During an interview with ESPN, Carmelo Anthony gave his insight on possibly getting three Olympic gold medals.
“Most athletes don’t have an opportunity to say that they won a gold medal, better yet three gold medals,” Anthony said. “I would be very happy walking away from the game knowing that I’ve given the game everything I have, knowing I played on a high level at every level: high school, college, won [a championship at Syracuse] in college and possibly three gold medals.
“I can look back on it when my career is over — if I don’t have an NBA championship ring — and say I had a great career.”
Anthony (32) who is a 13 year NBA veteran, just recently became the All-Time leading scorer in U.S. men’s Olympic history, after he surpassed LeBron James. This is a great accomplishment, and proves that Melo is an elite superstar. But here’s the problem with his statement, and his mentality regarding his Olympic gold medals.
Yes three Olympic gold medals would be nice to have on your resume, but let’s be honest here, you’re not playing against the best competition, considering majority of their games are blow outs. The NBA has the top players in the world, and it’s the highest level of basketball. When you look back at the last two Olympics, it’s hard not to win a gold medal if you’re on Team USA.
The competition, the level of difficulty, and the journey to win an NBA championship out weights a gold medal. When you have to play against players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Paul George, instead of with them, its a lot more challenging.
The New York Knicks fanbase should be worried, because Melo seems to be losing confidence in his ability to bring them a championship.
Stephen A Smith went on First Take to voice his frustration with Melo.
Carmelo Anthony is a great player, one of the greatest scorers we have ever seen, but he should not be satisfied with just winning a few gold medals in his career.
