Since there are no end of laudatory posts recently on the announcement of Carmelo Anthony’s retirement, I’m taking a different position on the review of his career and accomplishments, a counterpoint if you will.
Carmello Anthony has finally retired. I say finally because his relevance was over more than a decade ago and the only thing that kept him going was his own overinflated ego, a steady intravenous drip of hype from his entourage and a need for cash and validation.
Incredibly talented, a truly gifted athlete, Carmelo made his mark in one year of college at Syracuse when he led the Orange to a National Championship and was hailed as Best Player of the Tournament. Originally intending to stay for 2 or 3 years and do college properly, Carmelo was delighted to discover how great people thought he was and could be that he decided to one and done and enter the NBA draft lottery.
It came at an unfortunate time for Anthony as generational talent LeBron James was going directly from highschool to the draft where he would overshadow Anthony for the first, but not the last time, by being selected 1st overall.
Most players start out good and work hard to become great. Carmelo started his career as a great player and chose not to put in the really intense hard work needed to get to the next level and stay there. Once again he was overshadowed by James
As a result, after only 8 years into his career, he started to lose it when he really should have been in his prime.
While it can be argued that he never lost his scoring touch, his effort on defense and his ability to create for his teammates steadily declined until even off the bench he was too big a liability.
It takes much more than simply great skill to win in the NBA. A great player must continually hold himself to a higher standard when it comes to working out, preparing for games and winning when you’re not on. Anthony never had any of these qualities, even in Denver when he was surrounded by some decent talent and a great coach in George Karl.
Like many before him,Carmelo became enthused with the NBA lifestyle, not the game itself and as a result, he would enjoy no team success. In fact most of the All-NBA teams he was selected to were more based on his potential rather than his results. A good time Charlie rather than an MVP Chuck, I can’t help wondering what might have been if he’d really applied himself.