Carmelo Anthony's college coach said something obviously true on Tuesday, and it came off like he was taking a shot at the New York Knicks. Addressing reporters in Syracuse after serving as an assistant coach for Team USA in Rio de Janeiro, Jim Boeheim complimented Anthony's leadership with the national team and said that he probably won't win an NBA title, via the Syracuse Post-Standard's Mike Waters:
"He's unlikely to win an NBA title,'' Boeheim said. "He's never been on a team that even had a remote chance of winning an NBA title. As a player, all you can do is try to make your team better and every team he's been on he's made them a lot better. Denver hadn't done anything prior to him getting there and he took them into the playoffs. They weren't going to beat the Lakers or the Spurs. In those years, they won the championship most of the time.
"But he's always made his team better,'' added Boeheim. "It's obvious. You look back on your total basketball experience and he had a great high school team, he won the NCAA championship and he's won three gold medals in the Olympics. That's a pretty good resume.''
These remarks are pretty innocuous when you watch the video -- nothing he says is technically incorrect, and it shouldn't be particularly controversial to say that a 13-year veteran on a team with no clear path to a championship is facing long odds of winning one. Boeheim, though, has a history of taking little jabs at the Knicks. Two years ago, he said (accurately) that joining the Chicago Bulls in free agency would have given Anthony a better shot at a title. Before that, he blasted New York's supporting cast. No one in the Knicks organization will be pleased about these new quotes.
It's not Boeheim's job, however, to be concerned about anybody in the Knicks organization aside from Anthony. And unless you seriously believe that New York has a superteam on its hands, then you wouldn't be upset about a regular person saying Anthony will likely retire without a ring. This is simply a coach defending one of his former players, and it's worth noting that this specific player has received all sorts of criticism for not winning big and not making his teammates better.
I would argue that Boeheim's characterization of Anthony's professional career is oversimplified. While Anthony might not have had a real chance to win a title, there have been seasons where he could have done more to help his team, whether it was with more effort on defense, better leadership or a willingness to pass more and dribble less. Nonetheless, as Boeheim said, Anthony still has an awesome resume -- he's one of the best scorers in NBA history, and he will go down as one of the best FIBA players ever. This is why Anthony said that, if he does retire without a ring, he will be at peace with it.
