Knicks' Carmelo Anthony calls George Karl's digs in new book 'irrelevant'
He also said he'd respond when he gets around to writing a book
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2 min read
New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony dismissed George Karl's criticism in his forthcoming book Furious George on Thursday, following a 106-95 victory over the Orlando Magic. He called Karl's comments about Anthony from their time together with the Denver Nuggets "irrelevant" and vowed to respond properly only when he writes a book of his own.
From the New York Post's Marc Berman:
"I'm past being disappointed," Anthony said after the Knicks' 106-95 victory over Orlando at the Garden. "I hope he just finds happiness in what he's doing with his book. Hopefully it will bring him happiness."
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"It's irrelevant," said Anthony, who before the game refused to discuss Karl's jabs. "The good thing is the truth of the matter is everyone else is speaking up for me from their own experience. So I don't have to speak on it [until] I write my book later."
What will it be called?
"Stay Melo. Not 'furious' or anything," he said.
Anthony kept his sense of humor but clearly was irritated at the personal slings of his coach of six seasons.
"It's tough," Anthony said. "If this would have come out years ago -- I haven't been in Denver in six, seven years. When you're there, it's a different story than what you hear afterwards. I never knew it was this much. I never knew I was a -- what's the word, conundrum? I don't even know what the hell that means."
Anthony added that "anybody you ask" around the Nuggets would "sing a different tune" about his leadership. All in all, it was a pretty muted response in comparison to what former teammate Kenyon Martin had to say on the matter.
It would be one thing if Karl had simply written that Anthony didn't compete hard enough on defense and he wished Anthony helped the team in ways other than scoring. That's extremely old news, and it's stuff that Karl talked about in the immediate aftermath of Melo being traded to the Knicks in February 2011. Karl made this personal by writing that Anthony was not a leader and not a winner, calling him a "user of people, addicted to the spotlight" and ascribing their inability to connect with each other to the fact that Anthony didn't have a father to teach him how to "act like a man."
If Anthony had fired back in the same way that Martin had, nobody would blame him. By staying quiet, though, he will win this battle anyway. With all this racially insensitive language -- Karl also said J.R. Smith was distracted by his "posse" -- and bridge-burning, it's difficult to imagine the fifth-winningest coach in NBA history getting another coaching job in the league again.
