*********

Carmelo Anthony Discusses Phil Jackson And The Triangle Offense aka "It Turned Into Gotham":

Entire JJ Redick/Carmelo Anthony Podcast 10/1/2020:

Knicks Related Discussion: Starting At 18:07 To 36:46 "I can stay in New York and be the first option but now I want to win."

*******

Career Highlights:

Carmelo Kyam Anthony
Position: Power Forward and Small Forward ▪ Shoots: Right
Born: May 29, 1984 (Age 36 years), Brooklyn, New York, NY
Height: 6′8″
Weight: 240 lbs
Wingspan: 7’0
Standing Reach: 8'9.5
Vertical Max: 33 Inches
NBA draft: 2003 3rd Overall/1st Round
School: Syracuse
Current Team: Portland Trail Blazers (#00 / Small Forward, Power Forward)

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/anthoca01.html

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/portland-trail-blazers/carmelo-anthony-2283/cash-earnings/

Career Earnings: $248,940,171

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-nba-player-projections/carmelo-anthony/

Career Player Comparisons: Glen Rice, Antawn Jamison, Tom Chambers

Career highlights and awards

10× NBA All-Star (2007, 2008, 2010–2017)
2× All-NBA Second Team (2010, 2013)
4× All-NBA Third Team (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012)
3 x Olympic Gold Medalist, Basketball (2008, 2012, 2016)
NBA scoring champion (2013)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2004)
NCAA champion (2003)
NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (2003)
Consensus second-team All-American (2003)
USBWA National Freshman of the Year (2003)
No. 15 retired by Syracuse Orange
3× USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (2006, 2012, 2016)
First-team Parade All-American (2002)

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ESPN Post Knicks/Thunder/Rockets Interview:

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Career Context:

Jeff Bzdelik turned a poor Nuggets team around and based it off their defensive. From being part of the Pat Riley tree to an eventual head from 2002-04 of the Nuggets, he turned a poor Nuggets team from 17-65 to 26-46 to a 43 win playoff team in 03-04 (the same year as Carmelo's rookie season) in 3 short seasons. His strong defensive mindset helped create a new team strong in Denver and with the signing of Kenyon Martin, things were really up for Jeff's Nuggets.

However, it should be noted that Jeff didnt have much support from the front office as his coaching job solely was supported by his one playoff appearance by picking up his option going into the next season.

And then the fight with Carmelo happened. Back in December of 04, the Nuggets started off the Western Conference bad even with addition of All Star PF Kenyon Martin (13-15 and had lost 8 out of its 9). The Nuggets had to go through multiple lineup changes and Jeff became frustrated with Carmelo's defensive effort and benched him

After an embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on New Year's Eve, Bzdelik resolved to bench Anthony for lack of defensive effort and benched him

"It affected me a lot mentally," Anthony said. "My reaction was like, `Wow. Why?' I didn't know the reason why. I thought I was doing a pretty good job."

They had a close door meeting with Carmelo and Bzdelik and within the next month, the Nuggets chose to fire Bzdelik.

"In the NBA, if the relationship doesn't work, who is going to get dumped on? The coach." - Jeff Bzdelik

Bzdelik eventually chose to coach the Air Force academy there for a couple of reasons. (1) to take of her 14-year old daughter who had surgery to remove a brain tumor, and (2) keep his son in the Denver suburb schools however, he did mention upon entering his new coaching gig.

“Players at this level, they have a tendency to listen better than at the next level,” Bzdelik says.

He ended up coaching at the NCAA level for the next 10 years.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qkLF8pj6hccJ:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-01-11-0401110204-story.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-ab

Anthony has coach posted up
Mark Kiszla, Denver Post
January 11th 2004

It is a rite of passage for an emerging superstar. It is a dicey situation for an NBA coach.

A spat between Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik forced them to hold a closed-door meeting after Bzdelik threatened to bench his 19-year-old phenom, who bristled at what he regarded as unfounded criticism from his coach.

It is a clash of wills that Bzdelik can survive, but no coach can ever win.

"The outlook I have on basketball is totally different from where he's thinking," said the 6-foot-8-inch Anthony.

"A player like me, and I think also all five of the players who are starting, they want to get up and down the floor. We want to be free. With this type of coach, he wants to be demanding. And what he wants done, he wants it right when he says to do it."

The tightly wound Bzdelik has found players growing weary of the his unrelenting demands.

"We are embarking on a very difficult stretch of games that will test and reveal our cohesiveness as a basketball team," Bzdelik said.

"Every team in the NBA will encounter some period like this throughout the season. Some teams will grow, regardless of the wins and losses during that stretch. And some teams will fracture under the stress."

But the friction between Anthony and Bzdelik has been painfully obvious to everybody in the Denver locker room, where grousing has threatened to ruin the winning vibe.

"Carmelo is frustrated because his coach is upset with him," general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said.

After an embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on New Year's Eve, Bzdelik resolved to bench Anthony for lack of defensive effort. The coach came to his senses. But the damage had been done to the rookie's ego.

