It’s no secret that the Carmelo Anthony-Amar’e Stoudemire Experiment in New York was a worse pairing than Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf in the latest Indiana Jones movie. While Stoudemire thrived when he first came to the Knicks in 2010-11, averaging 25.3 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game en route to an All-Star appearance and a Second Team All-NBA selection, he struggled to carve out a consistent role once Anthony arrived in The Big Apple and began dominating the ball on the perimeter. On Friday, Stoudemire, now with the Miami Heat, poked some fun at his struggles to co-exist with Melo during their New York days.
The 32-year-old Stoudemire was interviewed by ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh, who quizzed the six-time All-Star about which teammates had assisted on the most of his baskets over the course of his NBA career. In reply, Stoudemire quipped, “I know Carmelo’s definitely not up there.”
Quizzed Amar'e on who has ast'd him the most. "I know Carmelo's definitely not up there." https://t.co/PezbFiSHjy in pic.twitter.com/KAtNyqdNHj
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) October 23, 2015
Perhaps Stoudemire was prodding Anthony for his reputation as a rock-stopping offensive abyss (one completely justified given Melo’s career averages of 3.1 assists per game as opposed to 19.7 shot attempts per game). After all, who could possibly forget the quintessential Carmelo game in January 2014 (back when Stoudemire was still on the Knicks) where he poured in 62 points on the Bobcats to go along with zero assists? On the contray, maybe it was just STAT lamenting the fact that injuries, namely their papier mâché knees, robbed the tandem from reaching their ceiling as a dynamic NBA duo.
For what it’s worth, Anthony actually ranked seventh on the list, according to Haberstroh.
(Pssst. Carmelo is No. 7 on the list)
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) October 23, 2015
But whatever the case may be, with the twosome now having gone their separate ways, the rest of the NBA is left to lament what should have been the next great basketball tag team but instead turned into an epic melodrama. Literally.
