Monday, August 6th, 2012 at 11:22 am  |  127 responses

Carmelo Anthony Thinks Selfish Reputation Began During ‘Linsanity’


Carmelo Anthony was in street clothes nursing a right groin injury when Jeremy Lin improbably blew up, and ‘Melo seems to believe that the Linsanity craze led to people calling him a selfish player. From USA Today: “What gives? Is he selfish? Or is he a team player? It creates a puzzling contradiction between what we think Anthony is on the basketball court and what his supporters think he is. The truth might be somewhere in between, but not necessarily the middle. Anthony understands the situation. ‘Now that I’m in the spotlight a lot more being in New York City, you’ve got multiple opinions,’ Anthony said. ‘You’ve got everybody saying something about this, about that. For me, just play ball. What I realized, first of all, is to keep my mouth shut and just play ball. At the end of the day, there’s no way you can go back and forth with everybody’s opinion. I realize that.’ But he pinpoints exactly when the ‘Anthony is selfish’ meme began. ‘Let’s be frank about it,’ he said. ‘When it comes to the Knicks, we’re talking about one particular point in time. We’re talking about the whole ‘Linsanity’ thing. That’s when it started. That’s when it started to escalate as far as people saying I was selfish.’ [...] Lin led the Knicks to an 8-1 record with Anthony out. Madison Square Garden was rocking, like it hadn’t been in years, and the Knicks were relevant. They moved into the top eight in the Eastern Conference and into playoff contention. Then Anthony returned, and so did the losing. The Knicks went 2-8, including six consecutive losses culminating in the dismissal of Mike D’Antoni. [...] ‘Lin came and we started winning games and then we started losing games, and they could only point to one thing, which is me, the leader of the team,’ Anthony said. ‘They’re not going to point to Amar’e. They’re not going to point to (guard) Iman Shumpert. They’re going to point to me. I accept that. It doesn’t bother me.’”

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  • jomomma

    maybe u shouldve just let jeremy lin hold the ball and let the team win and continue their run
    instead of being selfish and getting the coach fired and making lin want to go
    u have to be kidding yourself to think jeremy wanted to come back to carmelos team where the point guard isnt allowed to hold the ball

  • jomomma

    WOW THE TEAM CAPTAIN JUST POINTED THE FINGER AT AMARE AND IMAN WHO HAD A GREAT ROOKIE CAMPAIGN

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    As nbk would say, I didn’t imply that at all. No way does it hurt his legacy, everything from here on forth is however going to affect his legacy since its now begun.

  • Allenp

    So Scottie Pippen wasn’t a superstar now? But he made the Dream Team as a.starter?

  • LeBrOn 4 MvP!

    yo mElO GOT to calm the heck down, real talk, east compton, just play ball your way and live up to the thype that you were suppose to be, yall melo you got to step yo game up, casuse yo boys got ringz but you aint got none, you feel me, east compton stand up! real talk . .12 reppin till i die

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Jordan would have won nothing if not for Scottie Pippen who turned himself into a top 50 player. LeBron won after he started playing with a top 50 player in Dwyane Wade…what’s the difference? Doesn’t matter where he did it. They both won with all star teammates. Jordan, Pippen, Rodman…LeBron, Wade, Bosh. That Jordan argument that people use to discredit LeBron isn’t a good one to make. The fact that LeBron got to the Finals in his 4th season with that group of teammates is an accomplishment even without winning a game in those Finals. Recently, the only players I remember who have won without superstar teammates are Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. Duncan had all star teammates in Parker and Ginobili, Dirk had a teammate who was once the best PG in basketball, one of the greatest 6th men to ever play possibly and a defensive all star in Tyson Chandler. Bottom line, no one does it alone.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    Was Scottie Pippen traded in(yes yes Rodman, that was 1 guy)? Read what I said a bit better, I discreetly mentioned/implied LBJ going to Miami.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Chinese Oppenheimer

    These fools are seriously arguing with Redd?! I mean, you’d get smarter comments from the Seed before Redd says anything of substance.

  • Harry P

    It’s not so much that he’s a selfish player, it’s more that he doesn’t make anyone of his teammates better. I was a huge Carmelo supporter watching him from a distance in Denver, and when he came to my team in NY i, along with millions of other ‘bocker fans, was super excited. Then something happened…..mediocrity. I waited for the team to gel, but nothing happened. He put up his numbers, yes……but A’mare disappeared, so did Landry Fields, so did everyone else. Then along comes Jeremy Lin and A’mare is playing like A’mare again, Landry Fields and JLin have this chemistry like they been playing together for years, Steve Novak comes out of no where, but most important theyre winning!!! Then Melo comes back and everyone disappears again and the loses begin to mount. He’s reluctant to change his style of play bc he wants to be THE MAN, even if it means that the players around him suffer. As a knicks’ fan, I’m convinced that “melo ball” doesn’t translate well on the standings, or the box score…..unless of course you’re Carmelo Anthony. He’ll get his numbers, no matter what.