"It affected me a lot mentally," Anthony said. "My reaction was like, `Wow. Why?' I didn't know the reason why. I thought I was doing a pretty good job."

Who is at fault for the deteriorating relationship? As Vandeweghe saw it, blame had to be shared by a rookie who needs to grow tougher skin and a coach who needs to learn how to relax. The combatants needed to talk. They met a few days ago.

"It was kind of hard," said Anthony, admitting Bzdelik is far more exacting and harsh than the coaches he had at Syracuse and in high school.

"He wants everything in a snap of a finger."

Although Bzdelik must be considered an early front-runner in the race for NBA coach of the year, whether he can hold a seat on the bench until Anthony grows up to become a bona fide superstar will be a tougher task.

"I sat down with Carmelo behind closed doors, man to man," Bzdelik said. "I told him why I limited his minutes, and why I am asking him to do more. I backed it up with the videotape. It was very revealing. The tape doesn't lie.

"I told Carmelo it's not my job to be your friend, it's not my job to be liked. It's my job to make you a good pro."

A coach can never beat an unhappy superstar one-on-one. Remember when Paul Westhead lost his job with the Lakers to Magic Johnson? When the Broncos had to decide to take sides in the messy divorce of coach Dan Reeves and quarterback John Elway, it was no contest.

"I must confess there is a tremendous amount of pressure on young NBA head coaches, because this is very much a `now' business," Bzdelik said.

"For those of us that don't have the chips of success to our credit, any little bump in the road becomes a major obstacle to overcome, whereas the Larry Browns and Phil Jacksons of this league can survive pretty much any controversy.

"The ongoing tension is how far does a coach push players to bring out the very best in them, without pushing them too much that you break and fracture the bond between player and coach. Too little is not good. Too much is not good.

"In the NBA, if the relationship doesn't work, who is going to get dumped on? The coach."

https://www.sbnation.com/2016/12/22/14059470/george-karl-carmelo-anthony-relationship-book-nuggets-knicks

George Karl suggests Carmelo Anthony was immature because he grew up without a father
By Kristian Winfield Dec 29, 2016, 2:59pm EST

In one of many comments he made about Carmelo Anthony in his upcoming book titled Furious George, ex-Nuggets and Kings coach George Karl reflected on his time with the current Knicks forward and said his upbringing without a father created maturity issues.

“Kenyon (Martin) and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man,” Karl wrote, according to the NY Post.

Denver drafted Anthony third overall in the 2003 NBA draft. Karl coached him from Jan. 2005 to Feb. 2011, when the Nuggets met Anthony’s trade demand and sent him to the Knicks.

Karl called Anthony’s trade “a sweet release for the coach and the team, like popping a blister.’’

In his book, Karl details Anthony as a “true conundrum” and chided the nine-time All-Star for his lack of leadership and effort on the defensive end.

“I want as much effort on defense — maybe more — as on offense,” Karl penned. “That was never going to happen with Melo, whose amazing ability to score with the ball made him a star but didn’t make him a winner.

“He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense,” he continued. “He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to.”

Several players, including Martin, took exception to the things Karl said and fired back.

Kenyon Martin Sr.
@KenyonMartinSr
The Nerve of an AWFUL AND COWARD ASS COACH. More to come
2:46 PM · Dec 22, 2016

Kenyon Martin Sr.
@KenyonMartinSr
I didn't have a father going up. We all know that. What's George Karl excuse for being a terrible person
2:47 PM · Dec 22, 2016

Kenyon Martin Sr.
@KenyonMartinSr
Everyone that's played for that awful person and coach can't stand the ground he walks on
2:48 PM · Dec 22, 2016

Karl also criticized J.R. Smith’s maturity and “posse,” a word that angered LeBron James when Phil Jackson used it in reference to him. Smith was not amused.

JR Smith
@TheRealJRSmith
Still trying to be relevant. Sad just sad.
11:35 AM · Dec 22, 2016

This isn’t the first time Karl was critical of Anthony’s defensive effort. Following the trade in 2011, Karl doubled down on Melo’s effort away from the offensive end of the floor.

“Defensive focus, his demand of himself, is what frustrated us more than anything,” he said, according to the Denver Post.

Anthony responded on Twitter, writing, "Damn, are u serious. Some people never [cease] to amaze me. Unbelievable."

Carmelo Anthony
@carmeloanthony
WHEN THE GRASS IS CUT THE SNAKES WILL SHOW.
8:34 PM · Feb 24, 2011

Karl has a long history of tattered relationships with former players, including DeMarcus Cousins. They also went on to call him a snake.

In the five-and-a-half seasons Karl spent coaching Anthony in Denver, he amassed a 328-132 record, winning 71.3 percent of his regular season games with Melo as his star player. During that stretch, the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals once (2008-09). In the two-plus seasons ensuing the Anthony trade, Karl’s Nuggets went 118-60 (.663).

