All-Stars Amare Stoudemire (left) and Carmelo Anthony are struggling to find a common ground in coach Mike D'Antoni's offense.

In Gotham City, Batman always rules while Robin plays second fiddle. Batman owns Wayne Enterprise and Wayne Manor, has the coolest Mancave, and drives the Batmobile. Do you ever see Robin driving the Batmobile? I don’t think so. The unwritten rule of Gotham implies that Batman never has to take a backseat to anyone.

When it comes to the New York Knicks, the same fictitious law applies. Since the arrival of Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks have become HIS team. Melo takes the majority of the shots, he’s the No. 1 option on offense, and he’s the main attraction at Madison Square Garden. So, where does Amare Stoudemire fit in the Knicks’ playbill? Because ‘Melo is such a strong figure on and off the court, Amare has been snubbed like a Hollywood supporting actor. When you watch the Knicks, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who is Batman and who is Robin. But this wasn’t the case last season when the offense went through Amare.

As The Man, he averaged 25 points per game, taking almost 20 shots per game and shooting 50% from the field. He also gave more of an effort on the defensive end, as he blocked 1.9 shots. Stoudemire was such a force his name was brought up in the MVP race.

How things have changed in just a few short months.

Stoudemire has lost his starring role on the team and now relegated to the supporting cast. All those plays called for Stoudemire have been redirected to Anthony. All those isolation sets that were drawn up for Stoudemire are now being called for Anthony. Through the first quarter of the 2011-12 season, Stoudemire’s shot attempts are down (from 19 to 15) and his scoring average has taken a huge hit (down from 25 to 18). Meanwhile, Anthony leads the team with 20 shots attempts per game and averaging nearly 24 points, which easily tops the team.

When the Knicks acquired Anthony from Denver, coach Mike D’Antoni thought he could work in both ‘Melo and Amare in his player-friendly offense. Instead, Anthony and Stoudemire are competing for shots in D’Antoni’s system. Anthony is gobbling up all the best shots, leaving Stoudemire with the crummy ones. So far, New York is not big enough to house two superstars with giant egos.

Last season when Stoudemire was heavily featured and he had a decent point guard in Raymond Felton to feed him the ball off screen-and-rolls, the Knicks offense was clicking on all cylinders. This season, the Knicks’ screen-and-roll game has been dicey at best because the guard play has been very shoddy. The run-and-gun, 100-point games have been replaced by a very dull, uninspired basketball that usually ends with Anthony jacking up a shot after dribbling the entire 24-second shot clock. So much for D’Antoni’s seven-seconds-or-less mantra.

The dream season that started so promising has turned into a nightmare. D’Antoni’s job is on a week-to-week basis, while Stoudemire is turning into Charles Smith. It got so bad for Amare that ‘Melo even felt sorry for him at one point. He went out of his way to try to incorporate Amare into the offense that he took just seven shots, scoring one point, in the Jan. 24 game against the Charlotte Bobcats. That generosity lasted just one game as ‘Melo went back to Sir Shoot-a-Lot the next game.

What the Knicks need is a veteran point guard (a Commissioner Gordon) to keep Amare and ‘Melo in check, someone who also knows D’Antoni’s system and would love to have one more shot at winning a championship. Hmmm. Who could that be? Iman Shumpert and Toney Douglas are good backup guards, but neither one can run a team. And please don’t say “Baron Davis.” He’s more of a Band Aid at this point of his career. Here’s a hint. His first name starts with “s”, his last name rhymes with ash, and he plays in Phoenix.

Unless the Knicks can find that true point guard Stoudemire and Anthony will continue to struggle to find a common ground when they’re both in the game because they don’t have a guard who can direct traffic and make sure they don’t run into each other. In hindsight, the Knicks’ brass should have moved up to draft Ricky Rubio two seasons ago when they had the chance.

And if the Knicks don’t find that coveted point guard, then maybe they need to move one of their two stars to make it work.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant led Team USA to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (GETTY IMAGES)

USA Basketball recently announced the 20 finalists who will compete for the 12 spots on the senior men’s national team that will represent the U.S. in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Among the finalists are holdovers from the 2008 gold-medal winning team in Beijing: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Carmelo Anthony. Assuming all eight accept invitations to London, there are 12 players fighting for four spots which leaves USA Basketball president Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski the dirty task of having to cut star players without embarrassing them in public.

