Carmelo Anthony could have followed the paths of his closest NBA friends LeBron James and Chris Paul and skipped the Olympics. But Anthony saw an opportunity to be a leader for this team, and do something no men’s basketball player has ever done before.

Anthony is all in for Team USA, and will go for a record third Olympic Gold Medal in Rio de Janeiro. “I have a chance to do something special here,” Anthony said.

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Spain, Lithuania, France and Serbia are among the teams that will challenge the U.S. squad, which is laden with All-Stars, but not the crème de la crème.

No James or Paul. No Steph Curry or Russell Westbrook. No James Harden or Damian Lillard. But Anthony — 32 and the elder statesman on the team — is there, as he has since 2004. He’s, once again, seeking the kind of team success he craves with the Knicks, who missed the playoffs the past three years.

“I get a chance to go out there, kind of be the leader of the team, lead these guys,” Anthony said. “To me it’s about going over there and having fun, getting that fun feeling back and enjoyment back — and trying to get another gold medal.”

Olympics
Carmelo Anthony at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Anthony helped the USA win gold in 2008 and 2012. He will be the first men’s basketball player to appear in four Olympics, and hopes to be the first to win gold three times.

That was a determining factor in Anthony deciding to play.

Anthony was waffling after his friends backed out and due to concerns regarding the outbreak of the Zika virus in Rio. But his Olympic teammates, including Kevin Durant and Kyle Lowry, and Anthony’s college coach Jim Boeheim, a U.S. Team assistant, reached out and urged him to play.

“The guys were talking, ‘Man you should do it. This is your Olympics. This is your time: four Olympics, three gold medals. You should take advantage of this opportunity,’ ” Anthony said. “Once the guys started reaching out and telling me that, it felt good to hear my colleagues want me to have that experience.”

Anthony has embraced the role as leader, following in the footsteps of Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant before him. Everyone associated with the U.S. Team has talked about how Anthony is the unquestioned leader. He addressed the team before Olympic training camp began in Las Vegas, and stressed how much work it will take to bring home the gold.

Olympics
Team USA hoops staying on cruise ship in Rio

“My message to the guys was that this is not going to be easy,” Anthony said. “You can’t expect that because we’re the best players in the world we’re going to win the gold medal. We should win the gold medal but we have a lot of work to do.”

Anthony and Durant are the only players returning from the 2012 team that won gold in London. The rest of the roster consists of Lowry, Kryie Irving, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, Draymond Green, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Harrison Barnes and big men DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan.

Anthony called it “a new era,” but it’s also the end of one. Anthony said this will be his final Olympics. It’s also the last for coach Mike Krzyzewski — who will be succeeded by Gregg Popovich.

“They’ll come together,” Krzyzewski said. “They’re really outstanding players. Each team has its own personality that we’ve coached for the United States. This one, I think has the capability of being as good a defensive team as we’ve had because we have a lot of interchangeable parts.”

Managing director Jerry Colangelo didn’t want to talk about who wasn’t on the team, but he’s happy Anthony committed for a final time and hopes that it ends with him wearing gold again.

Olympics
USA Basketball Olympics roster

“It’s important to Carmelo because he knows this is something that no one else has done,” Colangelo said.

ChuckBuck wrote:Thank God Melo's leadership and voice is being heard by all the players. Keep your eyes on the prize!

http://www.tmz.com/2016/08/05/team-usa-basketball-players-brothel-rio-spa/

Well that leadership role didn't last long...

So basically if a few guys do something stupid that means that Melo is somehow not being a good leader? He's doing everything he can but individuals are still responsible for their own actions. Now if Melo had taken them to someplace like that and was leading the way in drinking and partying then I could understand your point.

“Carmelo is the veteran and a super-likable guy,” said Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. “We got 12 Alphas in here. But he’s the leader of this team and we follow him.”

“He’s very open about what happened [at the 2004 Olympics],” forward Draymond Green said, “and he’s very open about how that pushed them into wanting to get back to the top.”