On Thursday, Dec. 29, Karl appeared on ESPN’s Mike & Mike Show, where he apologized for the comments he made regarding Kenyon Martin. He also praised the job single mothers do raising children on their own.

“I said it poorly, and I’m sorry that I said it poorly, and I’m sorry for the reaction because I know Kenyon. The one thing I love about Kenyon Martin: He is a good father,” he said. “And the other thing that I’d like to say pretty strongly. ... I think there are so many great mothers that have come in the basketball world, in the NBA world that have done a fantastic job being that single parent and raising and supporting their children in a great, great way. I think there are some superstar mothers out there.”

****

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/22/george-karl-memoir-carmelo-anthony

Longtime NBA coach George Karl blasted New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony in a memoir set to be released next month, calling the nine-times NBA all-star a “true conundrum” and a “user of people, addicted to the spotlight”.

“Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him,” Karl wrote in an advance copy of Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection that was obtained by the New York Post. “He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.”

Added Karl: “He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy.

“My ideal – probably every coach’s ideal – is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn’t lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.”

Karl, one of only nine NBA coaches with more than 1,000 career victories, described an organization-wide sense of relief when the Nuggets finally accommodated Anthony’s persistent request for a trade out of Denver in 2011, calling it “a sweet release for the coach and the team, like popping a blister”.

“I want as much effort on defense – maybe more – as on offense,” Karl wrote. “That was never going to happen with Melo, whose amazing ability to score with the ball made him a star but didn’t make him a winner. Which I pointed out to him. Which he didn’t like.”

The 65-year-old former coach also criticized JR Smith and Kenyon Martin, two of Anthony’s team-mates in Denver, likening them to “the spoiled brats you see in junior golf and junior tennis” and referencing the trio collectively as “AAU babies”.

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/phil-jackson-told-knick-star-melo-better-article-1.3056058

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

Phil Jackson says Carmelo Anthony ‘better off somewhere else’
By Stefan Bondy
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Apr 15, 2017 at 1:58 AM

Phil Jackson publicly sent Carmelo Anthony to the trading block, using his first media appearance since September to relay the following message:

"We've not been able to win with him on the court at this time. I think the direction with our team is that he is a player that would be better off somewhere else and using his talents somewhere where he can win or chase that championship," Jackson said. "Right now we need players that are really active, can play every single play defensively and offensively. That's really important for us. We're starting to get some players on the court we can do that. That's the direction we have to go."

Still, Jackson said his rift with Anthony this season was based on misunderstandings. He specifically referenced the back-and-forth regarding his comments to CBS suggesting Anthony holds the ball too long.

"I've never criticized Carmelo – ever criticized Carmelo," Jackson said. "That's all supposition by papers or whatever. Speculation by opinionated people. Holding the ball is not a criticism. That's what he does. That's pure fact. A person better be able to take that if they're going to be coached or else you can't be part of this organization. That's simply matter of fact. If you're a basketball player you gotta be able to be coached."

"I don't know (the market for Carmelo). You've got teams going into the playoffs who could be eliminated right away and say, 'That's not good enough. We're not good enough. We've got to go somewhere else,'" Jackson said. "We had teams that were interested in making the chase (at the trade deadline). Some teams called that weren't amenable to Melo and his group. Some teams called that were but weren't willing to give up core groups or members of their team – which is understandable at that time of the year. So we said no. We're not going to make that offer."

Whatever happens, the clearest picture is that Jackson has no further use for Anthony after signing him to a five-year, $124 million deal in 2014.

"I can't regret it," Jackson said. "I can't go back and regret that. Obviously, it hasn't worked out. This partnership together, somehow or the other didn't click here with this team. But he has done his role and played his role quite well."

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo, a lot of times, wants to hold the ball longer than -- we have a rule, if you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold the ball for three, four, five seconds, then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he has adjusted to it, he knows what it can do and he's willing to see its success."

Tracy Wolfson then brought up the fact that Anthony attracts a lot of criticism, asking Jackson if he thinks the star forward is misunderstood.

"Carmelo's genuinely a solid person, a citizen, I think," Jackson said. "He has good intentions. I think some of the things that come along with him, I always say I can go back to [Syracuse coach Jim] Boeheim and say that was the zone that he played in college. But that's just a joke I have with him. The aspect of learning in the NBA and developing habits become entrenched, and sometimes you have to break those habits to change your manner of playing, and I think that's one of the things he's had to do with this new group of guys. It's a little bit different. He doesn't have sole possession of the offense. There are other people that are involved in the offense, and he embraces that. But then you still have habits you have to break, and I think that's one of the things. Defensively, we've talked to him a lot about movement and that aspect of -- we're now into high-performance things, where we have cameras that can legislate or watch movement on the court all the time -- each have, you can go back and check that. We're trying to get him to get more active as a defensive player. That's one of the things that I think is noticeable, that he has changed. And we're liking that."