RELATED: USA Basketball selects the 20 finalists for the 2012 London Olympics (July-August)

Injuries will certainly play a big part of the selection process, especially with Bryant (wrist) and Wade (foot). Both have hinted they would love to play in London, but it’ll depend on how their teams finish and if their injuries will get worse should they play through the summer. Not having Kobe or Wade in the Olympics will be a huge blow to Coach K but those two were the go-to guys in Beijing. When Team USA needed a basket in the fourth quarter, Coach K called on Kobe’s number first and then Wade was a very close second. That was evident in the gold-medal game against Spain when Wade was the catalyst in the first half and Kobe closed the deal.

With or without Bryant and Wade Team USA should field a dynamite team in London and be heavy favorites to win gold again. But just like the 2008 team Colangelo and Krzyzewski can’t pick a team based on star power or All-Star game appearances. Talent alone won’t get it done in London, just ask the 2006 U.S. squad that lost to Greece in the FIBA World Championships. The 2012 Olympic squad needs to be balanced and flexible enough to adapt to any situation. The guards must be physical enough to play through a lot of contact because the international referees oftentimes will allow physical play, the forwards have to knock down 3-pointers, and the big men must be quick enough to defend the perimeter.

Here are the 12 players who should make the 2012 U.S. Olympic team:

CENTER: Dwight Howard

Comment: Because the majority of the big men in the Olympics are perimeter oriented, you really don’t need more than one true center. Dwight Howard wasn’t a huge factor four years ago in Beijing and, at times, struggled to guard the 3-point shooters. Hopefully four years of experience will help Dwight adapt to the international game.

FORWARDS: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Iguodala

Comment: Two years ago in Turkey, Kevin Durant showed the world what he can do in the FIBA World Championships. Now, it’s time for USA Basketball to recognize Durant as the centerpiece of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. Durant has the perfect game to play against international competition. We know about his consistent outside shot (something LeBron and ‘Melo struggle with at times), but what the 6-foot-10 Durant presents is a mismatch at the forward position. He’s too big for small forwards and too quick for power forwards. Iguodala played well in the 2010 world championships, especially on defense. Iguodala can match up against guards or forwards, and his length and athleticism really bothered the great scorers from Europe. Love and Aldridge are better fits because they can knock down shots, which is extremely important in opening up the court for dribble penetration. Love and Aldridge can also play some center if needed, and in some instances Love or Aldridge are probably better options at center than Howard. This means the committee will have the tough choice to exclude Chris Bosh and Blake Griffin from the team. There will be a ton of pressure to add Griffin on the squad because of the excitement and hype he’ll bring to London, but it’ll depend on how many guards Coach K will carry on the roster.

GUARDS: Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Deron Williams

Comment: It will be hard to knock off any of these guards off the team, but if Kobe or Wade decide to pass on the Olympics, then Eric Gordon should be the next man up. Gordon played well in Turkey in 2010 and he has the game and built to play against the rugged competition. One key factor to watch is how Paul and Rose will keep defenses from zoning on them. Teams will gladly give up 3-point shots to CP3 and D-Rose to take away their dribble penetration. Rose was up-and-down at the 2010 worlds because he wasn’t too confident with his jump shot, something he has aggressively worked on the past four years. Coack K also has the option of playing Williams at shooting guard with Paul or Rose at the point, and won’t rule out moving Iguodala at guard to make room for another forward if Bryant and Wade are not available.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

All-Star guard Chris Paul remains in New Orleans for now, but he'll likely be wearing a different uniform this season. (US PRESSWIRE)

LeBron James opened a new can of worms last summer with his controversial “Decision.”

Chris Paul and Dwight Howard are now following James’ villainous lead, holding their teams hostage by refusing to sign long-term deals with their current teams. Paul is on his way to the Los Angeles Clippers after the Hornets were unable to convinced him to sign an extension. The Orlando Magic are on the brink of losing Howard, who recently told Orlando management that he wants to be traded.

If these storylines look and sound familiar it’s the same predicament the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets found themselves in 2010 when LeBron held the Cavaliers hostage before signing with the Miami Heat, and months later Carmelo Anthony practically followed LeBron’s lead by putting the Nuggets on pause until he found a new home with the New York Knicks.