Cartman718 wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:Thank God Melo's leadership and voice is being heard by all the players. Keep your eyes on the prize!

http://www.tmz.com/2016/08/05/team-usa-basketball-players-brothel-rio-spa/

Well that leadership role didn't last long...

Sounds like it was something they walked out of when they realized what kind of place it was.
Still....He's their leader on the court. They are adults and he's not their daddy off the court, or is that what you are expecting his role to be with team USA?

Dont run away now...answer the question.

A true leader leads by example. Like the time he threw his old medal away.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/melo-no-longer-interest-guts-seize-olympic-moment-article-1.2743338

ChuckBuck wrote:

Cartman718 wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:Thank God Melo's leadership and voice is being heard by all the players. Keep your eyes on the prize!

http://www.tmz.com/2016/08/05/team-usa-basketball-players-brothel-rio-spa/

Well that leadership role didn't last long...

Sounds like it was something they walked out of when they realized what kind of place it was.
Still....He's their leader on the court. They are adults and he's not their daddy off the court, or is that what you are expecting his role to be with team USA?

Dont run away now...answer the question.

A true leader leads by example. Like the time he threw his old medal away.

so you didn't really answer the question.

Cartman718 wrote:

arkrud wrote:It is all about opinions... our reality is only exists in our mind.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/melo-no-longer-interest-guts-seize-olympic-moment-article-1.2743338

Ebenezer Samuel, really...? Now that Melo has made a statement, is he supposed to be subject to criticism of every reporter in the country for not fighting every waking min for this cause? He at least made a statement and he said it needed to be done together. So now this idiot chooses to vilify him when he himself hasn't done anything.

Melo -- “While I don’t have a solution, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change. I’m calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge.”

How many athletes stepped up after the super friends made a statement...?

Like the 4 of them can decide to move the All-Star game...smh.
The league listened to the voice of the athletes and I am sure some of that had influence on Adam Silver announcing to move the All-star game.

It's very easy for this idiot reporter to sit behind a desk and criticize Melo (since that's clearly the tone of the report as opposed to a plea) for something that's not Melo's fulltime job.

Why doesn't this reporter take those statements to a local politician and see what measures are being taken towards change if he's really sooooo interested in it, as opposed to writing multiple articles criticizing Melo for not taking enough action. Or go after other prominent athletes (especially white ones) who have failed to make any sort of loud public statement on the topic. Here's looking at you Bradys and Mannings of America.

Cartman718 wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:

Cartman718 wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:Thank God Melo's leadership and voice is being heard by all the players. Keep your eyes on the prize!

http://www.tmz.com/2016/08/05/team-usa-basketball-players-brothel-rio-spa/

Well that leadership role didn't last long...

Sounds like it was something they walked out of when they realized what kind of place it was.
Still....He's their leader on the court. They are adults and he's not their daddy off the court, or is that what you are expecting his role to be with team USA?

Dont run away now...answer the question.

A true leader leads by example. Like the time he threw his old medal away.

so you didn't really answer the question.

Don't plan on waiting too long for anything coherent.

arkrud wrote:

fishmike wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Cartman718 wrote:

arkrud wrote:It is all about opinions... our reality is only exists in our mind.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/melo-no-longer-interest-guts-seize-olympic-moment-article-1.2743338

Ebenezer Samuel, really...? Now that Melo has made a statement, is he supposed to be subject to criticism of every reporter in the country for not fighting every waking min for this cause? He at least made a statement and he said it needed to be done together. So now this idiot chooses to vilify him when he himself hasn't done anything.

Melo -- “While I don’t have a solution, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change. I’m calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge.”

How many athletes stepped up after the super friends made a statement...?

Like the 4 of them can decide to move the All-Star game...smh.
The league listened to the voice of the athletes and I am sure some of that had influence on Adam Silver announcing to move the All-star game.

It's very easy for this idiot reporter to sit behind a desk and criticize Melo (since that's clearly the tone of the report as opposed to a plea) for something that's not Melo's fulltime job.

