clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Carmelo Anthony: "I'm pretty sure I'll be at the 4 this season"

Melo is already in peak Melo form.

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

If we've learned one thing about Carmelo Anthony these past few years, it's that he chooses bizarre moments to make big, sweeping statements.

To wit: the formerly guard-heavy New York Knicks spent the past summer acquiring a stable of young centers and power forwards. This would seemingly indicate a plan to keep Melo at small forward, a position he has yearned to play his entire career.

Or maybe not:

This statement is quite simply the essence Melo. He's not necessarily wrong -- and Phil Jackson made a similar proclamation last week -- but this is some odd timing.

Who would get the bulk of the minutes at small forward? Derek Fisher could pair Melo with the likes of Lance Thomas and Derrick Williams, or he could play Langston Galloway big minutes at off-guard and slide Arron Afflalo to the 3. Those are some pretty good ideas -- well, maybe not the Derrick Williams one -- but how then would they find minutes for the likes of Kyle O'Quinn, Kevin Seraphin and Kristaps Porzingis?

Speaking of Krispy, he was the subject of the most inexplicable Melo comment of the day:

Dude. Duuuuuuuuude. Actions speak louder than words, of course, and Melo has been a tremendous mentor for Porzingis this summer, bringing him and other young teammate down for a brief training camp in Puerto Rico, working out with him in New York, and teaching him the tricks of the trade:

That's great stuff, truly. Melo is doing the right thing, as he usually does. But he never fails in producing that one icky sound byte that the media can turn around and use against him. He just can't help himself.

Where does this leave us? It seems clear that Melo is looking forward to working with Porzingis. But he also thinks he should play power forward, the same position Porzingis is most likely to play. Those two statements seem contradictory, but trust me: they aren't. This is just Melo being Melo, saying Melo things. I'm actually quite optimistic that this will work out.