This player power play is the very reason why NBA owners wanted to change the system. Small-market teams don’t want another LeBron or Carmelo situation in which they were left empty-handed and nothing to showcase for their fans. Teams want a headliner to fill seats. The Hornets will feel the sting of losing Paul, considered one of the top points guards in the league and a four-time NBA All-Star. Even though the Hornets got some nice pieces in the trade – Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Chris Kaman and a first-round pick – you don’t give up a Chris Paul and get equal value. The same goes for the Magic. Should Howard leave Orlando, how are the Magic going to satisfy their season-ticket holders at new Amway Center without the best center in the game today? These are legitimate concerns by the owners, but their hands seem to be tied because today’s stars seem determined to dictate where they want to go.

“First and foremost, we want Dwight to re-sign here,” Magic president Alex Martins said. “We’re going to continue to give him every resource, every asset that he needs and that we need to be successful. I think we’re proven that over the course of the last four years in particular, but certainly his entire time here. Only two other teams in the league have won more than we have over the last four years.”

An Orlando Magic fan shows her support for Dwight Howard during the third quarter of game five of the 2011 NBA playoffs at Amway Center. (US PRESSWIRE)

Howard publicly criticized the Magic recently for not doing enough to meet his demands. His wise list, of course, includes big-market, sexy teams like the Lakers (so he could join forces with Kobe Bryant), the Mavericks (so he could play with Dirk Nowitzki), and the Nets (so he could play with Deron Williams). The Magic went through this before with Shaquille O’Neal in 1996, and it took the franchise nearly a decade before they were able to recover from Shaq’s departure.

It’s a little baffling that current star players are hell-bent on joining other stars. It is definitely a complete turn from the 1980s and ’90s when megastars such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan would never dream of playing elsewhere. What ever happened to competitive ego? Twenty years ago, superstars preferred to build their own niche and won championships as the centerpiece. Now, it seems today’s stars are more than willing to share the limelight with other all-stars.

“Gone are the days when teams are built around [star players] and they end their careers there,” said former Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell. “These players today are about quick gratification. They see guys moving around and they see guys having success [elsewhere]. So what you have to do is make the best deal you can. Try to make a deal, get young players , draft picks, be bad for a couple of years and suck it up.”

Paul says he wanted out of New Orleans because he didn’t think he had a chance to win a title with the Hornets. Howard’s Magic career so far has been defined by his numerous failures in the playoffs and the big man is becoming impatient with each passing season. However, not everybody can play in L.A. or New York. Someone has to play in these small markets.

Message to Dwight: Suck it up and try to win in Orlando instead of riding someone’s tail.

President Barack Obama shows his basketball skills at a 'Let's Move' clinic with members of the NBA, WNBA and the Harlem Globetrotters. (GETTY IMAGES)

President Barack Obama has recently announced that he is launching the Obama Classic Basketball Game. The game is set to feature more than two dozen NBA players, including superstars such as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, and Orlando Magic Center Dwight Howard.

The game, set to take place on Dec. 12 in Washington D.C., will also feature Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics, and many others. There is no word whether the game will be televised on ESPN, Direct TV, or elsewhere yet. According to the CS Monitor, tickets for the Obama Classic will price from $100 to $5,000, all of which will go towards the Obama Victory Fund, a combined fundraising effort between the Democratic Party and Obama’s re-election campaign.

The news of The Obama Classic comes in the middle of one of the most heated labor disputes in National Basketball Association history. But the lockout may be ending soon as the league and the players have tentatively reached a new collective bargaining agreement. There is much paperwork needed to be done, but Commissioner David Stern expects both sides to agree to the deal and open training camp on Dec. 9.

Two weeks ago, the NBPA and the hardline NBA owners couldn’t seem to agree on a new labor deal, which forced the players to unanimously dissolve their union and restructure it into a Trade Association.

Doing so set the stage for the two antitrust lawsuits that have been filed against the owners of the NBA in the name of the players. The two lawsuits, which had been filed in the Northern District of California and in Minnesota. However, attorney David Boies, who had been hired to represent the players, recently decided to consolidate the two lawsuits into one, which will be heard in Minnesota.

The listed plaintiffs for the newly consolidated case includes Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo, Steve, Nash, Baron Davis, and others. The owners have yet to officially respond to the lawsuit, though David Stern did hold a conference call with each of the owners, and also described the lawsuit as a waste of time. However, Boies stated at the time that after giving concession after concession, the players had no other choice.

– Home page photo courtesy of US Presswire

Kevin Durant wears the Goodman League All-Stars jersey during a game in August at Morgan State University. (GETTY IMAGES)

Kevin Durant has been one busy dude this summer and fall. He has been involved in seemingly every exhibition game since the NBA lockout started on July 1, showing up in player-organized events in Baltimore, Miami, New York’s Rucker Park, Long Beach and Philadelphia.

