Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Pippen Peoples, I have a confession to make. Carmelo Anthony is about to make me look like an idiot and I don’t like it. A lot of my colleagues swore up an down that Carmelo Anthony was going to opt out of his contract early and leave. I thought he was going to stay. I mean really, he’s in the greatest city in the world, New York City. He gets to play at the “Mecca” of basketball, Madison Square Garden. His wife does her reality show there. But out of all of the other reasons this was the big one. He basically did an campaign that would make any politician jealous to get out of Denver. Never mind that the team was built around him. Never mind he had the best coach of his life, George Karl pushing him to be better (No offense Jim Boeheim, but you only had him for a year.) Never mind the fact that the Nuggets fans actually WANTED him to stay. Back then it was different, we were all fooled. We all thought that he was the equivalent to LeBron James. (Seriously folks, they were compared down the line.) Now we all know that it was a farce.
Carmelo Anthony is the reason why LeBron is the world’s best player. (Sorry Papa Agers, I said it.) Three years ago, LeBron took his talents to South Beach and something happened. He got better as a basketball player. Not that he didn’t fight it. He bucked against Eric Spoelstra when he was pushed, that is until he got embarrassed in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Then he did something that Carmelo has not done yet. He looked in the mirror and changed. After winning his first NBA title he started wanting more knowledge and he worked on his game. He quit being on twitter…every day. He became a professional and now he is one of the leaders in the Miami locker room. He has evolved his game and is still working. Three years LeBron had NO POST GAME! Now he does. Three years ago, LeBron was SCARED to take the last shot. Now he is willing to take that shot. Now that I think about he really did not have a consistent jump shot. Now he does. LeBron understands the game of basketball. Carmelo doesn’t.
Three years ago, Carmelo thought he could do the same thing because LeBron made it look so easy. He had a super star teammate (at the time) Amare Stoudemire. He thought they can put it together real quick like D-Wade and LeBron and win too. The only problem was Carmelo can do one thing and one thing only…score. He will not rebound like George Karl pushed him to do in Denver. He will not work on defense like George Karl pushed him to do in Denver. Now he will get a coach fired like Mike D’Antoni. You know why, He will not allow himself to be coached. Mike Woodson is a good coach. Here’s the problem, he lets Carmelo run the asylum. Last year the Knicks won because they had veteran leadership in the locker room. They had Jason Kidd (Hard to believe based on what he’s doing in Brooklyn but it’s true), Rasheed Wallace, Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby. Now all of these guys are gone now so guess who gets the leadership role? That’s like laying off the sheep dog and letting Wile E. Coyote supervise the sheep.
Since things have not worked out well for the Knicks and New Yorkers can only bash Jason Kidd’s coaching for so long, eventually they’ll turn their attention to a selfish gunner who has never made the finals like LeBron who has two rings and is well on his way to a third. So he is going to bail out before the heat gets to him. Fansided’s Josh Hill has been up close and personal with the word around the campfire about Melo leaving New York. His choices were at the time the Clippers, Lakers and wait for it…The Chicago Bulls.
Look, let’s get the Lakers out the way. That ain’t happening. Why? Who’s the coach? Oh yeah, Mike D’Antoni, the guy Carmelo ran out of New York. I don’t know D’Antoni, but he does seem the type to remember old feuds. As for the Clippers? Really? There were rumors of a Carmelo Anthony for Blake Griffin swap. If you believe that, you’ll believe that statue is me out in front of the United Center. I’m just wearing a Jordan throwback jersey. Which leaves the Chicago Bulls.
Carmelo is not a good fit for this team. He’s not a bad fit for this team. He’s an albatross for this team. Have you seen this guy play? He stands 12-15 feet from the basket waits for the pass then either pounds the ball in the ground to the elbow or goes to the baseline and shoots a fadeaway jumper. That is if he is not fighting with JR Smith to shoot ill-advised threes. Remember Amare Stoudemire? He was actually an all-star for the Knicks before Melo showed up. His game has been on milk cartons, in post offices and on fliers all over the NBA ever since. Do you really want to do the same thing to Derrick Rose who is coming off two major knee surgeries. Come on now, pay attention Pippen Peoples!
Remember earlier when I said that Carmelo does not want to be coached? But he wants to come to a team with Tom Thibodeau coaching? I mean really? Thibodeau coaches defense. Carmelo plays defense like he thinks the word is spelled with a dash and a “C” in it. The first thing Thibodeau will do if Melo was to come to Chicago is play him at power forward. Ask the Knick fans when was the last time Carmelo Anthony played the 4. You better not be in a hurry, it may take a while. Finally, the Bulls play as a team. Outside of the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat, no one in the conference plays better TOGETHER than the Bulls. If they didn’t play together, they’d never win another game this season. Carmelo has shown that as long as he gets his 25-30 points, he’s straight.
Carmelo reminds me the guy at the job that is very friendly, personable and likable. Until you figure out you’re doing all of the work. When things are going well, he’s up in the boss’ face singing your praises shaking hands and greasing everyone up to believe he’s the guy that should be promoted. When things are going south, he’s looking for another job. Hey Chicago, if this man calls, tell him the franchise folded.