18 months ago, after 19 seasons in the NBA, and a year without playing, Carmelo Anthony made his retirement from the sport official. Since then, he has been seen a lot on the sidelines, even at the Olympic Games, and he has been busy helping his son Kiyan, one of the best players of his generation, start his career. But before this blank season, “Melo” could have come full circle by returning to the Knicks. He was the one who refused…
“We sat down and had a real discussion” he tells the podcast microphone 7PM in Brooklyn. “They said, ‘Listen, there’s a spot. You can make the team tomorrow, but here’s the spot.’ I said, ‘No, no, I can’t.’ Not knowing when you’re going to play or not play — I’d rather not go through that. I’m going to bow out gracefully. I just had a great year in L.A., in my role. Basketball’s not the issue. I can’t do that. It’s a big decline. When you look at the big picture, it was a big decline. So I had to stick with that. No disrespect to them, but I can’t accept that.”
In fact, the Knicks offered “Melo” a spot at the end of the bench, to play mentor. And he didn't want it, even though he would have really liked to play in New York. “At that point, I thought, my plan is coming together, right? Come back to New York, finish in New York, have my year, play. This is a good team. I can still play, I can still help the team. That’s exactly the vision I had. My goal was always to come back here and finish here. So that was my plan. The energy is there, the discussions are there… It feels like it’s going to happen…”
Anything but a Taj Gibson role
But Carmelo Anthony quickly became disillusioned when he learned that he would not have a role as a 6th or 7th man. Especially after having done great things for the Lakers: 13.3 points on average.
“You mean to tell me that three or four months later, I can’t do the same thing?” he had asked the Knicks. “But that’s what bothers me from a fan standpoint, from a basketball standpoint. At the time, if you look at that team, what the Knicks needed was high-percentage mid-range shooting. What they needed was skill and they needed veterans. They needed somebody who was willing to come in and help them and help Julius, you know what I mean? That’s why they went and got Taj. But Taj, in his situation, has nothing against not playing 10 games, coming back and playing the 17th game, and then not playing eight more games. You know what I mean? Being cut, coming back. No, that’s not possible, I can’t do that.”
Last but not least, the salary. The Knicks offered him minimum wage, and “Melo” couldn't see himself accepting it to sit at the end of the bench. “If you look at my stats and compare them to players who played the same position as me at the same time, you can't tell me to take the minimum when those stats are very similar to those of the top players in that position. It's hard to accept the minimum salary just because it's me. We don't look at the value of the product but the result. I didn't want to get into that little game.”
