Knicks hope off-season moves will ease load on Melo

The New York Knicks' braintrust is banking on a much-improved season in 2016-17, and one of the hopes is the team's offseason additions will take some of the pressure off Carmelo Anthony.

"We're hoping that the level of talent that is on the team will lead to him not think, 'I have to do everything,'" new coach Jeff Hornacek said Friday, according to ESPN's Ian Begley. "He's a great passer. He's made great passes in some of these games that we've seen. I think when he has that trust in his teammates, he's going to make those passes, and we're going to get easy buckets."

Anthony averaged a career-high 4.2 assists per game last season, passing up big shots in some cases. Knicks president Phil Jackson hopes the additions of players like Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings - both score-first point guards - will further encourage Anthony to keep building on that.

"A lot of times (Anthony) has a penchant to take the ball himself up the court and slow the play down, the development down, by pushing the ball up the court himself or taking the inbound pass," Jackson said. "With the outstanding guard corps that we have - Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings, guys who can really push the ball at a certain level - I think he's going to be much more comfortable allowing them to do what they're best at."