After the messy end to the Mike D’Antoni era in New York, Carmelo Anthony wants everybody to know his hands are clean.
Before D’Antoni resigned on Wednesday, he and Anthony were reportedly clashing, with Anthony also relaying a “me or him” attitude to the Knicks front office. Carmelo spoke to the media on Thursday, maintaining he shouldn’t be held responsible for D’Antoni’s departure and that he doesn’t want be known as a “coach killer.”
“Yeah, of course that bothers me because I never want that label on me,” Anthony said, according to the New York Daily News. “I did everything in my power to try to communicate with Coach Mike.”
It was a continuation of the unapologetic Carmelo who on Wednesday desperately tried to convey he and D’Antoni were more buddy-buddy than we thought.
“Me and Mike talked constantly about trying to find out different ways in what I can do and what we can do as a team,” he said after D’Antoni tendered his resignation. “It wasn’t working. We lost games and when you lose games people say it’s not working and of course the blame is on me.”
Once again, Carmelo makes it all about him. When is Carmelo going to learn to check his ego at the door? His ego is what got him to New York. It’s why he’s yammering about himself again now. “Me me me me me!” Rather than worrying about his reputation, Carmelo needs to focus on the team. And yet, for him, that might be asking too much.
But good news for Carmelo: That’s not what the new guy is about.
Photo credit: Michael Ivins, US Presswire