Obviously tons of other factors, but the difference in each team's trajectories since the trade is remarkable

One team (sadly us) is still chasing stars, kidding ourselves that success lays in chasing old, fading stars

the other has built a fun team to watch with scrappy, energetic second rounders who are still improving and apparently think the coach has something to teach them

jrodmc wrote:Yeah, who misses actually being in the playoffs? Clutch shots, diving into chairs. I'd definitely rather watch the Nuggets.

Holy ****, the Finals must really have to suck in order for Triple to be posting 3 year old Phil Jax **** to re-read.

I don't feel this thread is going to improve my future posting. Not that anything could, but I was hoping to slightly increase thought coherency.

Questions for some of the Melo hate videos:

Are the Nuggets running the Triangle? Is anyone on the planet?
Did Phil Jackson go on to prove everyone wrong that his system can still work in todays NBA?
George Karl won over 1000 games and won how many chips? Reason why he blames Melo?
Did the Rockets win a chip once they got rid of their main problem?
Did OKC?
Was Melo washed up and deserve to be out of the league?
At his prime, who did Melo play with that was a top rated talent? (I am sure guys that hate on LBJ for being his own GM probably blame Melo for not putting together better rosters)

But the biggest question that has yet to be answered is HOW and WHY ANYONE THOUGHT it was a good idea for a GM to dictate an offensive scheme?? One that was being used by NO ONE ELSE and was antiquated!

Will reconvene.

The idea that people who supported Melo thought he was a solid defender, best all around player in the NBA or could single handedly get us a chip is so funny. Facts are that he was the ONLY relevant superstar that has wanted to come to NY. Ever! At least not one that was not crippled nor a couple of years away from retirement. He was also the last guy who single handedly brought us to the finals of the Eastern Conference in 20 years.
Shout out to Baker, Prigs and ancient JKidd. Melo will and always has been one of the best ALL TIME scorers in NBA history. He will be inducted into the HOF when he retires. He is still contributing at NBA level and is still hard to stop on the offensive end. Yet so many on here want to continue to point out all the things he could not do in spite of what he did do for the franchise and throughout his career. Cool.

HofstraBBall wrote:
Are the Nuggets running the Triangle? Is anyone on the planet?
Did Phil Jackson go on to prove everyone wrong that his system can still work in todays NBA?
George Karl won over 1000 games and won how many chips? Reason why he blames Melo?
Did the Rockets win a chip once they got rid of their main problem?
Did OKC?
Was Melo washed up and deserve to be out of the league?
At his prime, who did Melo play with that was a top rated talent? (I am sure guys that hate on LBJ for being his own GM probably blame Melo for not putting together better rosters)

https://grantland.com/features/carmelo-anthony-new-york-knicks-legacy/

No Escape From New York

With Carmelo Anthony staying with the Knicks, will we ever find out how truly great he can be?
by Bill Simmons on July 15, 2014

This wasn’t one of our happier years at the “You Can Absolutely Win a Title If Carmelo Anthony Is Your Best Player” Fan Club headquarters. Our man missed the 2014 playoffs in the rancid Eastern Conference, then received a rude comeuppance from his new Knicks boss, Phil Jackson, who lobbied him publicly to stick around at a discount price. The Bulls couldn’t carve out enough cap space for him. The Lakers couldn’t offer a good enough supporting cast. The Rockets never gained momentum, for whatever reason. Carmelo ended up re-signing for $122 million for five years, pretending that was the plan all along … even though it wasn’t.

You know what really shocked me? Hearing Knicks fans and Lakers fans wonder whether it was a smart idea to splurge on Carmelo at all. Where are you REALLY going if he’s your best player?, they kept asking.....

And fourth, Carmelo’s 2014 level was a tougher call than everyone else’s combined. After all, he’s made one conference finals and zero Finals. He’s never won more than 54 regular-season games or made an All-NBA first team, although he did finish third in 2013’s MVP voting (no small feat). He’s made only seven All-Star teams in 11 years (two fewer than Chris Bosh). Most damning, Carmelo has lost nearly twice as many playoff games as he has won: 23 wins, 44 losses. You can’t even use the whole “Look, Carmelo can drag any mediocre team to 44 wins and the playoffs!” argument anymore — not after last season.

So what’s left? Can’t we downgrade him to All-Star and be done with it? Isn’t 11 years enough time to know — to truly, unequivocally know — whether it’s with television shows, music groups, girlfriends, quarterbacks or basketball players?

For me, it keeps coming back to one question: Can you win the NBA championship if Carmelo Anthony is your best player?

The short answer: Yes.

You can.

Unfortunately, we need to compare Carmelo to a better player to prove that point. The 2011 Mavericks won the title with a veteran team built around a spectacular coach (Rick Carlisle), an elite rim protector (Tyson Chandler), an elite perimeter defender (Shawn Marion), an elite heat-check guy (Jason Terry), quality 3-point shooting (39.4 percent and 184 made 3s in 21 playoff games), savvy team defense and one historically good scorer with crunch-time chops (Dirk Nowitzki). If you believe Carmelo can lead a championship team, you’re leaning heavily on that 2011 Mavs playbook — you’d need all the elements we just covered, and you’d need Carmelo to unleash a damned good Dirk impression.

