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Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks.
The retirement of Carmelo Anthony led to him sharing more stories and others adding their accounts. Anthony is a popular podcaster in the basketball space and recently joined the NBA on NBC coverage as a broadcaster. However, the most interesting topics end up being stories about his career and shocking things that didn’t get reported at the time.
Patrick Beverely was the one here to use his podcast to share a wild “what if” scenario about Anthony almost joining the Houston Rockets in the 2010s. However, Anthony turned down the chance to team with James Harden and Dwight Howard due to his past issues with Jeremy Lin:
“It was James Harden, it was Dwight. We got a chance to get Melo, right? And I’m like, damn. Melo gets there like, yeah, I’ll come here. I ain’t playing with number seven, though. That’s Jeremy Lin. Remember, the year before, they had all the Linsanity stuff.
And they were trying to trade Melo to keep J Lin. It was a time when people were talking about, maybe we trade Melo and just give the keys to Jeremy Lin, right? It was a time, a lot of people in New York were saying that.”
The Rockets and Anthony could have been a good fit, but ‘Melo clearly wasn’t looking to team with Lin.
Carmelo Anthony’s Beef With Jeremy Lin
The New York Knicks had a wild season when Lin became the most shocking overnight sensation. Lin didn’t even have a home in New York when joining the short-handed Knicks and got more minutes than anyone expected after he started to impress in Anthony’s absence.
New York fans treated Lin like a hero, and he felt like a real player moving forward. Anthony didn’t enjoy coach Mike D’Antoni changing the offense and no longer running everything around him. Lin touched the ball more as a point guard and led to a clash with Anthony over who should run the offense.
The clashing influenced the Knicks to let Lin leave in free agency to join the Rockets. Neither party did much better than the other afterwards. Anthony failed to do anything of note with the Knicks and eventually left a couple of years later. Lin never felt as important as his Knicks days and became a secondary role player in the league.
Carmelo Anthony Missed Chance To Contend
The trio of Anthony, Harden, and Howard would have made the Rockets one of the top NBA Championship contenders. Howard having a reputation for defense and paint scoring meant that he’d have been fine sacrificing points. His offensive numbers still went down, even without Anthony ever joining the roster.
Harden and Anthony were two of the most gifted scorers in the league. Houston would have never had to worry about offense, and Howard anchoring the defense could have made up for their flaws. Anthony’s ego led to him turning down his best chance to win.
The Knicks didn’t have a viable path to contending, and Anthony tried to contend too late upon his talent declining. Most fans respect ‘Melo’s skills, but he unfortunately has a reputation for failing to win at the highest level. The foolish move to avoid playing with Lin again hurt his career most of all.
Joey Haverford Joey Haverford is a seasoned sports content writer with over 12 years of experience. He has covered the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NFL, and professional wrestling in the sports industry. More about Joey Haverford
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