Carmelo Anthony once gave Michael Jordan an enormous amount of credit for molding Melo into the player that many fans know him to be today. As we all know, Anthony is a former NBA player who came into the league with the same draft class as LeBron James.
Although Melo retired a few years ago, there is no denying that he is one of the most elite scorers that the game of basketball has ever seen. Despite the fact that he never won a championship in his NBA career, Carmelo’s isolation style and midrange shooting abilities make him an NBA legend.
Anthony recently discussed his development into the player that he became. To the surprise of a few fans, Melo credited Michael Jordan and revealed that the Bulls’ legend taught him critical information he needed in order to find success in the league. Now that we have the context, let us take a closer look at what Melo had to say and find out more.
Carmelo Anthony breaks down the teachings of Michael Jordan
Some fans might know that Jordan had just retired from the NBA when players such as Carmelo Anthony joined the league. However, the Air Jordan shoe brand was doing quite well at the time and keeping Jordan relevant to the NBA world. Carmelo decided to sign with Michael’s shoe brand and suddenly had access to one of the greatest players in the history of basketball.
Carmelo shared more on the teachings and lessons regarding the art of scoring that the 6x NBA champion decided to pass onto him.
“I went to Mike early in my career. I was the first signature athlete under the Jordan brand. So when I signed with him, I knew he had my back for him to take that chance with me. We trained every morning. 6 in the morning, 6:30 in the morning. But it was more the conversations that we had. He taught me how to really break down the art of scoring the basketball.”
so that means chauncey was right this entire time lol pic.twitter.com/aGAbT42af1
— 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 ⁶𓅓 (@OVOLakeShow) December 1, 2023
Melo continued, “He(MJ) said you average around 28 right now? Here’s an easy way to go get it. 7 points a quarter. That’s two layups, maybe a three. A layup, two free throws, a three. You might get hot one-quarter and now you can pace…I’m thinking about that and next season I averaged almost 30. But I’m thinking about what he’s telling me. Like I ain’t gotta go get it as much as I really want to go get it.”
Jordan certainly gave Melo some valid advice on how to find success while being content throughout the entire course of a basketball game. Since young stars show tendencies to be impatient and emotional, there is no denying that this advice helped Carmelo Anthony become a better scorer.
How good of a scorer was Melo?
As already mentioned earlier, Melo is best known for his iso style of play. He had all sorts of moves that could be used in a 1v1 situation. Many NBA players have admitted that guarding Melo in the post is one of the hardest tasks that they were entrusted with throughout their respective careers.