Carmelo Anthony did it again with Team USA. He won his 3rd gold medal in men’s basketball and was overwhelmed with joy after the buzzer sounded. Leading up to the Olympic games, Carmelo stated that winning three gold medals would be just as good as winning an NBA title, which made it appear that he was accepting the fact the he was unlikely to win an NBA championship.
Carmelo’s college coach Jim Boeheim, affirmed those sentiments in an interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, as Boeheim praised Carmelo for his leadership with Team USA but also spoke on his NBA title chances:
“He’s unlikely to win an NBA title,” Boeheim said. “He’s never been on a team that even had a remote chance of winning an NBA title. As a player, all you can do is try to make your team better and every team he’s been on he’s made them a lot better. Denver hadn’t done anything prior to him getting there and he took them into the playoffs. They weren’t going to beat the Lakers or the Spurs. In those years, they won the championship most of the time.
“He wants to win in New York,” Boeheim said. “I know the general opinion is if [new additions Joakim] Noah and [Derrick] Rose are healthy then they’ll be a better team. It’s just a question of if they will be healthy. They’ve been off and on the last two years. They’ve both been hurt. I think if both those guys are healthy, it certainly would make a big difference and [ Kristaps] Porzingis continuing to progress. If those things happen, they can be better.”
There is nothing wrong with what Boeheim is saying since Cleveland, Golden State, and San Antonio, are still championship favorites. The Knicks should be better if healthy, but an NBA title is still a long way off. However, I do see Carmelo having a chance at a ring in the future, if he ever decides to join LeBron in Cleveland.