In 2002, Carmelo Anthony had a choice. He could enter the draft, joining Amare Stoudemire as two high schoolers trying to make the leap from high school basketball to the NBA, or he could take the path that led to college hoops. Whereas Stoudemire was projected to go smack dab in the middle of the lottery, the Oak Hill alum would’ve fallen significantly lower. After committing to five different schools, Melo eventually became the face of Syracuse Orange Basketball.
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Anthony hosted filmmaking legend and die-hard basketball fan Spike Lee on his podcast 7 PM in Brooklyn this week. Throughout an episode featuring conversations about the Knicks, Denzel Washington, and the new movie Sinners, the pair eventually got to the topic of Melo’s path to the NBA.
Spike asked him when he knew he was going to the league, to which Anthony responded that he knew when Syracuse won the National Championship. Surely he knew sooner, but that was the moment it became real.
“They was saying at Oak Hill, come out of high school but it was like the 25th pick, 27th pick. I’m not going… I’m not going to no league out of high school to be the 25th pick. I know what happens at the 25th pick,” said Melo, between laughs.
While it’s true that later drafted players typically fail to receive the same level of leash that top three picks do, there are a ton of all-star level players that have gotten their shot after being picked late. From Anfernee Simons to Rashard Lewis, all the way up to a guy like Nikola Jokić, great players excel wherever they are taken.
According to Melo, however, his need for college and eventual worry was not that a draft pick slot would define him, but instead that he wasn’t ready yet. Still, it remains a fascinating what-if.
Outside of Darryl Dawkins in 1975, there was a 10-year span during which high school players made the jump directly to the big leagues from 1995 to 2005. During that time, most of them ended up being good NBA players. 10 of them ended up being all-stars!
In the 2002 NBA Draft, the 25th and 27th picks were owned by the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively. So, either Melo would’ve joined the team that spent a top three pick on him a year early, and Denver could draft one of Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh in ’03, or we would’ve seen Carmelo Anthony on the same team as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
As amazing as those combos could’ve been, however, we would’ve lost an incredible part of basketball history if Melo had not had his career at Syracuse.
A Legend in Orange
Carmelo Anthony, despite what certain commentators at the NBA level have said, was the consummate winner. After leading an Oak Hill team that dominated the country’s high school circuits, Melo took his talents to Syracuse.
While at Syracuse, Anthony did the unprecedented, leading the team to a national championship as a true freshman. It is objectively one of the greatest seasons in basketball history. At the time, freshmen were rarely, if ever, seen as contributors, and players would often spend plenty of years earning trust from college coaches without ever playing big parts.
Anthony averaged 22.2 points, 10 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. Even though he played just a single year in college, Melo racked up a ton of records, including East Regional Most Outstanding Player, Final Four Most Outstanding Player, USBWA Freshman of the Year, and more.
Anthony’s season changed that and gave his chances as a prospect a huge boost. After that March Madness run, Carmelo Anthony would be drafted third overall by the Denver Nuggets. He would go on to lead an excellent career and was just nominated into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
