Carmelo Anthony will forever go down as one of the most talented but deficient superstars in NBA history. His major malfunction was that he could never put his ego aside long enough to see the bigger picture. He claimed to want a championship like his good friends LeBron and Dwyane Wade, but winning that one scoring title and dropping 62 points during a losing season one night at The Garden seemed to be enough for him.
Melos biggest downfall is that he wouldnt compromise and he now hes succumbing to his stubbornness and ego like Allen Iverson and that would be a sad turn of events for a guy thats had a celebrity-filled, superstar career despite never winning a championship.
Kevin Parrish Jr on Twitter
Carmelo Anthony reminds me of how Iverson’s career ended. Never played in the NBA after age 34 because he had too much pride to come off the bench.
Its painfully obvious to anyone who has followed Anthonys career that he is on his last legs. The jumper isnt money anymore and Melo hasnt been a superstar in some time in any arena other than his own mind.
Deadspin on Twitter
Defiant, moldering Melo, on moving to the bench: “That’s out of the question.” https://t.co/6Je3ihsWOB
During his exit press conference for the season after getting bounced by Utah in the playoffs first round, when Carmelo is asked about possibly coming off the bench in the future, or restructuring his contract, should he decide to pick up his $28 million player option and stay in Oklahoma City he offers a very selfish and delusional response:
Im not sacrificing no bench role. Thats out of the question. As far as sacrificingI dont even like to talk about finances and the economics of the game of basketball. When that time comes, that time will come. If and when we have to sit down and talk about whats the future, and ideas and situations, then, that time will come. I honestly dont even feel comfortable sitting here talking about money and basketball.
Ballislife.com on Twitter
I’m not sacrificing no bench role, out the question” – Carmelo Anthony https://t.co/Dj7WvPeFM1
Signing max contracts and hanging out with dudes who claim to be your best friends but never wanted to ball with you has been Carmelos thing. Not sacrificing for the good of the team will always be a blemish on Melos legacy.
Melo had so many chances to find playoff success. He had his share of first-round exits in Denver and helped the Knicks to a couple of appearances in a failed tenure as King of the City, but he could never capture a wave and lead his team to a conference championship series. When he joined forces with Paul George and 2017 NBA MVP Russell Westbrook, Melo was supposed to finally have the talent around him to make a serious championship run. Instead, the trio could never find that perfect synchronization of skills, unselfishness, cohesiveness, and dedication needed to make a run at the big boys.
We see now that the triumvirate never had a chance because in the end, Melo never accepted a subservient role with the team as the third option on offense. Sometimes Melo seemed to understand his role and deferred to George and Westbrook. OKC looked like a well-oil machine with chip potential when everything was clicking. But Melo never consistently found his groove within the offense. Neither could Paul George to tell you the truth. When all else failed, Melo felt that finding his groove meant shooting more than anyone else on the floor and at other times he disappeared, like in Game 7 against Utah when he took just seven shots.
Where does Melo go from here? I don’t see any title contenders that are going to bring him in now that he has made his A.I. declaration. He let it be known during his final years with the Knicks that he was playing for self, which has pretty much always been his common theme.
