Can We Trust Carmelo Anthony?
On my way to work, I was fortunate enough to listen to Stephen A Smith on First Take discussing with Carmelo Anthony about his side of the equation. The fact that a player such as Carmelo is not on an NBA team goes to show how dangerous this situation truly is. Whether its social media or previous sports players, Carmelo Anthony’s name has been tarnished in the last few years. During his time in New York and Denver, Carmelo Anthony was highly respected and was known as one of the greatest players in this generation. However, the moment he started his new chapter in OKC, his entire career went downhill. In this episode of the First Take, Stephen A Smith discusses with Carmelo Anthony about his side of the story that happened in Houston and Oklahoma. In Carmelo Anthony’s perspective, he believes that he should be on an NBA team due to simply who he is. Even though Anthony is a ten-time All-Star and is a six-time All-NBA selection type of player, does not necessarily mean that you belong on an NBA team. In this article, I explore how misunderstood Carmelo Anthony has been in the last few seasons due to various factors.
In the opening of this meeting, Carmelo Anthony felt the need to go on national television to explain his side of his predicament. For the last few years, Carmelo Anthony’s reputation has been tarnished for various reasons. Whether it’s chucking up shots for no reason or his mindset of feeling the need to start on an NBA team, the reality is, Melo, paved this reputation on his own. However, in this meeting, Carmelo Anthony felt as if he was misunderstood throughout this whole saga. When asked about why Carmelo Anthony decided to come on national television at this very moment, he thought that it was the perfect timing to do so. Even though the world knows who Carmelo Anthony is as a basketball player, his career has hit rock bottom. At this point in Carmelo Anthony’s career, he felt that it is time to defend himself to express the truth about who he is. The other notable understanding that Melo wanted the world to know is that he needed to take a step back from basketball to evaluate his whole career. Even though it wasn’t his choice to be dropped by the Houston Rockets, he felt that this was a perfect time to reevaluate his recent years in the NBA. Now, as a high of a calibre of an athlete Carmelo Anthony is, the idea of a team dropping you in just ten games must be hard for anyone to swallow. However, in my opinion, this chapter that Melo experienced is very crucial for anyone to have. When somebody is caught up in the moment of fame and fortune, most people tend to be caught in the moment too deep due to their egotistical views of life. This is similar to Carmelo Anthony’s predicament as he feels the need to be a starter due to who he is. That’s the perception that everyone felt about Carmelo Anthony’s last few seasons in the NBA; however, he had a different opinion.
When asked about how he felt about how the Houston Rockets dealt with him, he states,
“I just didn’t understand where that came from, I was reaching out to Darrel to talk about how I can make this situation better, what can we do to fix this, what can I do to fix this but, he had a different reason to speak to me to let me know that I’m no longer a Houston Rocket. I didn’t like how it went at all.”
From this quote, Carmelo Anthony was willing to do whatever it took to make the team better. During this meeting, Anthony states that it was hard enough for him not to be a starter on a team. Despite Melo reaching out to Daryl Morey (the general manager of the Houston Rockets) to discuss how he can make the team better, Morey had a different opinion. This whole altercation between Carmelo Anthony and Daryl Morey is upsetting considering how different both of them approached each other. Although the NBA is a business, if a player is reaching out asking what he can do so openly, I believe that the business aspect should diminish. This quote shows that Carmelo wanted to help the team the best in his ability due to how open he was about joining the Houston Rockets. To make things even worse for Melo, he took it deeper after that as he states,
“You mean to tell me that I can’t make a 9 man rotation? I already accepted the fact that I have to come off the bench which was very hard for me. I accepted that and moved on from that but, to say that I can’t make a 9-10 man rotation to me means that its deeper than basketball.”
