Jim Boeheim told the Syracuse Post-Standard that his former player, the New York Knicks‘ Carmelo Anthony, was unlikely to win an NBA title.
For Carmelo Anthony, the success of a college National Championship and a historic Olympic performance has never translated to the NBA level. Anthony’s college coach thinks that’s unlikely to change.
Jim Boeheim coached Anthony for one season at Syracuse University. He was then an assistant on the last three Olympic teams where Melo won gold. This guy knows Carmelo Anthony, and his game, very well.
https://youtu.be/W9lW1L9OCpk
Hearing someone close to Melo say that they don’t think he’ll win a championship, no matter how likely it seems, is upsetting.
“He’s unlikely to win an NBA title,” Syracuse Orange coach Jim Boeheim said, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard. “He’s never been on a team that even had a remote chance of winning an NBA title. As a player, all you can do is try to make your team better and every team he’s been on he’s made them a lot better. Denver hadn’t done anything prior to him getting there and he took them into the playoffs. They weren’t going to beat the Lakers or the Spurs. In those years, they won the championship most of the time.”
Say whatever you want, but Boeheim is honest. He’s always been blunt about Melo’s career. Particularly about his free agency in 2014, when the coach notably stated that he thought Anthony should’ve chosen the Chicago Bulls over the Knicks.
https://youtu.be/vRI2YxyI17Q
The hall of fame coach questioned the validity of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah as core players for the Knicks, due to obvious health concerns.
“He wants to win in New York,” Boeheim said. “I know the general opinion is if [new additions Joakim] Noah and [Derrick] Rose are healthy then they’ll be a better team. It’s just a question of if they will be healthy. They’ve been off and on the last two years. They’ve both been hurt. I think if both those guys are healthy, it certainly would make a big difference and [Kristaps] Porzingis continuing to progress. If those things happen, they can be better.”
Boeheim is certainly not the only one pondering the new look of his former stars team.