The beat goes on for the Oklahoma City Thunder all-star and Washington, D.C., native as he hosted his own star-studded pickup game Sunday night at Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. Durant didn’t disappoint the announced crowd of 13,000 as he scored 42 points, grabbed 26 rebounds and had 10 assists to lead his White Team to a 176-171 overtime victory.

Durant’s triple-double overshadowed a scorching performance from Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley, who lit up Cox Center with 56 points. But in the end of a long shootout, Durant got plenty of help from LeBron James (40 points) and Russell Westbrook (34) to pull out the win. The Blue Team was led by New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, who had 43 points and seven rebounds, and Oklahoma City’s James Harden, who is playing with a ton of confidence. Check out his alley-oop dunk off a bounce pass from New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul.

The White Team also included Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge, Boston Celtics forward and ex-Thunder Jeff Green and Atlanta Hawks guard Jamal Crawford. Aside from Anthony, Beasley, Paul and Harden, the Blue Team featured  Hawks guard Damien Wilkins and Houston Rockets guard Jonny Flynn.

There were several no-shows, including Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis and Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire. Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay showed up late and sat on the bench much of the game. Gay said his flight was delayed.

The game was a carbon copy of the other exhibition games during the summer: lots of threes, lots of one-on-one, and very little defense. There were a few highlights, such as Westbrook’s breakaway dunks and follow-ups, but for the most part the game resembled a Rookie Game All-Star contest. Maybe the players need to include Hollywood celebrities to spice things up.

The latest installment of this very expensive pickup game is Saturday night’s exhibition game in Miami featuring a team led by LeBron James against a squad headed by Heat teammate Dwyane Wade.

Team LeBron has some serious star power on its roster. Scheduled to play with LeBron are Heat forward Chris Bosh, Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo, Atlanta Hawks guard Jamal Crawford, Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay, Houston Rockets guard Jonny Flynn, Philadelphia Sixers guard Lou Williams, guard Damon Jones (LeBron’s former teammate with the Cleveland Cavaliers), Cavs rookie forward Tristan Thompson, and Oklahoma City Thunder stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. It’s interesting that LeBron picked up Durant on his squad because the last high-profile exhibition game had James going head-to-head with Durant, who has been on a tear this summer.

Team Wade features Heat guard Mario Chalmers, Dallas Mavericks forward and D-Wade’s good friend Caron Butler, Wade’s former Heat teammate and current Golden State Warriors forward Dorell Wright, New York Knicks stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul, Washington Wizards guard John Wall, and Thunder guard James Harden.

In the end, Team Wade outlasted Team LeBron, 141-140, in overtime. It was a typical offseason exhibition game. Lots of dunks, lots of alley-oops, lots of breakaways, lots of one-on-one, and very little defense. Somewhere in New York, David Stern is chuckling.

If you are judging from home and looking at this whole ordeal from the outside, it appears that Stern and the owners are winning this battle. The league is basically waiting for the players to crack, and it will be just a matter of time before that happens. Poor Derek Fisher, the embattled union president who has had the unenviable task of trying to keep his troops intact while satisfying those power-hungry agents. It’s like asking a bunch of 5-year-olds to not run around during recess. It’s an impossible task.

Just like 1998 when the season was cut down to 50 games, the players stood their ground until the majority of the players peeled off from the union and buckled under the pressure of losing their livelihood. Stern doesn’t seem concerned at all about losing regular season games in 2011 – and possibly the entire 2011-12 season for that matter – because that was the plan all along by the owners when the current deal expired on July 1.

“I don’t think they’re gonna play this year,” TNT commentator and Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley said on NBATV. “I think the owners have said ‘You know what, we’re gonna be like hockey. We’re gonna have to burn down the house and start over, come in with a cap and make this thing competitive for all the teams.’ That’s what the owners have said from the beginning. They’re not gonna budge this time. They’re not gonna play at all this year.”

TNT commentator Charles Barkley

Barkley noted that one of the biggest mistakes the players are making is that they are banking on a repeat of 1998, but the difference this time around is the fact that the owners are more willing to sacrifice the entire season to save their own bank accounts.

“I think the players are getting screwed by 1998. In the back of the players’ mind they are [thinking] ‘Oh, we’ll start the season in January.’ I don’t think you can compare ’98 to 2011,” Barkley said. “We’ve been in a recession for the last two or three years, some of these teams are really hurting, players’ salaries have continued to go up and they’re gonna continue to go up.