Only one problem: Dirk was better than Carmelo is.

Dirk is one of the 20 best basketball players of all time by any calculation. He’s the best foreign player ever not named Hakeem. Of the 10 best forwards ever, he’s behind Bird, LeBron and Duncan, right there with Doc, Elgin and Pettit, and ahead of Malone, Barkley and Rick Barry.5 He won an MVP and a Finals MVP. He made four first-team All-NBA’s and five second-team All-NBA’s. He won 50-plus games for 11 straight years, topped 60 wins three times, made two Finals, beat LeBron and Wade in the Finals, and won a Game 7 in San Antonio during Duncan’s prime.

And it’s not like he had a ton of help. In 15 years, he played with only four All-Stars: Jason Kidd (2010), Josh Howard (2007), Steve Nash (2002 and 2003) and Michael Finley (2000 and 2001). Amazing but true: Dirk never played with a Hall of Famer in that Hall of Famer’s prime.

During Dirk’s decade-long peak (2002 through 2011), he averaged 24.5 points and 8.8 rebounds and came damned close to creating the 10-Year 50-40-90 Club (48% FG, 39% 3FG, 89% FT). His career PER (23.48) ranks 19th all time, just behind Doc (23.58) and Bird (23.5) and just ahead of Kobe (23.36). And he was an absolutely phenomenal playoff performer: 25.6 PPG (12th all time), 24.2 PER (12th), 22.6 win shares (16th), stellar 46-37-89% splits in 135 games, and a couple of epic multigame hot streaks in 2006 and 2011. Along with Pettit, Hakeem and Elgin, he’s one of four players in the shot-clock era who averaged 25 and 10 in the playoffs. And he’s an underrated leader, a famously fantastic locker-room guy, an insanely hard worker and someone who, by all accounts, everyone loved playing with at every point of his career.

That’s why I dislike comparing Carmelo and Dirk. But I keep coming back to these two playoff lines:

2011 Dirk (21 games): 27.7 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.5 apg, 49-46-94%, 8.9 FTA, 25.2 PER
2009 Melo (16 games): 27.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 4.1 apg, 45-36-83%, 9.0 FTA, 24.3 PER

It’s not THAT far off, right? The 2009 Nuggets were Carmelo’s best team; they fell to Kobe’s Lakers in Round 3 with a poor man’s version of the 2011 Mavs. George Karl wasn’t Carlisle. Nene and Kenyon Martin couldn’t protect the rim like Chandler. They didn’t have a perimeter defender anywhere close to Marion’s caliber. They couldn’t shoot 3s nearly as well (only 31 percent for that Lakers series). They relied way too heavily on J.R. Smith, who imploded against Kobe and got outscored 204 points to 76 points.6 Their bench consisted of Dahntay Jones, Linas Kleiza, Chris Andersen and Anthony Carter, or, as it’s better known, the Pu Pu Platter Deluxe. And Melo’s best teammate, Chauncey Billups, played two great rounds before turning into a human icicle against the Lakers (39.7% FG, 33.3% 3FG).

Again, in all caps … THAT’S THE MOST TALENTED PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM THAT CARMELO ANTHONY EVER PLAYED ON.

The second-best team? You might remember them self-destructing just 14 months ago — it was the 2013 Knicks squad that won 54 games in a lousy conference with Melo, a past-his-peak Chandler, J.R. Smith, Ray Felton, a washed-up K-Mart, Iman Shumpert, Chris Copeland, Pablo Prigioni, a hobbled Amar’e Stoudemire and the immortal Mike Woodson coaching.

Again, in all caps … THAT’S THE SECOND-MOST TALENTED PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM THAT CARMELO ANTHONY EVER PLAYED ON.

So could Carmelo morph into 2011 Dirk if you gave him the right situation? We don’t know because he’s never been in the right situation. Why do you think his agents frantically tried to shoehorn him into Chicago’s cap these last few weeks? The money couldn’t work unless the Knicks agreed to a sign-and-trade with Carlos Boozer’s expiring deal (no thanks!) and some future picks (thanks anyway!). As a last gasp, they used the Lakers as negotiating leverage (you better sign-and-trade Melo to Chicago or you’ll lose him for nothing!), only Jackson smartly sniffed it out. That left Carmelo with three choices:

Choice No. 1: Grab $122 million over five years from New York, play with another inferior team, miss the Finals for his 12th straight season, and pin the rest of his prime — which he’s never getting back, by the way — on Jackson’s promise that “We’ll Have Gobs of Cap Space in the Summer of 2015!!!”

