBA, he had plenty of other players who scored points on the team.

New York Knicks Only Have Amare Stoudemire and Will Need Carmelo Anthony to Score a Lot of Points

The 2011-12 New York Knicks really only have one other legitimate established NBA scorer on the team in Amare Stoudemire. Newly signed center Tyson Chandler has only averaged 8.3 points per game in his NBA career. Looking over the rest of the Knicks roster, there’s really no one else on the team had can be relied upon to score points.

Toney Douglas has a career average of 9.8 points per game, while Landry Fields has averaged 9.7. Mike Bibby has a career scoring average of 15.2 points per game, but he’s averaged just 9.1 and 8.6 points per game over his last two NBA seasons. Baron Davis has scored 16.5 points per game in his career, but he’s not expected to play for the Knicks for at least a month, and Davis only averaged 13.1 points per game in 2011.

The Knicks just do not have many players who they can rely upon to score points in the 2011-12 season. The team is really going to have to lean heavily on Carmelo Anthony to score points this season, just like in the first game victory over the Boston Celtics.

That’s why I believe Carmelo Anthony is very likely to go on and win the NBA scoring title in 2011-12.

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Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari has rejoined his former Italian team Olimpia Milano.

The club says on its website that Gallinari will play for the team until the end of the NBA lockout.

Olimpia’s new coach is Sergio Scariolo, who guided Spain to the European Championship title Sunday in Lithuania. Along with fellow NBA players Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli, Gallinari was on the Italy squad that failed to advance to the second round.

Gallinari played for Olimpia from 2005 to 2008 before being drafted sixth overall by the New York Knicks in 2008. In February, the Knicks traded him to the Nuggets in a three-way blockbuster deal.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Andy Rautins of the New York Knicks scored all 15 of his points on 3-pointers to lead Canada to a 73-72 victory Dominican Republic on Thursday in the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Americas.

Joel Anthony of the Miami Heat had eight points and 10 rebounds for Canada (1-1), which led by 21 points. Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks had 17 points for Dominican Republic (2-1), which is coached by Kentucky’s John Calipari.

In other games Thursday, Venezuela (1-2) beat Cuba (0-2) 106-69; Panama (1-1) downed Paraguay (0-3) 89-86; and Puerto Rico, the only 3-0 team, defeated Uruguay (0-2) 74-64.

Brazil and Argentina, both with 2-0 records, were off Thursday.

The top two teams in the 10-nation field receive berths in the London Olympics. The next three teams advance to a final Olympic qualifier.

Rautins, the son of Canada coach Leo Rautins, led the long-range effort that saw it go 10 of 23.

Francisco Garcia of the Sacramento Kings hit a 3-pointer to bring Dominican Republic within one point late, but Canada held off the rally. Dominican Republic was 6 of 22 from 3-point range.

“It was very clear that they took advantage of their 3-point shots and we didn’t,” Dominican Republic’s Eulis Baez said.

Carlos Arroyo of the Boston Celtics had 19 points for Puerto Rico, while J.J. Barea of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, added 14.

Jaime Lloreda, who played at LSU, had 34 points and 10 rebounds for Panama, while Gary Forbes, who played last season for the Denver Nuggets, added 25 points.

Greivis Vasquez of the Memphis Grizzlies had 21 points to lead Venezuela to its first win.

Pool play concludes Saturday. Eight of the 10 teams advance to the second round.

The semifinals are Sept. 10.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA (AP) —Andy Rautins of the New York Knicks scored all 15 of his points on 3-pointers to lead Canada to a 73-72 victory Dominican Republic on Thursday in the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Americas.

Joel Anthony of the Miami Heat had eight points and 10 rebounds for Canada (1-1), which led by 21 points. Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks had 17 points for Dominican Republic (2-1), which is coached by Kentucky’s John Calipari.

In other games Thursday, Venezuela (1-2) beat Cuba (0-2) 106-69; Panama (1-1) downed Paraguay (0-3) 89-86; and Puerto Rico, the only 3-0 team, defeated Uruguay (0-2) 74-64.

Brazil and Argentina, both with 2-0 records, were off Thursday.

The top two teams in the 10-nation field receive berths in the London Olympics. The next three teams advance to a final Olympic qualifier.

Rautins, the son of Canada coach Leo Rautins, led the long-range effort that saw it go 10 of 23.

Francisco Garcia of the Sacramento Kings hit a 3-pointer to bring Dominican Republic within one point late, but Canada held off the rally. Dominican Republic was 6 of 22 from 3-point range.

“It was very clear that they took advantage of their 3-point shots and we didn’t,” Dominican Republic’s Eulis Baez said.

Carlos Arroyo of the Boston Celtics had 19 points for Puerto Rico, while J.J. Barea of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, added 14.

Jaime Lloreda, who played at LSU, had 34 points and 10 rebounds for Panama, while Gary Forbes, who played last season for the Denver Nuggets, added 25 points.

Greivis Vasquez of the Memphis Grizzlies had 21 points to lead Venezuela to its first win.

Pool play concludes Saturday. Eight of the 10 teams advance to the second round.

The semifinals are Sept. 10.