Carmelo Anthony doesn't think he needed to apologize for talking back to his heckler, and he's right

As I'm sure you know, the Knicks released a statement yesterday attributed to Carmelo Anthony in which he apologized for suggesting that a heckler ask James Dolan for his money back. Today, reporters had a chance to talk to Melo after practice and get some off-the-cuff thoughts on this -- well, I hesitate to call it an "issue" because it truly, truly is not one, so I won't -- thing.

Carmelo Anthony: "I don't think I said anything wrong."

— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) March 3, 2016

Carmelo said "the Knicks" prompted him to release the statement about fan exchange. Then added it was "mr. Dolan's decision" to release it.

— Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) March 3, 2016

Look, we all know James Dolan's a paranoid man, so like I said in the subheading, it's really not much of a shock that he's the one who made a mountain out of a mole hill here. Hell, he did the same thing after Kurt Rambis's twitter mishap (again, not an issue, so I won't call it one). And Melo's 100% correct in his view that he did nothing wrong.

I really appreciate that Carmelo's gotten to the point where he just doesn't care whether he pisses Dolan off. Melo's still the most talented player on this team, and, give or take a Kristaps Porzingis, is certainly one of the biggest reasons fans show up at Madison Square Garden. Melo makes Dolan a lot of money, so Dolan's probably not going to want to get into a pissing contest with him. Add in the fact that Anthony can veto any attempt to petulantly trade him, and this is the rare case in which a player holds power over an owner. It's cool to see.

That said, I hope this spirals further into lunacy because I'm a huge proponent of chaos. I'd like to see Knicks PR release another statement from Carmelo later tonight reading something like this:

Earlier today, I once again allowed my frustrations to boil over and misspoke. I am the one that wanted to apologize for responding to a fan yesterday. Mr. Dolan actually told me that he felt it was not worth revisiting the matter further, but I demanded he let me release an official statement to ensure that I not besmirch his good name. Mr. Dolan is the best owner in the NBA, and a failure to rectify my mistake would have weighed on my mind for time immeasurable.

After that, I would want Melo to tell reporters before the game in Boston tomorrow night that he didn't even know the PR department was going to write up another statement for him. Then the Knicks would release another "apology," etc., etc. That's really the only way something as ridiculous as this should end: it should never end.