I still never heard any interview where Melo threw MDA under the bus. Before the quitting or after. He has sucked this year but he was used as a scapegoat as well being painted as a cancer and a bad guy:

Carmelo Anthony insists that he had no bearing on Mike D'Antoni's decision to step down as head coach of the Knicks.

"I didn't have anything to do with that. That was coach's decision. I really didn't know ... what he was thinking as far as his decision to step down," Anthony said hours after the Knicks announced that they'd mutually agreed to part ways with D'Antoni.

Anthony insisted that he "never had any issues" with D'Antoni, whom he played 59 games for over two seasons.

"Any disagreements that he had with us as a team we talked it out and we went from there," he said.

According to reports, Anthony and others had 'tuned out' D'Antoni in recent weeks. Anthony also had a difficult time adapting to D'Antoni's up-tempo offense.

Anthony is a player who thrives in isolation. D'Antoni's offense is predicated on ball movement and spacing.

The disconnect was evident between the two last month when the Knicks went 8-1 in a nine-game stretch on the strength of point guard Jeremy Lin. Anthony sat out seven of those nine games due to a groin injury.

But once Anthony returned from injury and the Knicks' recent slide began, the discontent from it created a gulf between Anthony and D'Antoni. The Knicks lost eight of ten after Anthony returned on Feb. 20.

After Wednesday's game, Anthony acknowledged that he had to make 'sacrifices' to fit into D'Antoni's system. He cited D'Antoni asking him to play point forward earlier in the season as one of those sacrifices. D'Antoni and his staff asked Anthony to handle the ball because they didn't have a capable point guard on the roster, before they found one in Lin

"Then Jeremy came out overnight and put us back to a .500 and got us playing geat basketball," Anthony said. "When I came back ... I had to sacrifice for the system, for Mike D'Antoni's system. I had no problem with that."

With the Knicks struggling, Anthony turned into a public scapegoat. He was booed before Sunday's home loss to Philadelphia. His reception before Wednesday's game was lukewarm at best. But fans showered Anthony with cheers soon after tipoff against Portland.

He had ten points in the first quarter, knocking down two of his three 3-point attempts, and finished with 16 points and seven assists in 24 minutes.

"Tonight, it was a different system," Anthony said in reference to the offense in interim coach Mike Woodson's first night on the bench. "Everybody felt comfortable out there tonight. Ya'll saw it out there, everybody was smiling, having fun."

That's not the only difference between Woodson and D'Antoni, according to Anthony. The All Star small forward said Woodson is more apt to call a player out publicly, while D'Antoni preferred to talk to players privately.

"Coach Mike would pull yoiu to the side, he won't say it in front of the guys. Woody, he'll tell you right there, just like it is," Anthony said. Anthony said Woodson's accountability-based approach would help the Knicks.

"In life, there's times when change can be for the better," Anthony said. "This is an unfortunate situation with coach Mike. But sometimes you need something to spark off and for guys to wake up and say OK something's not right here and we've got to change it."

Earlier in the day, before shoot around, Anthony talked to D'Antoni about the direction of the Knicks, who had lost six straight entering play Wednesday. He said after shootaround that he supported D'Antoni '100 percent.'

Anthony then went home after shoot around to take a nap and woke up to '30-something' text messages.

"That's when I found out," Anthony said. "Nobody saw this coming."

Really?! Amare? The system that you excelled in? I'm shocked to hear Amare say that. Melo I understand. But Amare is proven perfect for D'Antoni's system. Makes me wonder how many sides there were in the locker room.

Have a feeling that Lin and Fields were the only ones on D'Antoni's side.

metra wrote:Damn even Amare admits it: "we didn't quite buy into [D'Antoni's system]"

Really?! Amare? The system that you excelled in? I'm shocked to hear Amare say that. Melo I understand. But Amare is proven perfect for D'Antoni's system. Makes me wonder how many sides there were in the locker room.

Have a feeling that Lin and Fields were the only ones on D'Antoni's side.

Amar'e isn't calling out himself - he's calling out one guy. Melo.

Read this, and it's the new york times, not a tabloid like espn:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/sports/basketball/anthonys-return-has-hurt-the-knicks.html?_r=1&ref=basketball

Anthony and Knicks Can’t Play Together

By HOWARD BECK
Published: March 13, 2012

As they steeled themselves late Monday for a grinding, gripping final 12 minutes in Chicago, the Knicks broke into two factions along the bench. At one end, a swarm of players gathered around the coaching staff. At the other, Carmelo Anthony sat stoically, a towel over his shoulders, alone.

“I do that every game,” Anthony would say later, smiling.

Anthony knew he would be on the bench to start the fourth quarter, as he often is. It was perhaps not that vital for him to join his 14 teammates in the huddle. Yet in the context of the Knicks’ current struggles, the imagery was striking, and telling.

The Knicks are not a unified team. On one side is Anthony. On the other is everyone else.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/carmelo_wins_the_war_jvBB1DtJl5Gqq9Tmj4Cu4H?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Knicks

nixluva wrote:All this proves is that Star players can disregard what the coach is trying to do and eventually get their way. This isn't about the coach needing "the right kind of players". This is about players being professionals as opposed to spoiled brats. It's easy for a star player to sabotage a coach. The comments from players supporting the coach suggest they had no problems with what he was trying to do. They certainly didn't have any issues when the team was winning and having fun playing the right way.

