New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony took day two of training camp by the horns and addressed the media's questions – mostly centered about him and Derrick Rose – but the four-time Olympian also dished about his new teammates and what he thinks they bring to the table.
“Joakim (Noah), he’s a character,” said Anthony. “He’s very intense, very emotional, and you can see that with his workouts, you can see that in the gym, you can see that playing pickup, just him in the weight room working. You can see the focus that these guys have. A guy who nobody really speaks about is Courtney Lee. I think he’s going to be a great addition to this team, a guy who comes in and does little things, does multiple things on the basketball court that a lot of people don’t talk about. And then we have another guy, Brandon Jennings; his focus right now is to win, is to play good basketball and to help us lead this team. He’s focused and everybody’s focused. The focus level is an all-time high.”
While it was only Media Day, Anthony did not shy from speaking about the expectations and how praise and blame begins and ends with him as the face of the franchise.
“Let’s just be quite frank, at the end of the day, it’s going to take me being the best that I can be out there on the basketball court to make this successful alongside everybody doing their job and playing their role and being the best that they can be,” Anthony said. “… As far as taking the burden off of me, yeah, we put guys around on this team to go out there to perform at a very high level, so some of the pressure is off of me. But at the end of the day, [the media knows] as well as I do that the pressure is definitely on me. So, I accept that. I think that’s the beauty in this. I embrace it. I love those challenges. I love having my back against the wall. I love being in a situation where we can create something and be successful. I’m looking forward to all those pressures and all those challenges, and I’ll take it head-on.”
After being with the franchise for the better part of six years, Anthony has had plenty of experience with New York's ruthless media pundits and knows that these additions are probably the most dramatic roster overhaul he's witnessed in his career.
If the Knicks fail to get off to a good start, it won't be that the pieces don't fit, but that Anthony fails to fit with the pieces – the same way that it was with Amar'e Stoudemire, Jeremy Lin, and so on.
Carmelo Anthony has embraced the challenge and will try to prove the doubters wrong with a roster that is set to compete in the Eastern Conference.
Follow Us
Subscribe