Carmelo Anthony talks about how his potential team up with LeBron, Wade and Bosh fell apart: “Imagine me at 23-24 yrs old being the 4th option on the team. When i’m leading my team every single year…and you want me to leave that to be a 4th option. It didn’t have anything to do with money”
by StopGlazingMe
47 Comments
*It had nothing to do with money* says the guy who forced the Knicks to trade half their roster for him so he could make more money.
Show us those rings Carmelo. Oh, wait…
This is what people mean when they say Wade and Bosh sacrificed in order to win. Each of them could have gone on leading their teams in numbers, status, role, but they willingly handed the keys to LeBron and lost out on those things in favor of competing in 4 straight Finals. It’s fine that Melo didn’t want to, we don’t need to crucify him for it, but we also need to give players who set their egos aside their flowers.
Lebron did the right thing leaving Cleveland for his legacy, but he was a terrible team builder. Adding another player who needs the ball in his hands to be effective would’ve produced very poor returns.
Him and Wade sort of made it work with off ball cuts and what not, but it was janky. Bron+Bosh lineups often outperformed Bron+Wade+Bosh lineups. Melo would’ve been a nightmare.
Superstars want to win but they want to win in very specific circumstances. Specifically with me being “da man” taking all the shots and preferably in a cool or sexy city. If it was just about winning rings everyone woulda lined up to try to go the spurs during their run.
Dude is keeping it real talking about I’m not tryna be no 4th option lol. They would win, but not in the way he would want
Lmao watch how everybody shits on Melo for this thinking but in the same breath say fuck KD for joining the Warriors. Y’all don’t know what y’all want.
Ay P, they said I gotta make sacrifices.
and now everybody respects wade and bosh and considers you a bum
Always a really good player. Never saw him as elite. Never made the players around him better.
Melo comes off as an unreliable narrator here
– 1st he says he didnt know how the CBA worked, didnt know that there’d be a lockout to consider when he signed his 5 yr deal — then he says Lebron called him during the lockout and said he and Wade were taking 3 year deals. but Melo told him he was gonna think about it and ended up taking the full 5 years. so Melo knew he would lock himself out of options when he signed his extension, he can’t cite ignorance as to why he took the deal.
– then he says he wouldve been 23/24 and be a 4th option. google says Melo is 40 right now, so he would’ve been 26/27 — and there was no way the Heat could sign all 4 of them. even getting to a Big 3 involved DWade taking a significant paycut. he wouldve been the Bosh replacement/3rd option at worst
– and he also says the plan was for him + Lebron to go somewhere, and Wade + Bosh to go somewhere. this is the 1st im ever hearing of that plan. id heard iterations like Wade + Lebron going to Chicago with Rose, not what Melo says here
Do you want to hate KD or Melo guys?
[this is all I think of when melo talks about his career](https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2019/07/11/chauncey-billups-scoring-30-meant-too-much-to-carmelo-anthony/)
Love to see players be candid about whats going on behind the scenes. Theres more to all of this than just dribbling a ball lol.
Those powder blue jerseys were 🔥
Why would Carmelo be the 4th option? He is easily the best scorer of the 4, and worse he is third option
If it weren’t for his health problems, I think Bosh was skilled enough to still be playing today
He was a true number 1 option in Toronto and if it weren’t for him the Heat don’t go back to back
His point still stands but obviously he’d have been the 3rd option and Bosh the 4th. Realistically he’d probably have been the 2nd option with Wade sacrificing to get Melo/Lebron their shots.
At least he’s being honest but his reasoning makes sense.
Lol so he finally admitted it after years and years of Melo stans arguing he didn’t just care about his own stats and gloss even though other players and coaches said as much.
The fact Melo had this wasn’t about the money just prove that this was indeed about the money.
It’s basically a lie for anyone following basketball discourse at the time, I rate Melo higher than this sub. I don’t think he was an inefficient chucker like he is painted these days, I also think the Knicks didn’t proper build around him but he didn’t wanted to take pay cut for the «banana boat» reunion and it’s fair. Just don’t cry about rings tho lol.
