Colin Kaepernick and Carmelo Anthony have both been trending this week.
For those keeping score at home: Carmelo Anthony signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Carmelo Anthony just told me he wants to return 2000% wants to see @JCrossover play and is pleased with Derrick Rose’s play.
That’s big news for Anthony who has been out of the NBA for a little over a year.
For those tardy to the party: Colin Kaepernick will have a workout today in front of NFL scouts. That’s big news for Kaepernick who has been out of the NBA for three years.
The irony of this all?
On a recent episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, well esteemed NBA writer, Robert “Scoop” Jackson of ESPN dropped by a recent episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast and shared how Carmelo Anthony and Colin Kaepernick’s plight in their respective league’s while different, have some interesting similarities.
Check out a snippet from our chat via Scoop B Radio below:
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: You think Carmelo Anthony is good enough to play in the NBA this season?
Robert “Scoop” Jackson: Nope.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Why?
Robert “Scoop” Jackson: Various reasons. I think that there is this persona that he is unwilling to change and I don’t know if he’s been given fair chance from the outside looking in, I don’t know if he’s been given the fair chance to prove that he can change, not just the way you play, but the way the game is being played right now. I think the team he would be able to play for would be a team that necessarily doesn’t need him, he would just be an added benefit and I don’t know if teams want to deal with him as an added benefit because they don’t know if they have the room for that. I think the fact that he’s basically…and my son argues about this because they’re real particular about the nuances of this…a player that is 2 years removed from playing basketball, they say he’s only one year removed…he’s two. In the eyes of the NBA he’s been gone for two years. So now you’re talking about a 35 year old player 2 years removed from playing competitive basketball. Three, I do think that he’s getting the Colin Kaepernick silent treatment by NBA owners. And that he if you really look at it, he’s been the most visible proponent of change when it comes to social activism in the NBA. I’m not saying he’s been the most vocal, but he’s the only one that’s ever participated in a public march. LeBron ain’t been out there, D-Wade ain’t been out there, DRose ain’t been out there, Chris Paul ain’t been out there. I ain’t see anybody in a march. He’s out there in a march in Baltimore with a Muhammad Ali hoodie on! That’s putting in groundwork dude. That ain’t just mouthpiecin’. That’s groundwork. You’re out there with the people. And then his ass shows up on ESPN the Magazine as a Black Panther. [laughs] You get what I’m sayin?
“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.
Last week, Carmelo Anthony told me that he wanted to play in the NBA ‘2000 percent.’
“Make that the headline,” Anthony told me.
Anthony has averaged 24 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3 assists in his career as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.
It’s likely he’ll play on Tuesday.
Three NFL preseasons ago, Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the playing of the National anthem.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL network’s Steve Wyche during the NFL’s preseason three years ago.