“The owners are saying ‘We’ll lose less money by not playing at all.’ I think that’s been their strategy from the beginning.”

As for the option of playing overseas, Barkley says this strategy only benefits the superstars. “This probably hurt the players,” Barkley said. “This thing is about stars, and the stars have been somewhat selfish talking about going overseas. The majority of the players are not gonna be able to go overseas.”

Barkley believes this current standoff could have been avoided had guys like Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant gotten more involved in the early stages of the lockout. Instead, after being absent for much of the summer, the stars came out in droves and crashed the collective bargaining meetings in New York, which made it harder to get a deal done. Wade and Stern reportedly got into a verbal joust in one of the weekend sessions, adding more tension to an already stressful situation.

“Those stars just started showing up [to the meetings] for the last week. They should have been in there [from the beginning],” Barkley said. “The stars have more to lose than anybody. They just showed up last week, and it’s too late. They should have been in there like a month ago.”

Barkley added, “The people who work for these teams and work in these arenas they’re the big losers.”

That’s why Carmelo Anthony’s summer league game at Morgan State became a basketball mecca as his superstar pals Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Chris Paul dropped in to get some run and break a little sweat while David Stern and Billy Hunter try to hammer out a new framework for the league.

Durant has had a busy summer, scoring 66 points one night at New York’s famed Rucker Park and later leading Washington’s Goodman League to a 135-134 victory over the Drew League from Los Angeles with 44 points. “Durant’s gone on a rampage this summer. I told him to ‘Slow down.’ Because every other night I see him in a different city playing,” Anthony told the Washington Post. “But that’s just the love of the game that he’s got, and I respect that. I’m glad he actually showed up and played in this game, too.”

Durant maintained his torrid summer by dropping 59 points at Melo’s exhibition game. It didn’t matter to the Oklahoma City All-Star that Melo unfairly loaded up his team with LeBron, CP3, Eric Bledsoe and rookie Josh Selby, while KD saddled with his buddy Jeff Green, Austin Daye and Roger Mason Jr. Despite the unbalanced rosters, Durant looked sharp and nearly carried his overmatched red team to victory (Melo’s team won, 149-141). Durant even school LeBron on one sick baseline move. Watch the highlights:

Carmelo Anthony is the most heralded superstar to wear the New York Knicks uniform since Patrick Ewing. But the Knicks paid a heavy price to acquire him. (Jason Miller/ US Presswire)

The two biggest losers, without a doubt, during NBA “Tradefest” were the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics.

The Knicks got their man in Carmelo Anthony, but they practically gutted their team to get him. On the outside, the deal was a no-brainer and seemingly well worth a three-month headache. Melo is the most celebrated NBA superstar the Knicks have had since Patrick Ewing. Sorry, Amare. You are Robin to Carmelo’s Batman.

However, on the inside, the Knicks could have signed Anthony during the summer and kept all their pieces together. Anthony never intended to sign Denver’s offer sheet from the get-go. It was all posturing on his end, and to the Nuggets’ credit they never budged. It was a game of “who blinks first” and fortunately for Denver Knicks CEO James Dolan couldn’t stay patient and went all in too soon. He sent three quality players – Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler – to Denver, making the Knicks’ roster extremely thin.

The move falls totally on Dolan’s lap (with Isiah Thomas in his left ear) because if it were up to GM Donnie Walsh, the Knicks probably would have folded their cards last week and simply waited for Melo to walk through the front door of Madison Square Garden sometime in July with pen in hand itching to sign a contract with the team he so dearly wanted to play for. That would have given the Knicks are very potent lineup of Amare Stoudemire, Gallinari, Chandler, Felton and Anthony.

Dolan better hope Chris Paul lands in New York in 2012.

The other team that took a hit at the trade deadline was Boston. GM Danny Ainge may have caused a minor earthquake in Massachusetts by sending two very popular players in starting center Kendrick Perkins and backup point guard Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City in exchange for forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic.

After losing in Denver on Thursday, just hours after the deal was done, an emotional Kevin Garnett – without question the heart and soul of the Celtics – had a difficult time coping with the loss of his teammates, telling reporters that it was an extremely “tough day” and he feels like he just “lost a family member.”

