ESPN Analyst Reveals Why Carmelo Anthony Is a Brilliant NBA Player

Carmelo Anthony has had a decorated career in the NBA.

A ten-time NBA All Star, Melo was the league’s scoring champion in 2013.

With career averages of 24 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3 assists as a member of the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, Melo has been of the NBA’s All-Second team twice and named to All-Third team four times.

A member of Syracuse’s National Championship team under head coach, Jim Boeheim in 2003, Melo is still not on an NBA roster.

Will a team sign Melo?

“I really don’t want to get into all that right now,” Anthony told me on Thursday while on the red carpet of the ALS Association Greater New York Chapter’s diner which honored him.

“But yeah I’m surprised. It is what it is at this point, I’m sitting back waiting spending time with my family and that’s all I can focus on right now.

When asked if he wants to play he told me: “2000 percent, make that the headline.”

Everybody you ask thinks Melo should play. Dwyane Wade told me back in September that he was on board.

Charles Barkley is too.

MSG Networks’ Walt Frazier told me that he thinks Anthony could have burned some bridges.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony had mutual interests last season. Things soured when LeBron James’ injury happened and the LA didn’t make the NBA Playoffs. Some believe that Anthony should have signed with a non-contender last season which could have then set him up to have played this season.

Nevertheless, Anthony has game. Many know it particularly New Yorkers. ESPN’s reporter and Outside the Lines host, Jeremy Schaapp, remembers Anthony playing for the New York Knicks at a time when many people didn’t want to play for the orange and blue.

Check out a snippet from our chat on Thursday during the ALS Greater New York Chapter Lou Gehrig Sports Awards dinner.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: You’re a native New Yorker. What’s Carmelo Anthony mean to New York City?

Jeremy Schaapp: I think what Carmelo Anthony represented here in the city is a lot of hope. And he gave a lot of people here a reason to watch the Knicks when there weren’t a lot of other reasons. And I think in some sense that he was a gift to the fans here because he’s such a compelling player, such a brilliant offensive player. You know, the Knicks have been a mess for 20 years, obviously he didn’t get them where they wanted to go, nobody’s gotten them where they wanted to go in 20 years…. that’s not on Carmelo Anthony. I think he’s a guy, as a New Yorker who can always hold his head up high in New York and would be appreciated here.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Why do you think he’s not on a team right now?

Jeremy Schaapp: I can’t even tell what happened last season, this and that, I don’t know how much money he wants, I don’t know if there’s a veteran’s minimum, I don’t even know the details of that kind of stuff, I think it comes down to cost-benefit analysis. If he’s not on the team, it’s because there’s not a situation right now where somebody thinks it’s worth it. That doesn’t mean the situation doesn’t change a week from now.

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