Choice No. 2: Grab $97 million over four years from the Lakers, become the new face of the second-greatest NBA franchise ever, move to Southern California, dabble in the whole Hollywood thing (yes, his wife is an actress), pick his own head coach, convince Pau Gasol to re-sign there, hope Kobe spent the summer training with Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong and A-Rod, hope they can flip Nash’s expiring contract into one more asset, make some noise next spring and hope the Kevins join him in 2015 and 2016. That’s a lot of hoping, by the way.

Choice No. 3: Sign a four-year deal in Chicago for less money (starting around $14-15 million), become the crunch-time guy for an absolutely loaded Bulls team, and answer every question anyone ever asked about him.

I wanted him to sign with Chicago for less money — a wildly unrealistic outcome that was never going to happen. Even typing the sentence “For God’s sake, Carmelo, you’ve made over $135 million in salary already, not counting endorsements and whatever this next deal pays you, so it’s not like you’re a candidate for Broke II — why wasn’t it worth giving up some dough to play for the right team???” looks dumb and naive. I don’t blame him for grabbing the money. He can always force a trade if he’s not happy, right?

At the same time, I wanted to know once and for all. I wanted to know how good Carmelo Anthony is. Because, right now, I believe the following things:

1. He’s one of the best natural scorers I’ve ever seen.
2. He’s one of the NBA’s eight or nine best players and has been for some time.
3. He could win you a title on his version of the 2011 Mavs.

Again, those are just opinions. But what am I about to present to you? All facts.

1. His best team ever was the 2009 Nuggets. (Covered above.)

2. His best teammates ever: Chauncey Billups (post-Detroit version), Allen Iverson (post-Philly version), Andre Miller, Marcus Camby, Amar’e Stoudemire (post-Phoenix version, right as his knees were going), Tyson Chandler (post-Dallas version), Kenyon Martin (post-Nets version), Nene (never an All-Star — not once) and the one and only J.R. Smith.

3. He never played with anyone who made an All-NBA team except for Billups (third team, 2009), Chandler (third team, 2012) and Amar’e (second team, 2011).7

4. He had only four teammates make an All-Star Game: Iverson (2007, 2008), Billups (2009, 2010), Amar’e (2011) and Chandler (2013).

5. He had five head coaches in 11 years: Jeff Bzdelik (never coached again), Michael Cooper (became a WNBA coach), George Karl (coached 1,887 games, only won two Finals games), Mike D’Antoni (sadly, he coached again) and Mike Woodson (now a career assistant). Meanwhile, Dirk had three coaches in 15 years: Don Nelson (Hall of Famer), Avery Johnson (made a Finals and also won 67 games in a season) and Rick Carlisle (future Hall of Famer).

6. Dirk has spent his entire career with the same owner — the lovable and influential Mark Cuban, who didn’t always make the right moves, but built a state-of-the-art organization and spent as much money as anyone. Carmelo spent seven years in Denver enduring multiple front-office power struggles, then had multiple Knicks GMs in four years (not counting CAA’s brief takeover last season).

(The real irony here: Carmelo had only one truly competent front-office mind in 11 years. Who was it? Masai Ujiri … who traded Carmelo to New York in 2011 once Carmelo made it clear he was signing there anyway. Carmelo = not blameless. By any means.)

7. He suffered bad luck two different times — when an already loaded Pistons team unbelievably picked Darko over him in 2003, and when his agent didn’t follow LeBron’s and Wade’s lead by putting a three-year out into Melo’s first contract extension (with Denver). In the summer of 2010, Melo could have stolen Bosh’s spot in Miami or jumped to the up-and-coming Bulls, only he couldn’t get out of his deal for another year. Those were his two best chances to find a true contender. 0-for-2.

8. Here’s how much Carmelo’s teams have relied on him since 2003 — right now, he owns the fifth-highest career usage rate ever (31.7 percent), trailing only Jordan (33.2 percent), Wade (31.9 percent), Iverson (31.8 percent) and Kobe (31.8 percent). In the playoffs, he has the fourth-highest career usage rate ever (32.6 percent), trailing only Jordan (35.6 percent), Iverson 34.3 percent and T-Mac (33.5 percent). On the other hand, he has played with only two 20-point scorers (Iverson in 2007 and 2008, Amar’e in 2011) and three guys who averaged more than 15 points (Billups in 2009 and 2010, Amar’e in 2012, and J.R. in 2013). I mean, didn’t someone have to shoot?

9. Carmelo is averaging 25.3 points for his entire career. Only 13 players averaged at least 25 points, and only 10 have a higher average than Melo: Jordan (30.1), Wilt (30.1), LeBron (27.5), Durant (27.4), Elgin (27.4), West (27.0), Iverson (26.7), Pettit (26.4), Oscar (25.7) and Kobe (25.5). Yes, that’s a list with six Hall of Famers and four future Hall of Famers.

10. He averaged 20 points or more for each of his first 11 seasons. Only 11 other players accomplished that: Jordan, Wilt, Kareem, LeBron, Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing, Iverson, Pettit, Barry and Erving. Nine Hall of Famers, three future Hall of Famers.

