Saturday, June 19th, 2010 at 11:16 am  |  25 responses

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Mile High To Go

Carmelo Anthony spends time with SLAM in NYC.

by Franklyn Calle

NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony spent last weekend in the Big Apple helping kick off the Breakfast Club for the Jordan Brand in pertinence to the World Basketball Festival. He was also scheduled to ride in the Puerto Rican Day parade the following morning. The Breakfast Club, a 10-week series of basketball intensive training intended to challenge New York City youth, will host training clinics throughout the summer for kids between the ages of 10-16 nominated by the Harlem Boys & Girls Club, Harlem Urban League, and Harlem YMCA. The program is being held at the famed Holcombe Rucker Park.

After spending the morning at the Rucker, Anthony had a meet and greet session with fans at the House of Hoops– a stored launched by Nike and Foot Locker offering exclusive basketball apparel and sneakers. I got a chance to catch up with the three-time NBA All-Star minutes before he made his way inside the store. Due to Melo’s busy schedule and time paucity, I had a little over five minutes to pick his brain.

As I arrived, a noticeable line made it’s way down the right side of the building. I went inside the store, located right across the street from the well-known Apollo Theater in Harlem, thinking Anthony was already inside somewhere. But it turned out to be that he was relaxing right in front of the place in a small party bus. After being led to Melo’s publicist, we made our way inside the bus. She introduced me to a few Jordan Brand personnel seated at the front of the bus. There were some other folks in the middle but she decided to skip by them and head straight ahead to the end. There was the third pick of the 2003 NBA Draft sitting by himself in the last seat, quietly typing on his Blackberry. Sporting some black Jordan shorts, a black short-sleeve V-neck tee-shirt and black shades (they looked like the Oliver Peoples Daddy B Black Jay Z wears in the “Run This Town” video– might be the ones), Melo was in chill-mode as he rested his legs on the long couch that stretched all the way down the bus with his shoes off– jokingly asking his publicist and others seated in front of him if his feet were bothering them.

As soon as I approached Anthony and introduced myself to him, Melo puts his phone away and reaches out his hand to me for a strong pound. Later on in the day, I began wondering how well he could actually see me since the lights were off in the back of the bus and he was wearing shades. But anyways, he was real laid back and down to earth. Kept his answers short and sweet for the most part, and never really changed voice his voice tone.

Last season, Carmelo Anthony got off to a predominant start. First two games: 30 points on Utah and 41 points the following night against Portland. Game 3: 42 points at home against Memphis. He would then cool down at bit and only drop 25 and 22 points in his fourth and fifth game respectively. But games six and seven saw him reach 30 points each on the road against Miami and Atlanta on back-to-back nights. Every other game that followed had Melo either with 20s or 30s in the stat sheet points column. Then came game 16 on November 27 at home against the New York Knicks. Melo ended the night with 50 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. A couple of nights later he ended the month of November with a 32-point performance on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Going into December, the former Syracuse-standout was averaging 31 points per game. Anthony seemed to possibly be on his way to a scoring title and maybe even a season MVP.

The first couple of games in December saw Anthony finish in the 20s followed by a 32-point outing in Sacramento. It wasn’t until the following game, December 7 in Philly, that Melo for the first time all season didn’t finish with 20 or more points. But it was all good the following night when he dropped 34 in Charlotte followed by a 40-point performance in Detroit.

Melo was averaging 30 points per game as he welcomed in the new year. But January wasn’t so nice to him. He sat out nine of the 15 games in the month because of injuries. He was also on the bench for the first four games of February. After returning, Melo’s point average took a small dip– averaging 24.5 in February, 27.8 in March and 24.7 in April. Anthony eventually finished the regular season averaging 28.2 points– third behind KD’s 30.1 and LBJ’s 29.7.

Had he not gotten injured and missed those 14 games in January and February, could he have led the League in scoring? With such a great start to the season you have to think he had chance, but I guess we’ll never know.

The Playoffs is something I’m sure Anthony and the rest of the Denver Nuggets would like to forget about after being bumped out in the first round in six games by the Utah Jazz. (Melo did average 30.7 per game during the post-season.)

