There are those who will always judge Carmelo Anthony by the one thing he doesn’t have: an NBA championship ring. The more ardent basketball fans will, however, remember his 19-year-old NBA career by everything else he did. A career average of 22.5 points? Check. 1o All-Star Selections? Check. 3 Olympic gold medals? Check!
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As the former Denver Nuggets and Knicks star, the two teams where he spent most of his years, was enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, shouts of ‘Melo’ echoed through the halls to celebrate one of New York’s favorite sons.
Aptly, Melo let the audience know that none of it would have been possible without them. In a speech, parts of which are still finding their way to social media, Melo said, “Tonight, I don’t just step into the Hall of Fame … I carry with me the echoes of every voice that ever told me I couldn’t.
He continued, “I walk with the shadows of every alley, every cracked court, every empty plate. I stand for the dreamers, the doubted, the dismissed, for every soul trapped in a place where I broke free from.”
Poetic as it was, it was also true. Melo made it a point to tell his fans that they should never let naysayers get to them. Because all they really need to do, the one thing they truly have any control over, is to be consistent. “They will tell you it’s foolish. They will laugh at your belief. But let me tell you, they laughed at me too,” he added.
Melo wants his fans to know that he means it. Talking about his greatest achievement as a professional basketball player on The Jax Show, the Olympic gold medalist said, “The accolades come and go. I mean, everybody has accolades in the NBA.”
“I just think, the longevity, the level of consistency, along with the play, the style of play, kind of transforming that small forward position in a sense, reigniting the NBA with myself, LeBron and D W ade came in with that class (2003 drafts), giving the NBA a whole new face to follow … And then you start adding all the accolades, the All-Star, the gold medals, 6 time All-NBA team, scoring leader,” Melo added.
The Hall of Famer reiterated that while all the accolades were cool, it was his consistency that would truly be his legacy in the sport.