This quote to me shouts confusion and dishonesty from the Houston Rockets. The fact that Daryl Morey went to Carmelo Anthony, looked him straight in the eyes and said, “we don’t need your services anymore,” goes to show that this is deeper than basketball. When looking at this situation at a deeper level, I believe that Daryl Morey released Carmelo Anthony due to his reputation among the media. As mentioned earlier, Melo’s reputation has been tarnished these last few years due to the press. I believe that Morey got caught up within the media and started to believe what he was hearing, which resulted in Melo being dropped. As Carmelo Anthony mentioned in the meeting,
“This doesn’t happen all the time, I was on a 10 game travel period, this isnt something that just happens, this was something that was previously discussed over the first 10 games of the season. ”
To me, something is missing in this story. There could be various conspiracies as to why Morey decided to do what he did; however, he just felt that the fit wasn’t right. Even though Morey and the Houston Rockets were chasing Carmelo Anthony for years, for them to kick out Melo the way they did is very confusing.
Typically, when these outbursts tend to happen among NBA franchises, the player always looks to be the enemy most of the time. When looking at the last few seasons Carmelo Anthony played, he has been viewed as a player who has a big ego who refused to follow what anyone has to say. However, when looking at his time with the OKC Thunder, it appears that Carmelo Anthony may have been misunderstood.
When asked about how Carmelo Anthony’s emotions were between leaving OKC and the Rockets, he states,
“I accepted my role in OKC which was, you are going to be the fourth option on this team. All I know was, I just left New York, and I have a shot to compete for a championship with the OKC Thunder which is what my teammates felt as well. However, it wasn’t till after the season where all this conversation about whether I would come back and take a pay-cut or would I come off the bench, none of this stuff was ever discussed with me as far as me coming off the bench. The only thing that I needed was for someone to discuss that with me and I think that people were afraid to stand up to me and talk to me about that.”
The idea that OKC never openly discussed what Carmelo Anthony’s role on the team does not surprise me one bit. When looking at the history of the Thunder organization, various aspects of their history appears to be viewed as inexperienced. Whether it was trading James Harden for virtually nothing or how they failed to make a proper system around Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, makes me believe what Carmelo states. At times, Melo looked lost on the court and struggled to land shots with the OKC Thunder which was blamed entirely on him. Even though Melo should have shot at a higher rate, the idea of him lost on the court makes sense considering how no one ever communicated what his role was. For instance, if you just got hired as a new position and was expected to know everything about the job, wouldn’t you feel lost too? The worst part is, Carmelo was willing to have a lesser role if someone would have communicated to him. Whether it was fear or inexperience, the OKC saga in Carmelo Anthony’s life appears to be more understandable. I believe that Carmelo Anthony does have flaws just like everyone else; however, I don’t think he deserves all the blame.
During the meeting, Carmelo Anthony states that he was willing to do anything to help the team. Melo further states that when speaking to head coach Billy Donovan about how he can help the team, Billy grants him his wishes. Even though head coach Billy Donovan explained to Melo what his role is during the season, the rest of the organization failed to do so. Something about the OKC situation seems to be very similar to the Rockets situation, which is, lack of communication. As Carmelo Anthony states earlier, his departure of the NBA was deeper than basketball.
As an NBA fan, I was never fond of Carmelo Anthony. However, after looking at this and seeing how both OKC and the Houston Rockets treated Carmelo Anthony, makes me realize how misunderstood he is. Carmelo Anthony is a ten-time all-star, six-time All-NBA player, and is one of the greatest players ever to play this beautiful game. In my opinion, that alone should be enough for any team to sign him. Before Melo decided to go on national television and discuss his side of the story, I had a firm opinion about the type of player he was. When listening to this meeting, I see an individual who has been misunderstood for the last few years and has heart for the game of basketball. Various individuals tend to talk about the negatives about Carmelo Anthony; however, what about the positives. Does anyone ever speak about the type of leadership Carmelo Anthony has or the fact that he has been in the gym crafting his game for the better? Social media rarely promotes that side of Carmelo Anthony and instead focuses on the negatives. Even though I am not a massive fan of Carmelo Anthony, I am a huge fan of basketball and to witness this injustice from these organizations is truly shameful. I believe that if Carmelo Anthony experienced a better situation, he would still be in the NBA as one of the better players in this league.
Can we trust Carmelo Anthony?
I think the answer to that question is, can the NBA trust Carmelo Anthony and treat him right?
