Hall of Fame guard Oscar Roberston made an impassioned plea for free agent-to-be Carmelo Anthony to flee the Big Apple, and head to Texas. In a sports radio interview with Knicks super-fan Spike Lee, Robertson outlined why he believes Melo would become an NBA champion in Houston (and offered his thoughts on Anthony’s place in the game’s hierarchy.) Per Sirius XM:
“Wherever that kid’s gone, when he was at Denver, they had a team that fooled around with the ball, fooled around with the ball, then all of the sudden when they needed a basket, threw it to Carmelo,” Robertson said of Anthony’s time with the Nuggets. “Then, when he shot the ball, they said he shot too much. Then, when he didn’t shoot, they said he didn’t shoot enough. No matter what he does in New York, they’re going to criticize him, the people are going to criticize him, because you got guys on [the Knicks] that just cannot play.”
When Spike insisted things would change for the Knicks with the hiring of Phil Jackson, Robertson replied, “Let me ask you: When was the last time Phil Jackson played?”
“I think Phil is great to have gotten $12 million out of [Knicks owner Jim Dolan]. Super job. Take the money and run,” Robertson said. “If I were Carmelo, I would say, ‘Listen, I’m not gonna stay here and take all this gruff and all this criticism. You got other guys on the team making $12, $15, $16 million and doing nothing, and here I am averaging 28, 29 points per game.’”
“If he goes to Houston, they’re gonna win everything,” Robertson said. “You look at LeBron, LeBron’s got a great game, Durant’s got a great game – they can’t out-shoot Carmelo.”
That’s right, Robertson confirmed: Anthony, in his opinion, is a better scorer than Kevin Durant.
“I’m telling you right now,” Robertson told Spike, “the kid, he can just get that shot away. He’s gotten smarter, he’s going to the basket a lot.”
“What gets me,” Robertson added, “everyone thinks that everything that happens bad is [Anthony’s] fault.”
