These days, former NBA coach George Karl is best known for taking shots at some of his former players on Twitter. However, when he can stop doing that long enough to talk basketball, there’s still a very interesting set of opinions in there.
Karl made headlines for going after Carmelo Anthony on Twitter this week, but opened up more about his former player in an appearance on CBS Sports Radio’s “Tiki and Tierney.” Specifically, Karl reacted to Anthony teaming up with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers, suggesting that Anthony had always tried to strive to reach James’ level.
“The truth of the matter is I think Melo wanted to be on the same level as LeBron, and liked competing against LeBron,” Karl said. “I know when we played LeBron when I coached Melo, Melo got fired up, he got into the game. When I was in Denver, we had a winning record against LeBron. I think it was more of Melo understanding he was not on the same level of LeBron and his light was fading while LeBron’s was still shining.”
Admittedly, even here Karl sounds like he’s trashing Anthony, and he’s definitely not worried about being diplomatic. Still, it’s an interesting look at the dynamic between two players who are close friends but have been frequent competitors. Few would have ever put Anthony at James’ level, but Anthony’s desire to prove himself against James could bring out the best in him. It may have also prevented any real notion of them playing together when Anthony was in his prime.
Anthony had his own take on why teaming up with James now was the right call for him. A motivated Anthony would be great for the Lakers, no matter what Karl has to say about his former player.
