Carmelo Anthony recalls embracing a role of a playmaker for others: “I never played that style of basketball”

During his Denver Nuggets years, Carmelo Anthony was considered one of the best pure scorers in the league. He played with many playmakers, including Andre Miller, Chauncey Billups, and Allen Iverson. That meant he mostly got the ball when he was going to shoot it, a role he got used to early on.

That changed when he was traded to the New York Knicks , where he had to play more of an all-rounder role. He was still the primary scorer with the Knicks, but he embraced being a playmaker for the team. However, it took him a while to become comfortable with that role.

“It’s just a different look for me, it was an adjustment for me because in all the years that I’ve been in the NBA, I never played that style of basketball,” Carmelo said on The Dan Patrick Show in 2012. “To go from being the guy who creates for myself, to just waiting out there and hoping and wishing the ball comes to me, knowing where my shots will come from, I had to take spots on the court.”

Melo had to adjust to the Knicks’ system

Since Mike D’Antoni was the primary head coach when Melo joined the Knicks, there was already a robust offensive system for the players. That meant Anthony had to play a lesser role than his time with the Nuggets. D’Antoni wanted more of a well-rounded offense, so Melo and Amar’e Stoudemire had to share the shots , leading to Melo scoring 22.6 points per game in the lockdown-shortened 2011/12 season.

The Knicks let D’Antoni go at the tail end of the 2011/12 season because he struggled with his defensive system . The team replaced him with defensive guru Mike Woodson. It was a welcome change for New York because it meant Melo could feature as the primary scorer again. That showed in the following campaign because Carmelo won the scoring championship in the 2012/13 season, averaging 28.2 points per game.

Melo was still the primary scorer for the rest of his time in New York, which might have been a problem as he got older. He struggled to adjust to a lesser role when he played for other teams after that stint in The Big Apple.

Melo learned how to play smaller roles as he matured

Carmelo had a productive season as the third star on the OKC Thunder during the 2017/18 season. He scored 16.2 points per game as another scoring option alongside Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Still, it did not work out for them, getting eliminated in the first round by a rookie Donovan Mitchell-led Utah Jazz.

Anthony then moved to the Houston Rockets, which ended in disaster after only ten games. There, he would reunite with D’Antoni, and it did not pan out well for everyone involved, as Melo got traded away and promptly released. He stayed away from the NBA for almost a year until he accepted a lesser role as a role player with the Portland Trail Blazers .

Melo ended his career after joining the Los Angeles Lakers as a role player. It was a fun end to his NBA career because he matured and became a reliable locker-room presence in Portland and LA. Despite not winning a championship, Melo is a certified legend, regarded by many as one of the best-scoring forwards in the history of the NBA.

Related: "It's time for us to do this" - Carmelo reveals his mindset when joining LeBron on the Lakers