  • http://slamonline.com Datkid

    redd it doesn’t really matter how they got there. scottie pippin is a superstar, as was Dennis Rodman, one of the best rebounders for his size ever. plus jordan had toni kukoc an international beast, Horace Grant, and a guy who at one point shot 50% from 3 in Steve Kerr. MJ had plenty of help.

  • http://slamonline.com Datkid

    as for the selfish thing? Melo’s sorta always been this way, i.e. unwilling to do anything but score in different ways. the nuggets did consistently run into incredible competition when he was with them, but to be fair if you give Lebron or Dwade A.I., Chauncey, andre miller, JR, and the nuggets big men they’re going to win a couple more of those match ups then melo did. t

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    I can’t reply idk y

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    I like you better when you’re use a Internet accent. Lol jk, na you’re entitled to yours as I am mine. @Chinese

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    It’s a thread for commenting, I enjoy posting what I think. I’ve never posted anything crazy and super bias but hey c’est la vie just enjoy commenting.

  • http://bdeue.com rob

    dwightmaare>melodrama at least there was an end to the melodrama

  • http://www.huwlhopkins.com #6marjon

    I guess he wasn’t listening in Denver then?

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2011/10/nfl-players-advice-to-lebron-james-stick-to-basketball/ shutup

    So bike gets roasted when he makes racial jokes but Chinese octopus gets a pass, because he has Chinese in his name? racial jokes are racial jokes and If your gonna complain about it on one thread don’t really think it’s cool to do it on other articles. Truthfully its gets even less funny when you force it like you did this thread.

  • http://www.hoopsworld.com IamYOU

    I used to dislike carmelo… And now I hate him.. just kidding I just really dislike carmelo!

  • pposse

    dennis rodman was not a superstar..atleast not a superstar for his abilities on the basketball court. He played d and was the rebound king, but had zero offensive abilities. Superstars are reserved for the elite of the elite, he was not that guy. He was a character tho. I didn’t watch bball in the 80′s but there is a big faction of people out there who will give MJ full credit for the player that Scottie Pippen was.

  • peak507

    man yall hating on melo. melo gets it in its not melo fault that amare became a jump shooter when he got there. its not melo fault that ppl realized lin couldn’t go left to save his life. lin’s contract is ridiculous. you give somebody 25 mill for 8 decent games….

  • http://www.slamonline.com Chinese Oppenheimer

    Shutup can zuck my dink. 1126 wasn’t me

  • MeloMan15

    Lebrons cavs were also in the eastern conference… where at the time it was wayy easier to win a playoff series.

  • MeloMan15

    In his first year in denver, Melo faced the T-wolves in the playoffs (when they had their best year and made it to the WCF). The next year he played the Spurs, Then he played the Clippers in their best season ever, he then played the Spurs again and the lakers twice. With the Knicks he played the Celtics with no amare and no billups, then the heat with an injured amare, no lin and no shump. I don’t know about lebron, but I know for a FACT that Wade wouldn’t have won any of those series

  • pposse

    i dont understand where this notion of the Western Conference was ‘significantly’ better than the Eastern Conference. Only the top 8-10 records were exceptional in the conference; the west also had some of the worst teams in the L in those years too. If your a top 10 team in the West and take 4 wins from each of the bottom feeder teams in the west you are spotted an automatic 20-24 wins on your season. The western conference had a more uptempo offense, and played no defense (besides spurs and lakers). In the east, most teams were defensive oriented and slowed games down, much the way the playoffs are played and won. Its easy for a bottom feeder from the West to come in and steal 1 out of 2 games from these eastern conference teams based on catching a team off guard. The fact a whole bunch of teams in the East were .500 or slightly better should not be held against the East.

  • MeloMan15

    the teams in the playoffs were a lot harder than the east teams in the playoffs

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2011/10/nfl-players-advice-to-lebron-james-stick-to-basketball/ shutup

    What your small Chinese Duck surround by very strange public hair? like you never posted with that racist accent on this site, smh KY

  • pposse

    Miami won, Boston and Detroit almost won twice from 2000-2010 – the lakers and spurs took all of the other chips in the west

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