Carmelo Anthony introduced himself to Kristaps Porzingis as ‘Me7o’

Carmelo Anthony has a marketing vision for himself, and he is not afraid to go to great lengths in an attempt to make sure it is successful.

But he should probably tone it down a bit.

New York Knicks first-round draft pick Kristaps Porzingis recently told Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling that he had an interesting text message exchange with Anthony the night Porzingis was drafted. We’ll let the rookie explain what was interesting about it.

“Carmelo Anthony reached out to me after I got drafted,” Porzingis said. “He said, ‘Congrats, welcome to the team.’ I didn’t have his number, so I texted back, ‘Who’s this?’ And then a few minutes later, he said, ‘This is Melo’ with his No. 7 as the ‘l.’ I met him actually when I came for my Knicks tryout for the first time. We’ve talked a couple of times since then.”

That’s right, Carmelo actually referred to himself as “Me7o” in a text message to his new teammate.

We’re not talking about an NBA superstar selling merchandise with a brand on it. Plenty of players do that. This would basically be the equivalent of Derek Jeter texting one of his New York Yankees teammates and telling him he appreciates them showing him so much “RE2PECT.”

Porzingis had nothing but good things to say about Anthony, but you have to wonder how he really feels about him. Between the cheesy text message and the way Carmelo supposedly felt about the Knicks drafting Porzingis, the 19-year-old has to be cautiously optimistic at best.

H/T Deadspin