New York Knicks forward Lance Thomas believes Carmelo Anthony should get more respect and wants Melo to be back on an NBA team soon.

The Houston Rockets parted ways with Carmelo Anthony a few weeks ago, although he is still on the team. Houston is reportedly waiting to see if another team in the league has interest in the 34-year-old veteran. If there isn’t a market for the 10-time All-Star, the Rockets will then waive Anthony.

Lance Thomas and Anthony were teammates with the Knicks, and Thomas says Melo is a great teammate and player.

“I would just love for him to get the respect he deserves,” Thomas said, viaBrandon Robinson of Heavy. “He’s a great player, he’s a great teammate, most importantly he’s a great human being and he’s always been a great advocate for the NBA as a brand.

“So I just want him to get back on a team and play the sport he loves that’s paved a way for him and his family, and he just loves to play basketball, so I really want him back on a team. I mean, a lot of those people who give him a bad rep were never on his team, they’ve never seen how he works. They don’t know how great of a person he is. Melo’s playing in the biggest market in the world, so critics aren’t going to bother him, he’s shown that here and throughout his career, so he’ll be back soon.”

Anthony averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds with the Rockets while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 32.8 percent from beyond the arc in the 10 games he played in. When Houston signed Anthony over the summer, the prevailing thought was playing with All-Star point guard Chris Paul and reigning MVP James Harden would help Melo become an effective player.

That wasn’t the case at all, as Anthony was a huge negative for the Rockets when he was on the court. Houston had a net rating of minus-9.0 with Anthony on the floor and plus-1.8 with him on the bench.

It's nice of Thomas to stick up for Anthony, but the fact is that Melo is no longer an effective player in the NBA.