There is no doubt that Carmelo Anthony retired as one of the most efficient scorers in modern basketball. Despite that, the dearth of media recognition that Melo has experienced throughout his career can be ascribed to his lack of postseason accolades. Melo was elite in mid-range and had a good jumper from beyond the arc as well. In 2005, the Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson released a DVD on “The Fundamentals of Basketball”. The DVD featured Melo in it, who was being paid $3,471,360 by the Nuggets that year.
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Anthony was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 2003 on a four-year, $15,108,241 contract. He played for the city for a total of eight seasons. During his stint with the Nuggets, Melo emerged to become one of the leaders on his team. However, he didn’t have much postseason success. The star forward averaged 24.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 564 games for the Nuggets in the regular season. He played 45 playoff games for his first team and averaged 24.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists.
Magic Johnson chose Carmelo Anthony for the jump shot fundamental lessons
Johnson was shooting The Fundamentals of Basketball in 2005. It was a two-hour video to help viewers understand and learn basketball. Magic chose Melo, who was drafted into the league only two years ago, for the jump shot fundamentals of basketball. So it was a green signal from the Lakers legend already that the 2013 NBA Scoring Champion had the prettiest jump shot. In the video, Melo is introduced and asked to showcase his jump shot. Guess who was the assist guy, Magic himself, who kept hyping up Melo before his shots with words of encouragement.
“See he is laughing. He knows he is the best shooter out here. That’s why you got to shoot all the time. That’s what they pay you to do, shoot, shoot, and shoot.”
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Fans heaped praise on the former player in the comment section. While one wrote, “Best jumpshot form ever”, another user wrote, “I said it before… Melo is the Ken Griffey Jr of basketball! The prettiest jumper & the prettiest swing.” Several other users called Anthony the best jump shooter in the league’s history.
Several players have admitted before about the headache of guarding Carmelo. In a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George, the Los Angeles Clippers star said that Melo was brilliant in his craft. According to Paul, there were two factors that made Melo dangerous. One, he needed less space to operate. Second, he had the quickest first step. Previously, Paul Pierce has also said that guarding Anthony was a tough task because he could hit a player in the gut so many times, that it got them exhausted.
Melo’s son Kiyan Anthony talks trash to his father and calls him old
On May 22, 2023, Anthony announced that he was retiring from basketball. Even at age 38, he averaged over 13 points with the Lakers in his last season in 2021-22. Post-retirement Melo is focusing on his family and getting his son Kiyan Anthony ready for the NBA. Kiyan has been playing basketball with his father for a long time and doesn’t shy away from talking trash to him.
In his recent appearance on the Overtime podcast, he got candid about his family, his basketball future, and carrying the legacy of his father. Kiyan also trash-talked his dad Melo on the show. Candidly speaking about his father’s game and age, Kiyan hilariously said, “My dad getting old, he can’t keep up with me.”
