Carmelo Anthony took no umbrage to former Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks teammate Chauncey Billups' recent comments about his mentality, though he did have an issue with the timing in which they came. The 10-time All-Star sat down with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN's “First Take” to air out his grievances after going throughout July without a solid NBA offer.

Billups recently said in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio that at times, “Melo cared about scoring 30 too much. It meant too much to him.” The since-retired point guard and 2004 NBA Finals MVP played with the one-time scoring champ for the better part of three seasons and felt like that scoring assassin mentality is what's really keeping him from being able to mold himself into a bench player:

“Coming out from high school, to college, to the NBA, I had a different mentality,” Anthony admitted. “It was kill or be killed. I had to go eat. I was 23, 24, I had to eat, and whatever I had to do to put us in a situation to win, I was willing to do that. I was doing that.

“To his comments, if I didn't score 30, it was 40, it was 50. If I didn't score those points, I felt like I didn't do my job, because that was my mentality — it was to go all out at that point in time.”

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Melo then made sure to say he was not offended by Billups' comments, but that he rather took a hit from them due to the fragility of his NBA chances this deep in the offseason:

“I don't take his comments any type of way. I take that as a learning tool and I think a lot of people out there, up-and-coming athletes should take that as a learning tool. My only issue was the timing of his comments,” said Anthony. “Because of everything that surrounded me on these comments, on this narrative around Melo, I don't think it was the right time for him to say, “Oh, he liked scoring 30 in a loss, but he didn't like scoring 20 in a win. I just think that narrative, that conversation, was [happening at] the wrong time.”

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Unfortunately, Billups was asked about Melo's situation because of the nature of his free-agent status. The argument itself would have not even been a talking point if he was signed to a roster spot, as he was last season.

Asked if he felt those comments from a respected voice in the NBA blackballed his status in the league, Melo was succinct in response.

“The way I feel right now, I feel like everything that's being said is keeping me out [of the league] right now,” he said. “That's why I wanted to come and speak my own truth and speak my piece.”

Melo is hoping to get that NBA call soon, but for now, he's still waiting.