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Jim Boeheim Still Thinks Carmelo Anthony Would’ve Been Better Off in Chicago

By Michael Whitlow

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A year has past, and Syracuse head coach (and former head coach to New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony) Jim Boeheim still believes Anthony made the wrong decision last summer by staying in New York and not signing with the Chicago Bulls.

Without Carmelo Anthony’s presence during the 2002-03 season at Syracuse University, long-time Orange head coach Jim Boeheim would still be a hall of fame coach, but wouldn’t have a title trophy sitting on his mantle.

Boeheim and Anthony still have remained close throughout Anthony’s NBA career, so his opinions still have validity. His thoughts on Anthony’s decision to stay in New York last summer and not sign with the Chicago Bulls haven’t changed a year later.

In an interview with Marc Berman of the New York Post during Team USA’s mini-camp in Las Vegas, Boeheim (a USAB assistant under head coach Mike Krzyzewski) explained that he wasn’t wrong in saying that Anthony was better off in Chicago for the future.

"“Anybody knew that,’’ Boeheim said of Anthony being better off in Chicago. “Me saying that, everybody gets mad at me. But it’s the truth. The New York Knicks owner should say that, if he was being truthful. That would be hard, but I think it was a better situation to win. But he loves New York. I see that. There’s always hope they would turn it around. There’s always hope.”"

Anthony entered the offseason last summer as an unrestricted free agent, and the Bulls seemed like one of the teams that were truly in the hunt for his services. (Who could forget the Carmelo-based decorations around the United Center last year?)

Despite the Bulls being able to offer Anthony a $90+ million deal with the current cap availability (along with not having Jimmy Butler exploding onto the superstar scene yet), the eight-time All-Star chose the bright lights of New York City and re-signed for $124 million to stay with the Knicks.

Boeheim’s not wrong at all with his analysis of what Carmelo Anthony should have done last summer. Hell, Boeheim even gave former Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau his recommendation on Anthony before last summer’s chaos began.

Not only did Chicago offer Anthony a better chance to win, Anthony still would’ve gotten a nice max contract from the Bulls front office that could’ve extended his window to win that elusive championship.

Even without Anthony, the Bulls turned out … OK, despite the tension with Thibodeau and the front office, along with another postseason loss to LeBron James last season. Pau Gasol had his best season ever, while Jimmy Butler became one of the best swingmen in the NBA today.

Plus, not having to pay Anthony — who ended up missing the latter two months of last season after knee surgery — opened the door for the Bulls to keep the younger Butler in Chicago for possibly five more seasons.

Personally, Anthony not coming to Chicago was best for business from the get-go. Anthony’s one of the best scorers on the planet, but there’s not much else he truly offers other than being able to rebound at a solid rate on both ends (seven straight seasons of a 10%+ total rebound rate with Denver/New York).

Even Boeheim admitted that during his NYP interview by saying, “He [Anthony] is what he is. He’s a scorer. He’s not LeBron James. His defense is OK, he can rebound a little bit. But he’s a guy who scores and there’s a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame who were scorers.”

In Tom Thibodeau’s scheme, if you don’t play defense, you don’t play. Imagine Thibodeau and Anthony clashing at times, while the front office was all over Thibodeau’s back throughout last season. Things could’ve gotten even more toxic in Thibodeau’s final hurrah in Chicago.

Next: Games on the '15-16 slate for the Bulls that deserve more attention

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