11. He’s one of 10 players to score 62 points or more in an NBA game.

12. If you’re thinking about him historically, he’s never getting to the Bird-LeBron-Barry level for small forwards. All three were true superstars. But he’s right up there with anyone else. Check out the first 11 seasons of five superb small forwards: Dominique Wilkins, Adrian Dantley, Melo, Paul Pierce and Bernard King.

Regular Season
• ’Nique (829 games): 26.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 47-32-81%, 22.2 PER, 37.0 mpg, 30.4 usg, 101.6 WS
• Dantley (758 games): 26.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 55-18-82%, 22.3 PER, 37.1 mpg, 26.7 usg, 114.2 WS
• Melo (790 games): 25.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 46-35-81%, 21.2 PER, 36.5 mpg, 31.7 usg, 83.1 WS
• Pierce (813 games): 22.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 44-37-80%, 21.0 PER, 37.5 mpg, 28.4 usg, 104.3 WS
• King (615 games): 22.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 54-14-70%, 19.5 per, 34.7 mpg, 26.9 usg, 60.2 WS

Playoffs
• ’Nique (51 g’s): 26.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.6 apg, 43-24-82%, 18.7 PER, 39.6 mpg, 31.9 usg, 3.1 WS
• Dantley (47 g’s): 23.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.6 apg, 53-00-80%, 20.3 PER, 36.0 mpg, 25.4 usg, 6.1 WS
• Melo (66 g’s): 25.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.8 apg, 42-32-83%, 19.9 PER, 39.1 mpg, 32.6 usg, 5.7 WS
• Pierce (77 g’s): 22.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 4.4 apg, 42-33-83%, 19.4 PER, 40.3 mpg, 27.6 usg, 9.5 WS
• King (25 g’s): 27.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, 56-25-73%, 22.6 PER, 36.4 MPG, 28.5 usg, 3.4 WS

Best Playoff Run
• ’84 King (12 g’s): 34.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.0 apg, 57% FG, 27.6 PER, 39.8 mpg, .234 ws/48
• ’09 Melo (16 g’s): 27.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 4.1 apg, 45% FG, 24.3 PER, 38.3 mpg, .201 ws/48
• ’84 Dantley (11 g’s): 32.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.2 apg, 50% FG, 24.7 PER, 41.3 mpg, .207 ws/48
• ’03 Pierce (10 g’s): 27.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 6.7 apg, 40% FG, 23.0 PER, 44.5 mpg, .179 ws/48
• ’88 ’Nique (12 g’s): 31.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, 46% FG, 22.9 PER, 39.4 mpg, .113 ws/48

You couldn’t have pulled a 2011 Mavs with ’Nique (the most exciting of the group), Pierce (the most durable and the best two-way player) or Dantley (the most unconventional); none of those three was quite overpowering enough, even if each could have been an overqualified second banana on a title team. (And in 2008, Pierce was.) Bernard doubled as the most frightening non-Jordan scorer I’ve ever seen in my life — he took the 1984 Celts to a Game 7 by himself, for God’s sake. My team threw Kevin McHale (the NBA’s best defender at the time) and Cedric Maxwell at him, with Bird helping and Robert Parish protecting the rim, and it just didn’t matter. 1984 Playoff Bernard ascended into that Bird-Elgin-Barry group, then remained there until he blew out his knee 10 months later.

Carmelo? He’s 92 percent as frightening as 1984 Playoff Bernard was. He’s just playing in a more difficult league — better scouting, better game planning, better defenses, better athletes, better everything. In 1984, Carmelo would have been single-teamed by the likes of Dantley and Kelly Tripucka and Mark Aguirre, night after night after night, and would have torched absolutely everybody. He would have averaged 34 per game like Bernard did during the 1984-85 season. By the way, this is coming from someone who REVERED Bernard.8

13. Just for fun, the best two-year regular-season runs for Bernard, ‘Nique Wilkins, Dirk and Carmelo:

• King (1984-85): 29.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, 55-07-78%, 23.8 PER, 35.8 mpg, 31.5 usage
• ’Nique (1986-87): 29.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.0 apg, 47-25-82%, 23.4 PER, 38.3 mpg, 32.6 usage
• Dirk (2006-07): 25.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 3.1 apg, 49-41-90%, 27.8 PER, 37.2 mpg, 29.5 usage
• Melo (2013-14): 28.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.9 apg, 45-39-84%, 24.6 PER, 37.9 mpg, 33.9 usage

14. You realize that Carmelo is better right now than he’s ever been, right?

• Years 1-2: 20.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 43-30-79%, 17.2 PER, 35.7 mpg, 28.8 usage, .094 WS/48
• Years 3-9: 25.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 46-33-81%, 21.4 PER, 36.3 mpg, 32.0 usage, .140 WS/48
• Years 10-11: 28.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 45-39-84%, 24.6 PER, 37.9 mpg, 33.9 usage, .177 WS/48

As his offensive workload has increased, he’s figured out how to become even MORE efficient by expanding his shooting range to 25 feet … only he’s never stopped getting to the free throw line, either.

