Carmelo Anthony Wants to Score Less, Be Better All-Around

Carmelo Anthony is on a mission this season … to score less, if that’s what it takes for the New York Knicks to become a better team. Melo says he’s willing to sacrifice points and focus instead on a more well-rounded game. Per the NY Post: “The motivation came from being a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic Team, on which everyone sacrificed and trusted. Anthony said it put ‘a lot of things in perspective.’ Though Anthony didn’t say it, it could also be that he has finally learned from LeBron James, who guided the Heat to his first title by doing a lot more than ringing up big scoring totals. Anthony’s playoff resume, meanwhile, is checkered: In eight of his nine seasons, he has gone out in the first round. ‘For me personally, I’m in my 10th year,’ Anthony said. ‘Everyone pretty much knows I can score the basketball. But for me to challenge myself, instill the trust into my teammates to give them that confidence when they do shoot the ball, to have that confidence that they can make it happen as well. I’m done trying to score 35, 40 points to win the basketball game. I don’t want that role anymore. I can do it. That’s what I do. But in order for this team to be successful, for guys we have right now, we need a more well-rounded team. If I have to sacrifice on the offensive end, I’m willing to do it. It’s easy for me to sit here and say it. But this year it’s going to be locking in and doing it as the leader of this team.’ […] ‘A lot of times we keep hearing about we can’t coexist,’ Amar’e Stoudemire said. ‘First, people don’t realize the first year we played together, we had a huge trade, we lost six players, got six players I hadn’t played with before. The lockout year, we got off to a slow start and had a coaching change at midseason. This year is a great test for us with a full training camp and coaching staff. We’ll have a full year. It’ll be a great year for us.'”