The New York Knicks are never short of hope heading into a new season. There’s never talk of tanking or building. It’s always about winning and success. Carmelo Anthony feels a change is coming. The triangle offense makes him optimistic about changing as a player, but someone might have to tell him about The Scorpion and the Frog and what it means.

What happens in that fable? A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river. The frog is afraid of being stung during the trip, but the scorpion argues that if it stung the frog, both would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and begins carrying the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature.

I don’t think I’ll be the scoring champ. Especially with this system, the way we’re playing — the way that it’s going to be well-balanced, the style of play we’re going to have, I don’t think I’ll have to lead the league in scoring this year. I think shots will be fewer. I think it will be more effective shots. So if that means taking fewer shots, then that’s what’s going to happen.

Anthony maybe forgot about Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan. All were scoring champions in some version of the triangle offense. It usually works better with more than just one scoring threat on the floor. Anthony can be as unselfish as he wants, but not having good enough players to make the most of the new offensive system might be a much bigger problem.

We’ve been playing preseason; it’s still early. It’s not until you get in the flow of the game that you start knowing the minutes you’re going to play, knowing the group you’re going to be out there with most of the time. Until you find that rhythm, you’re not going to really understand. What I like so far is, throughout the game you don’t have to really focus on getting me the ball or me trying to score in bunches or just coming down and throwing the ball to me and everybody just watching. Everybody will be part of the game; everybody will feel like they have something to do with the game.

Talking so enthusiastically about a new offensive system often leads to disappointment. Just think of the Los Angeles Lakers in the beginning of the 2012-2013 season. Talk about a Princeton system. A Super team with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash joining. The end? Brown was fired less than two weeks into the season, and it became Bryant playing hero ball in order to get them into the playoffs.

When it comes down to it, I think we all know that when it’s time for me to go to work, it’s time for me to go to work. But for the most part, it’s different because whereas before I was trying to start off in the first quarter and end it in the fourth quarter, now I can just play my position, play my part and get everybody involved, and when it’s time to go it’s time to go.

Images via Knicksbreakdown