• Years 1-2 (attempts): 14.8 2s (44.9%), 2.4 3s (29.9%) and 7.0 FT’s (78.7%)
• Years 3-9 (attempts): 17.3 2s (48.5%), 2.6 3s (32.9%) and 8.0 FT’s (81.1%)
• Years 10-11 (attempts): 16.0 2s (47.2%), 5.8 3s (39.1%) and 7.3 FT’s (84.0%)

And you know what else? Carmelo never received enough credit for playing efficiently as a hybrid small forward/stretch 4, especially last season, when he was saddled with the NBA’s worst starting point guard (Felton, a complete zero on both ends); J.R. Smith’s abominable start (first 29 games: 11.3 PPG, 35% FG); Chandler’s lousy-for-him season (he quietly mailed in more games than anybody); the washed-up trifecta of Amar’e, K-Mart and Metta World Peace; some unforgettably awful coaching from Mike Woodson; and nothing from Andrea Bargnani other than this hysterical YouTube clip.

That pathetic Knicks team didn’t employ a single creator who could get Melo wide-open jumpers off slash-and-kick drives. They couldn’t get him any fast-break points because nobody on the team could run a freaking fast break. So what’s left? Just a slew of possessions, one after the other, with everyone standing around waiting for Carmelo to do something. They were like the pickup team from hell, only Carmelo couldn’t just throw the game and hop on someone else’s team.

Everyone bitched about his “ball-stopping” — something of which he’s definitely been guilty, from time to time, over the past few years — but when your coach is in a basketball coma and your entire offense has degenerated into “throw the ball to Melo and he’ll have to create a shot,” what do you expect? Every opponent went into every Knicks game saying, “As long as we don’t let Carmelo kill us, we’re winning tonight.” And he still threw up 28 a night and played the most efficient basketball of his career. That’s a fact. It just wasn’t that much fun to watch.

15. Melo is the same person as Olympic Melo — the devastating shooter who shows up every two years for international competition and makes open 3 after open 3 like he’s playing a pop-a-shot game. I love Olympic Melo. So do you.

If you think of him like a Hall of Fame wide receiver — say, Larry Fitzgerald — Carmelo’s career makes more sense. Fitz tossed up monster stats with Kurt Warner throwing to him. Once the likes of John Skelton and Kevin Kolb started passing through his life, he wasn’t throwing up monster stats anymore. But nobody ever stopped believing Fitz was great. We made excuses for him that weren’t even excuses.

Why didn’t we ever feel sorry for Carmelo? It’s simple — he placed himself in this situation. He could have waited until the summer of 2011, opted out of his first Nuggets extension and signed with New York as a free agent. Instead, his agents forced a midseason trade that kept his previous contract in place (more money, more leverage). Here’s what that extra money effectively cost them (and Carmelo): Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, their 2014 first-round pick (turned out to be 11th overall), and a first-round pick swap in 2016. Four super-tradable assets … out the window.

A few other players were involved, including Felton and Timofey Mozgov (sent to Denver) and Billups (sent to New York). And that’s where this deal gets darker. After the 2011 lockout ended, the Knicks used their amnesty on Billups solely to create cap room to sign Tyson Chandler. When Amar’e degenerated into The Artist Formerly Known As Amar’e two seasons ago, they didn’t have an amnesty left to snuff out his remaining $40 million. Whoops. Unable to improve their roster last summer, they stumbled into the comically bad Bargnani trade. This summer, they couldn’t sign any impact players.

All in all, that was a catastrophic trade considering Denver didn’t have any leverage whatsoever. And it happened because Carmelo wanted more money — the same choice he made last weekend, again, and the same choice you and I would probably make too. Carmelo inadvertently created the narrative that threatens to defines him. There’s a good chance he will play his entire career, then retire, without ever finding the right team. Unless the Knicks miraculously strike oil next summer, his own version of the 2011 Mavericks can’t happen. His prime will come and go, and that will be that.

There was an alternate universe here — Chicago, for less money, for a chance to become Olympic Melo for nine months per year. He would have been flanked by Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic, Kirk Hinrich and a top-five coach (Tom Thibodeau). He would have found his 2011 Mavs. He would have played on a 60-win team, been the crunch-time guy on a title favorite, reminded everyone how terrific he was over and over again. Thirty years from now, long after he has retired and hopefully spent his more than $300 million nest egg wisely, Carmelo will be sitting on the porch of one of his nine houses, nursing a drink, staring out at an ocean and thinking about the unknown. Should he have picked Chicago? How much money is enough money? What’s the price of peace? What would it have been worth to know — to really, truly know? Was he good enough? Could he have gotten there? Did he have it in him?...

and therein lies the moral of the story. There are certainly situations where a person just has to chase that last nickel to put food on the table.

and there are other times it's pure greed (not well defined when the transition occurs)