The spotlight on the biggest stars in the NBA burns bright. That can be both a blessing and a curse, as along with the fame, money and adulation comes expectations and a heavy dose of blame if a player or their team falls short of delivering a championship.
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Carmelo Anthony knows that better than anyone. He carried the weight of a franchise during his time in Denver, and then again in New York as the leader of a Knicks team that hadn’t tasted success in a long time. As a native New Yorker, Melo understood how badly the fans wanted a title, and though he did his best to deliver it, the closest he came was a second-round playoff exit in 2013.
For a time, there was some friction between Melo and the Knicks, especially when Phil Jackson was in charge and he and the Zen Master didn’t see eye-to-eye. Things have come full circle now though, to the point that Melo is one of the most beloved Knicks out there.
On the latest episode of his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, Melo talked about how he saw the same cycle repeating itself with Anthony Edwards in Minnesota. Just as he once was, Ant is a brash young superstar with the weight of a city on his shoulders. Even though he’s gotten the Wolves to back-to-back Western Conference Finals, for some people, that still isn’t good enough.
“First they love you, then they judge you, then they club you, meaning put you in this club … there’s a lot of people that stay in that club, meaning don’t get a chance to win a championship. There’s a lot of people — Barkley, myself, AI, Reggie — there’s a lot of people in that club,” he said.
The pressure on these players is only exacerbated when their peers find the ultimate success before they do. Melo was drafted in 2003 with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and in 2006, Wade already won his first title. Edwards is in a similar predicament, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just won his first championship this summer, and like Wade, he took home Finals MVP in the process.
The media inevitably makes comparisons between players, and then even the hometown fans do, too. Melo and LeBron dealt with that for years. While LeBron eventually got the monkey off his back and won two titles in Miami, one in Cleveland and one in L.A., Melo never did, despite a Hall of Fame career.
Edwards is only 24, so it’s way too early to judge him for not yet having a ring. Even Michael Jordan didn’t win one until his seventh season. Melo pointed out the unfortunate reality though that by being so good at such a young age, it only raises expectations to an unreasonable level.
“Because you set the bar so high, people not trying to hear that s***,” he said. “Your leash is quicker, it’s shorter.” He experienced that first-hand by being the first of his famous draft mates to take his team to the playoffs, and Ant is feeling that now since the Wolves have already gone deep in the postseason twice.
Melo laughed when he found out that Ant is only 24 years old, underscoring his point of how ridiculous it is to place such outsized expectations on him. He acknowledged that for Edwards to win a title, he’ll have to become even better than he is now. But he also said that Edwards has gotten better, only people don’t want to see it because that improvement hasn’t resulted in a title yet.
Ring culture is real in the NBA, but that’s not how Melo says Ant should be measuring success. Instead, he needs to keep improving every day, adding new pieces to his game all the time, and outworking everyone else in the league. “As long as he knows what’s going on with his work ethic and what he’s putting into the game,” Melo said, “f*** what everybody else is saying.”