Expect for Anthony to play next season with a unfinished business mentality.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

SLAM: Although you grew up in the rough streets of Baltimore, you were born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and spent some of your early childhood there. What do those memories look like?
Carmelo Anthony: I think it was the typical hood story. You grow up in a single parent home; the projects. Five or six people. Two or three bedrooms. That typical life story. I remember just being able to wake up and have the basketball outside your building and just going outside to play ball. When I was in Brooklyn you didn’t really have to go anywhere. You stayed in Red Hook, Brooklyn. You didn’t have to go to Queens or Harlem. You know, you stayed in BK.

SLAM: Cool. You moved to B-More when you were 8. Do you still remember your apartment in the Red Hook projects real well? Would you be able to spot where you lived on your own?
CA: Of course. 79 Lorraine Street. Apartment 1C. (Laughs)

SLAM: Okay, shout outs to whoever lives there now. This past season was one of your best seasons in the League so far, averaging 28.2 points and 6.6 rebounds while leading all western conference forwards in all-star votes. What do you plan to work on in this summer to try to out-do what you did next season?
CA: I just want to do the same or even better. But I want the results at the end to be different.

SLAM: What does your regular schedule in the off-season look like in terms of basketball workouts?
CA: I get it in early in the morning. Like nine or ten o’ clock. You know, shooting and conditioning. Everything I do in the gym is still conditioning. So if I shoot, I get my conditioning drills in. And that’s basically my morning. Once I’m back working out then it’s everyday.

SLAM: Do you find yourself working out more than once at times in the summer?
CA: It depends. It depends what’s going and how my body is feeling. If I feel I didn’t have a good workout in the morning then I might get back at it later.

SLAM: How much do you wait from your last game until your first workout of the off-season?
CA: Ahhh, about a month.

SLAM: How much of an effect, in your opinion, did coach George Karl’s absence have on the team?
CA: Well I’m not the type of guy that makes excuses. Did we miss him sitting on the sidelines as the head coach? Of course. I think his situation is way more important than the Denver Nuggets.

SLAM: After reaching the Western Conference Finals in ’09, the Nuggets were bumped out in the 1st round by Utah this past season. How would you rate this past season?
CA: I think overall as far as the regular season, we had a great season. The west was tough. The west is always going to be tough. At one point we were second in the west. A couple of games we dropped and we went down to fourth or fifth. Overall, as far as the regular season, I think we had a hell of a season. We just wanted the results to be different at the end.

SLAM: How do you see the Nuggets stacking up next year?
CA: I think a lot of guys will come back with chips of their shoulders. They didn’t like the way things ended this year. So, you know.

SLAM: Any off-season moves you feel the Nuggets should make this summer?
CA: I don’t know. I think they got the whole summer to figure that out. I think everyone saw the Playoffs and the saw the season. And the front office, I think they’ll figure it out.

SLAM: Do you feel like there is anything lacking right now with this Nuggets team?
CA: I mean, I like the team I’m with right now. If they decide to make some changes then so be it.

SLAM: Is there any activity that you enjoy doing during the off-season?
CA: I like to fish. I know a lot of guys in the NBA like to play golf but I like to fish.

SLAM: How did that start? Who put you on?
CA: I’ve always like to fish, you know. Starting from catching little perchs. You know, bad fishing. To now doing deep sea fishing.

SLAM: Any specific spot where you enjoy fishing the most?
CA: Nah, not really. Wherever there is some water, then I like to get out there.

SLAM: I’ve heard about your interest in the film business. You got your own production company “Krossover.” You was the executive producer for the a Mike Tyson documentary “Tyson,” and now you’ve been working on a Roberto Clemente project? How is all of that working out?
CA: There’s nothing finalized yet. We are still going back-and-forth with it but we are trying to figure it out right now.

SLAM: Any upcoming projects that we should be on the look out for?
CA: We have a whole slate of projects right now from documentaries to full-length films and reality shows. There’s a lot of things in the works.

SLAM: Is film producing something that you’re looking to do once your playing days are over?
CA: Yeah, definitely. For sure.

SLAM: What has drawn you in to the industry?
CA: I mean…I just like movies. I like watching TV. I like being able to put in my creative juices on the television.

SLAM: Is there any specific producer or film personnel that you look up to or whose work you admire the most?
CA: Brett Ratner. Yeah, that’s my mentor. I look up to him. I look forward to working with him in the future.