Carmelo Anthony is set to opt out of his current contract with the New York Knicks and become a free agent. While the recent hiring of Phil Jackson has brought hope to a franchise in shambles, it may not be enough to convince Carmelo to stay. According to Oscar Robertson, Anthony shouldn’t consider sticking around anyway.
On Thursday, Robertson told Spike Lee (of all people) on SiriusXM NBA Radio that Anthony would be crazy to re-sign with New York.
“I would leave today. Let me tell you why,” Robertson said, as transcribed by Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk. “Wherever that kid has gone, when he was at Denver, they had a team that fooled around with the ball, then all of the sudden when they needed a basket, threw it to Carmelo. Then, when he shot the ball, they said he shot too much. Then when he didn’t shoot they said he didn’t shoot enough.
“No matter what he does in New York they’re going to criticize him, the people are going to criticize him, because you got guys on that team (the Knicks) that cannot play. You got guys that are hurt all the time…”
Spike was quick to point out that the reason the Knicks hired Jackson was to clean up the mess they have created. Robertson doesn’t care.
“I think Phil is great to have gotten $12 million out of [Knicks owner Jim Dolan],” he said. “Super job. Take the money and run. If I were Carmelo I would say, ‘Listen, I’m not gonna stay here and take all this gruff and all this criticism. You got other guys on this team making $12, $15, $16 million and doing nothing, and here I am averaging 28, 29 points per game.’”
For what it’s worth, Spike asked Robertson to name some of the players he is referring to that do nothing. The Hall of Famer fumbled his words a bit and didn’t exactly seem like he was well-versed on the Knicks’ current roster.
Lee then asked Big O what team he thinks Anthony should jet for, and he said the Houston Rockets. He believes Houston would be “unstoppable” if they added Carmelo. He also thinks Carmelo is the best shooter in the NBA.
“You look at LeBron and the kid down in Oklahoma, Durant, whose got a great game,” Robertson said. “They can’t outshoot Carmelo. I’ve seen a lot of basketball games over the years and I’m telling you (Anthony) can just get that shot away.”
Durant has a pretty quick release, too, and I think he is a better all-around player than Carmelo. He also has a much better supporting cast, which Anthony would have if he went to Houston. That was probably Robertson’s point. You can hear audio of the interview below.