The thing is tho, this will never really be over for Melo, unless he steps up and gets his team back into the playoffs and actually playing well in the playoffs. See for Melo he's lost all excuses. This team is deep and talented and all they have to do is win games and they're in the playoffs. Bad old Mike D'Antoni trying to force him to play TEAM BALL is gone. Let's see how it goes. Hopefully he plays like he cares on both ends from now on. The guys is out of excuses. He's the clear and present leader of the team, not even Woodson can really do anything to him. All Hail Kind Melo. IMO it's just not a good thing when this happens.

Agreed. Melo is out of excuses and I won't say deserves all the blame. But as a coach, it's his responsibility to put his players and the team in teh best position to win and it didn't appear he was doing that. He let his stubbornness get in the way. That doesn't fly just like it won't fly for Melo to complain that he doesn't have enough help if the team doesn't make it to the playoffs and put out entertaining product.

nixluva wrote:Melo is in the same boat as Lebron, Rose and Durant. They all have their own teams and lots of talent. They must deliver in order to get the respect of a winner. All that Lebron has done he still has the monkey on his back. Dirk and KG got their rings. The younger guys are still in search of theirs. IMO one of the young bucks will get their first ring this year. Melo will have these next few years to make it happen. This will be very interesting to see.

One thing I will say from watching the Celtics win, KG, Pierce and Allen did what it took to win. They fully bought in and sacrificed to win.

and how long did it take them to do that? I remember Allen getting into it with Karl in Mil., the fans wanted Peirce gone, and Garnett just needed out of Minny. But you are right if you win a ring all is forgotten. No one holds Magic at fault for getting his coach fired.

ChuckBuck wrote:Nobody ever remembers Kidd got Byron Scott canned, same with CP3. Or like Yellowboy90 mentioned Magic Johnson got his first coach fired even after winning a title with him. Phil Jackson dedicated a good portion of his book ripping Kobe to shreds. Not saying Melo is a victim, but there's alot of instances where stars don't always get along with the coach.

Dont forget, Deron williams supposedly got Jerry Sloan fired aswell, yet we all want to trade Melo for Deron so we can root for him instead of Melo....

franco12 wrote:

mrKnickShot wrote:

crzymdups wrote:Melo on Brooklyn Bridge: "I will sell it to you."

Sold! Done!

Tell me the line or interview that is not hearsay where Melo dissed MDA or pouted or said something negative? You remember Marbury who is the most common comparison? He bitched to the Media every other day.

"Any disagreements that he had with us as a team we talked it out and we went from there," he said.

Why would there be disagreements?

I criticized MDA for not getting guys motivated, as I believe that is part of coaching.

But I think everyone can agree the coach leads the team.

He is the one who sets the offensive and defensive strategies and execution.

There was probably too much flexibility in this system for some of the mentally challenged stars (MELO) on this roster.

So maybe the hearsay from that quote is like this:

MDA: Melo, you need to run things this way.

Melo: Coach, not doing it! You're gone at the end of the season, and they told me you weren't going to be back this year!

And in his mind, Melo can truthfully say: "Any disagreements that he had with us as a team we talked it out and we went from there."

Unlike Marbury, Melo is media savvy with his cancer

crzymdups wrote:

metra wrote:Damn even Amare admits it: "we didn't quite buy into [D'Antoni's system]"

Really?! Amare? The system that you excelled in? I'm shocked to hear Amare say that. Melo I understand. But Amare is proven perfect for D'Antoni's system. Makes me wonder how many sides there were in the locker room.

Have a feeling that Lin and Fields were the only ones on D'Antoni's side.

Amar'e isn't calling out himself - he's calling out one guy. Melo.

Read this, and it's the new york times, not a tabloid like espn:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/sports/basketball/anthonys-return-has-hurt-the-knicks.html?_r=1&ref=basketball

Anthony and Knicks Can’t Play Together

By HOWARD BECK
Published: March 13, 2012

As they steeled themselves late Monday for a grinding, gripping final 12 minutes in Chicago, the Knicks broke into two factions along the bench. At one end, a swarm of players gathered around the coaching staff. At the other, Carmelo Anthony sat stoically, a towel over his shoulders, alone.

“I do that every game,” Anthony would say later, smiling.

Anthony knew he would be on the bench to start the fourth quarter, as he often is. It was perhaps not that vital for him to join his 14 teammates in the huddle. Yet in the context of the Knicks’ current struggles, the imagery was striking, and telling.

The Knicks are not a unified team. On one side is Anthony. On the other is everyone else.

Explain why Stat looked like Sh*t most of this year in the system? Yet, he came out last night with bundles of energy. Was Stat dogging it too?

Uptown wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:Nobody ever remembers Kidd got Byron Scott canned, same with CP3. Or like Yellowboy90 mentioned Magic Johnson got his first coach fired even after winning a title with him. Phil Jackson dedicated a good portion of his book ripping Kobe to shreds. Not saying Melo is a victim, but there's alot of instances where stars don't always get along with the coach.

Dont forget, Deron williams supposedly got Jerry Sloan fired aswell, yet we all want to trade Melo for Deron so we can root for him instead of Melo....

I understand, players get coaches fired every year in the NBA, however I have never seen JK, CP3 or Kobe lacking for an entire season (can’t speak for Deron since I rarely saw Utah played the last two years) they usually are very upset because their teams may not be winning a lot, but they leave it all in the court like A TRUE SUPERSTAR SHOULD DO. AND THAT MY FRIEND IS A BIG DIFFERENCE AND WHY FANS BOO MELO YERSTERDAY, HE DIDN’T HANDLE IT PROPERLY.