When one of the greatest basketball players ever tries to give you advice, do you listen? If you are Carmelo Anthony I am sure you at least consider it. Oscar Robertson “The Big O”, probably one of the top 5 players ever, spoke with Spike Lee on SiriusXM radio yesterday and the topic of what Carmelo should do came up. Things got interesting quickly and I am sure spike had to hate what he was hearing being a Knicks fan. Oscar makes ALOT of sense though with what he said. Hit the jump.
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Robertson pulled no punches right out the gate:
“I would leave today [if I were Carmelo],” Roberston said on SiriusXM NBA radio Thursday. “… Let me tell you why: wherever that kid has gone, when he was at Denver, they had a team that fooled around with the ball, fooled around with the ball, then all of the sudden when they needed a basket, threw it to Carmelo. Then, when he shot the ball, they said he shot too much. Then when he didn’t shoot they said he didn’t shoot enough. No matter what he does in New York they’re going to criticize him, the people are going to criticize him, because you got guys on [the Knicks] that cannot play. You got guys that are hurt all the time.
“If he goes to Houston, they’re gonna win everything,” Robertson told host and well-known Knicks fan Spike Lee. “You look at LeBron [James], LeBron’s got a great game and the kid down at Oklahoma, [Kevin] Durant’s got a great game — they can’t out-shoot Carmelo. … I’ve seen him in a lot of basketball games over the years and I’m telling you right now the kid, he just can get that shot away. Now he’s gotten smarter, he’s going to the basket a lot. But what gets me is that everyone thinks that everything that happens bad is his fault.”
He even downplayed what bringing Phil Jackson in to the Knicks means for Carmelo:
“Let me ask you: When was the last time Phil Jackson played? … I think Phil is great to have gotten $12 million out of [Knicks owner Jim Dolan]. Super job. Take the money and run,” Roberston said. “If I were Carmelo I would say, ‘Listen, I’m not gonna stay here and take all this gruff and all this criticism. You got other guys on this team making $12, $15, $16 million and doing nothing, and here I am averaging 28, 29 points per game.’ “
The scary thing for Knicks fans about all of those comments is they are 100% TRUE! If Melo stays it will be because Phil and the rest of the front office sold him on the future and what they intend to do to put a championship contender on the floor. Melo is taking a big risk though because if the team is not able or just doesn’t make moves and they stink again, he could be the best player ever and still will only hear criticism and negative things.
On the flip side, he alone was the one who forced the trade to the Knicks back in 2011 that changed the careers of so many players involved. Even if he was to leave he will still hear negative talk for forcing that trade and not sticking it out through a tough time. At this point all we can do is wait.