Why he has 0 rings. He wasn’t good enough to be the #1 guy on a championship team. But he would’ve been the best #3/4 option of all times with potentially multiple rings and an iron clad legacy
I wonder how Melo’s career would’ve played out if he didn’t win at Syracuse
It’s because of his huge ego. Was a pain to watch him on the nuggets
And this is why Anthony never won anything. Didn’t get how to build a team or sacrifice.
Didn’t have anything to do with the money! Says the guy who took the money over winning 3 times in his life.
I don’t care if guys take the money. Good for them. I just don’t want to hear this revisionist shit down the road about “did everything to win,”
I don’t blame him but a quote by Chauncey always a screamed volumes about Melo.
“It meant too much because he could have games where he had 20, 22 [points], we win the game and he’s mad. He might have 36 and he’s in there, you know, we lose the game and he’s in there picking everybody up. Scoring 30 meant too much”
It was never about winning either for Melo so they’ could’ve offered him to be the 2nd option and he would’ve declined still.
His ego held him back.
I understand winning requires sacrifice, but can we all acknowledge that, if Carmelo played on that Heat team, he would not have been the 4th option. That’s a little ridiculous.
And that sir is why you are ringless and will never truly be remembered for what you were. Bc it was about the stats, the self, and not the bigger picture winning championships. Melo doesn’t have a legacy imo maybe in NY bc it seems they loved him but he was a great scorer that didn’t win a damn thing. And the lack of sacrifice shows why you’ll only be considered a Great Olympic baller but not Great in the NBA sense. Greats Win!
“Leading my team”
LMAOOOOOOOO
Why the fuck would he have been a 4th option? This is such a lie lol. First of all, Bosh was his replacement when he signed that longer deal. Second of all, he was easily the 2nd best offensive weapon out of the 4 of them, if not the 1st even. They would’ve moved him to the 4 on defense, so he could play even less defense than he already was and focus solely on being unstoppable on offense.
This would’ve also let Bosh play outside more and he would’ve accelerated his stretch 4 progression.
Bro chose the quick money, regrets it, and now doesn’t want to be clowned for it. Especially wild since Wade and LeBron are obviously both doing better financially, and bosh probably would’ve been if his career wasn’t cut short.
Tl:dr Melo chose incorrectly regardless of the reasons for his choice.
Team would’ve been even more hated. 4 top stars in prime joining up? Me and many others who watched that era already hated the team up.
Rings, Ernuh
All I hear is huge ego and very short sighted the criticism about melo is that he had to score I think it was Chauncey Billups who said it’s I don’t remember exactly him talking right now just prove it
He makes an excellent point. Love Melo forever. One of the GOATs.
4th option after Bosh? Really?
LEGGO that EGO and you might have won a chip, Melo.
Melo is so fucking delusional regarding his narrative. Leading his team to what, 1st round exits?
I loved Melo in Denver but he never matured; as a player or an individual.
Chauncey said it best, Melo could get 30 in a loss and be happy, 15 in a win and be upset.
Would Carmelo be the fourth option? He’d be third at worst, and likely second.
He would have been an option behind Bosh.
How many rings did this guy win again ?
This is Melo’s legacy. Was never willing to sacrifice anything until he was forced to.
Melo could’ve had 4 rings but decided against it. For shame
I find it a little sad how Melo seems haunted by the decisions he made during his career – he keeps going back to insist he wasn’t all about money, was willing to be a team player, etc, but we all know that stuff wasn’t the case until very, very late in his run. He had a me-first career, he made a ton of money on dysfunctional teams, he didn’t end up doing a lot in the playoffs, it is what it is! He’s wealthy beyond imagination and respected by his peers. Let it go man!
this is why I laugh when people (including Melo) say the Pistons punted on a dynasty when they didn’t draft Melo.
Melo my guy, Larry freaking Brown would’ve sniffed out your me-first attitude during training camp of your rookie season. there’s about about 0% chance Brown would’ve favored Prince over you. you would’ve spent your most development years playing mop-up minutes.
you thought Karl’s Detlef Schrempf comment was offensive? LB would’ve showed you Bob Wilkerson tape and tell you that’s what he needs from you.
I don’t believe a word that dude says. He was greedy, or selfish, or plain dumb
Tbf I think you would’ve been the 3rd option Melo
So your EGO got in the way? LOL