Why doesn't this reporter take those statements to a local politician and see what measures are being taken towards change if he's really sooooo interested in it, as opposed to writing multiple articles criticizing Melo for not taking enough action. Or go after other prominent athletes (especially white ones) who have failed to make any sort of loud public statement on the topic. Here's looking at you Bradys and Mannings of America.

He's the same guy that went after Jeter I think when Ali passed.

I looked at his content. Its trash. Nothing but his opinions and a desperate attempt to shock. Nobody cares about what this dummy has to say working for the Enquirer of sports

Melo did the talk but who will do the work?
Who will propose the legislation for handling police brutality and authority and insist on it going to congress?
And who will step up to protect the victim with civil law suites against police/governments to get sizable compensations and keep the issue in the eye of the public opinion as long as possible?
Who will finance this efforts?
Why millionaires athletes cannot do this?
Too much work? Too much damage to the possible endorsements? To much trouble? To much real money to spend?

arkrud wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

arkrud wrote:

fishmike wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Cartman718 wrote:

arkrud wrote:It is all about opinions... our reality is only exists in our mind.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/melo-no-longer-interest-guts-seize-olympic-moment-article-1.2743338

Ebenezer Samuel, really...? Now that Melo has made a statement, is he supposed to be subject to criticism of every reporter in the country for not fighting every waking min for this cause? He at least made a statement and he said it needed to be done together. So now this idiot chooses to vilify him when he himself hasn't done anything.

Melo -- “While I don’t have a solution, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change. I’m calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge.”

How many athletes stepped up after the super friends made a statement...?

Like the 4 of them can decide to move the All-Star game...smh.
The league listened to the voice of the athletes and I am sure some of that had influence on Adam Silver announcing to move the All-star game.

It's very easy for this idiot reporter to sit behind a desk and criticize Melo (since that's clearly the tone of the report as opposed to a plea) for something that's not Melo's fulltime job.

Why doesn't this reporter take those statements to a local politician and see what measures are being taken towards change if he's really sooooo interested in it, as opposed to writing multiple articles criticizing Melo for not taking enough action. Or go after other prominent athletes (especially white ones) who have failed to make any sort of loud public statement on the topic. Here's looking at you Bradys and Mannings of America.

He's the same guy that went after Jeter I think when Ali passed.

I looked at his content. Its trash. Nothing but his opinions and a desperate attempt to shock. Nobody cares about what this dummy has to say working for the Enquirer of sports

Melo did the talk but who will do the work?
Who will propose the legislation for handling police brutality and authority and insist on it going to congress?
And who will step up to protect the victim with civil law suites against police/governments to get sizable compensations and keep the issue in the eye of the public opinion as long as possible?
Who will finance this efforts?
Why millionaires athletes cannot do this?
Too much work? Too much damage to the possible endorsements? To much trouble? To much real money to spend?

On a day when yahoo and the LA Times have articles out praising Melo for his leadership we are going to focus on Melo not being enough of a social activist? Did he run over your cat or something? The article that you cited was written by a guy that went after Derek Jeter when Muhammad Ali died. However, in his current piece he praises Melo but wants him to do more. The author appears to be trying to make a name for himself by being provocative. I know at least one publication went after him for his trashing of Jeter. Maybe this stuff gets him more clicks and puts his name out there more. His Jeter article sucked. Is anyone a gamer that has read his video game reviews? Has he written anything decent?

I do not care about this article and his author.
I have legit questions about people talking about this issue and nothing being done or even proposed to tackle it.
So much noise with nothing to show for it.
Is really anybody interested in solving this or just cry and vane about it?
And this is the latest finding about Melo's native Baltimore:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/us/baltimore-justice-department-report/index.html
Perfect time for him to start working on it here. Put some bridges between minorities and police.
Make powers use force with the back thought about public eye on them and much more.

I know he set up a meeting in LA and then donated money to Challengers boys and girls club. Would like Melo and other wealthy entertainers to develop a network though to find, develop and fund politicians that will actually have interest in creating the needed change locally. Develop banks that will offer necessary loans for development, private schools that will properly educate youth etc. And use influence and star appeal to get the necessary support.

Melo isn't MLK though, he is an entertainer and supposedly good businessman with some money.