Perkins was not only the anchor of the Celtics interior defense but he was also a huge part of a Boston starting five, along with KG, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, that has never lost a playoff series when they are all healthy. That record will remain intact because Big Perk will no longer man the middle for Gang Green, grabbing loose balls, setting picks, battling Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol in the paint, intimidating refs and protecting the basket. All the intangibles that Perkins brings to the court will be missed.

Ainge was the toast of Beantown in 2007 when he acquired KG and Ray Allen and surrounded head coach Doc Rivers with a very capable roster. With this recent transaction, Ainge’s standing in the Celtics community is on thin ice. If the Celtics falter in the playoffs, Ainge could be roasted in Beantown.

When it comes to today’s game, there are quite a few signature moves that are nearly impossible to stop. Former SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick used to say: “You can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it.” That line applies to these seven incredible basketball moves from seven amazing individuals:

KOBE BRYANT’S PUMP FAKE AND PIVOT
Opposing players know its coming, but they still bite on Kobe’s head, shoulder and ball fakes. Kobe has amazing footwork, and he uses it to his advantage. When he unleashes his pump fakes, he gets on his tip-toes which throws the defender off balance when Kobe is about to go up for a shot. And then he reverse pivots to get separation and a clear shot at the basket. It’s a move that requires tremendous patience, practice, smarts and amazing balance.

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CARMELO ANTHONY’S JAB STEP
If you’re putting together a video tape on how to execute the jab step from the triple-threat position, pop in one of Carmelo’s highlight highlight tapes. Melo is the master of the jab step. When Melo squares his shoulders to the basket, a defender has to respect two things: the jump shot and the dribble drive. Both are made possible because Melo can create space with his jab step.

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PAUL PIERCE’S STEP-BACK JUMPER
The name known as The Truth loves to set up his defender by bringing him to the foul line and then stepping back to gain separation on his shot. Pierce is adept at executing the step-back jump shot whether he’s driving left or right. A lot of players have the step-back jump shot in their arsenal, but Pierce has won multiple games for the Celtics with his signature shot. Once he gets his defender near the top of the key, all he needs is a slight breathing room and it is game over.

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DERRICK ROSE’S CROSSOVER DRIBBLE AND ONE-HAND FLOATER
Spurs guard Tony Parker was one of the first to use the “tear drop” in the NBA as a main weapon against bigger defenders patrolling the paint. Parker remains one of the best at throwing floaters or one-hand runners in the paint, but Bulls guard Derrick Rose has taken it to a whole new level and does it better than anyone in the Association. He uses his great quickness to set up his defender. Once Rose has his opponent on his heels, he utilizes his lightning-quick crossover dribble, stops on a dime, springs up and then floats a shot with his strong hand. Bucket! What makes Rose’s floater so tough to defend is the way he can contort his body when he attacks the rim. Because of that threat, his floater is extra tough to anticipate.

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MANU GINOBILI’S EURO STEP
Manu Ginobili introduced the Euro Step to the NBA in 2003. It has been imitated but never duplicated. Even though Ginobili is from Argentina, he made his mark in Europe and the Euro Step was a big part of his repertoire. The Euro Step is an effective way of keeping a defender guessing. Manu uses his long strides to avoid the charge, steps across from left to right (usually) and finishes with his left hand. Current European stars Juan Carlos Navarro and Ricky Rubio utilize this move, as well as NBA stud Dwyane Wade, but nobody does it better than Ginobili. Pay attention to the instructional video below on how he executes the move off of a pick-and-roll.

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JAMAL CRAWFORD’S CROSSOVER DRIBBLE
Jamal Crawford has the best crossover dribble since Isiah Thomas and Tim Hardaway. The man known as The True Essence at Rucker Park, Crawford has amazing handles and plays the ball like he has strings on them. If you don’t believe me, check out this jaw-dropping move against the Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan.

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DIRK NOWITZKI’S FADEAWAY JUMPER
The Dallas Mavericks superstar has amassed more than 22,000 points during his soon-to-be Hall-of-Fame career and 15,000 of those points most likely were produced off of those fadeaway jumpers. Dirk starts his move at the free throw line, or at the “elbows,” and then he sets up his defender by backing him down and once he feels enough separation he fades back, jumping off his left foot, and shoots his favorite shot. The move looks a little awkward during the process because the 7-foot Nowitzki is tall and lanky so there’s a lot of herky-jerky movements. And, let’s face it, Dirk is not the most graceful athlete on the court. But, the end result is absolutely gorgeous.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. To read his previous posts, visit www.onemanfastbreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.