Why In The World Does Carmelo Anthony Still Want To Be A Knick?
Despite minimal on-court success, comical off-court drama, and Phil Jackson openly wanting to get rid of him, Melo refuses to leave. What does that tell us about him?
I used to love Carmelo Anthony. I have two Denver Nuggets jerseys, both of which are #15, and I have one Knicks jersey t-shirt, also with “Anthony” written on the back. When I was younger, all I really wanted in my favorite basketball players was that they were good, but as I’ve aged, that has changed. Now, more than ever, I care about who my favorite basketball players are. How much I like any given player now is increasingly dependent on how good of a person they are, how passionate they are, and how much they care about basketball. And that is why all three of my Carmelo Anthony jerseys are in my closet gathering dust.
What does Carmelo care about?
It’s clearly not winning. If it was winning, he would’ve joined D-Rose, Joakim Noah, Jimmy Butler, and the Bulls and played in a Conference Finals or two by now. I’m sure Melo would like to win; I just don’t think winning is first (or even second) on his list of priorities. His reluctance to change his game also shows this. What type of basketball play comes to mind when you think of Carmelo Anthony? An isolation jumper with the game on the line? He clearly loves those type of moments, but think about why. In ISO situations, all eyes are on him, and even more so with the game on the line.
Carmelo was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Baltimore, so why does he love being a Knick so much? Playing in MSG where celebrities fill the stands to watch him play, perhaps? Playing in the media capital of the world, perhaps? Carmelo’s pattern of behavior throughout his career indicates that his first priority is getting paid, followed by being in NYC. We saw this when he signed a extension longer than LeBron and Dwyane Wade’s, preventing them from teaming up as planned, and eventually forcing a mid-season trade to the Knicks when he could’ve just signed there as a FA and kept the roster intact.
What reason does he have to stay with the Knicks?
The Knicks are such a trainwreck right now that Amy Schumer’s next movie should be “Trainwreck 2: A New York Knicks Documentary.” Derrick Rose disappeared for a few hours in one of the weirder stories of the last few seasons, but this past week in the never-ending circus that is the Knicks made that look like a prologue. Phil Jackson, who Melo cited as a reason why he stayed in NY (ironic, right?) instead of going to Chicago, is blatantly trying to make him miserable, and even that turned into an afterthought with this Charles Oakley fiasco. These Knicks stories are actually more embarrassing than anything that has happened with the Sacramento Kings the last half-decade; the Kings drama can at least be traced to basketball.
What reason does Carmelo have to stay with the Knicks? I challenge you to find one that isn’t “it’s still New York.” He literally has the power to get himself traded to any team in the league and can control who is or isn’t involved in the trade. And with the dumpster-fire state the Knicks are in right now, nobody would blame him. Yet, he refuses to budge. Some say it’s to stick it to Phil, but to that, I say “congratulations, you played yourself, Melo”, because now you get the honour of playing on a horrendous basketball team run by a disastrous organization and a President of Basketball Operations that’s openly trying to make life miserable for you. This begs the question: what type of person would refuse to leave such a hellish situation?
Is Carmelo a masochist? Probably not. So why won’t he leave? He clearly loves being a Knick (notice I didn’t say that he loves NYC), but it’s hard to not conclude that being on a bad basketball team playing for a President of Basketball Operations you don’t like (don’t forget about #PosseGate) doesn’t bother Carmelo that much. That disturbs me as fan, because it shows me what he cares about and what he doesn’t. You could never convince me Carmelo would cry after losing in the Finals like Chris Bosh. He just doesn’t care about winning that much. That doesn’t make him a bad person, and it doesn’t cancel out the social activism he’s been a part of, but what it does make him is somebody I’m not tying any dreams of winning a championship to.
