All-Access Carmelo Anthony on the ‘04 Games (and Larry Brown)
‘Melo speaks his mindDo you remember the movie Miracle? Kurt Russell played Herb Brooks, the Men’s Olympic hockey coach at the 1980 Games, when the U.S. shocked the world and beat the U.S.S.R. for freedom and everything else that’s good in the world. Well the cool thing about that movie was no one realized that Herb Brooks was a total dick, and that got the team to rally together given that they all hated him so much.
Except for the whole fighting-for-freedom thing, there was a similar situation in 2004 with the Men’s Olympic basketball team. Larry Brown is the high profile coach that no one liked. And the players rallied together, forming a more cohesive unit than if Brown weren’t putting them through adversity.
Well, there’s one problem there. Because Brown was a bigger S.O.B. than Brooks, he wasn’t about to let the guys who wanted to prove him wrong onto the court. If Team USA was going to win in ‘04, Brown was going to be the one to get credit. So, the guys that formed that cohesive unit - ‘Melo, LeBron and D-Wade - spent their Greek vacations sitting on the bench.
Anthony came into the Games leading Team USA in scoring, but “then we get to the Olympics, and the whole script is flipped and I never play,” said ‘Melo. That’s a sampling of a flat-out excellent interview with ESPN’s Scoop Jackson. (And we’re not just saying that because of a great shout to Dime’s Editorial Director Patrick Cassidy for his apt words on ‘Melo in an August ‘06 article.)
Here’s another clip of ‘Melo on Brown:
Yeah, we were coming off the bench, and after a while, when you have a team like we had in ‘04, something like that starts getting in your head, starts messing with your confidence and a whole lot of other stuff. So we had to stick together. That’s really what brought me, LeBron and D-Wade so close. Out there, we had to stick with each other and hold each other up. We’d say, “We ain’t going to let this get all of us down.” We had to figure it all out by ourselves, together. We weren’t playing, we were on the back of the bus, at the end of the bench, so we had to find a way to still get workouts in after practice to keep our confidence up.
Yeah, yeah. Basically we had to get together and be like, “This is what it is.” Like, “OK, we know we not going to be playing, so let’s go work out before practice or after practice. Let’s make sure we get ourselves together.”
Check out the rest of this interview HERE.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Truth says:
People know how Larry Brown is? Dude hates superstars. Him and Allen Iverson bumped heads ALL THE TIME! A team like the pistons was PERFECT for Brown, but since he was such an idiot he left. No player on the psitons considered themselves stars at the time and bit right into his system. I can see Brown treating Melo and them boys like garbage. He hates star players, evidenced from his past.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:42 am
shake&bake says:
I believe he also doesn’t like young players. I thought i heard that, but I’m not 100% sure. I remember getting so upset watching those games because it seemed like those 3 were the only ones who cared about it and then they’d get sent right back to the bench.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:11 am
basketball god says:
and know he coaches 4 a d-league team and kiss MJ’s ass all day
July 24th, 2008 at 10:25 am
hahns says:
larry brown single handedly ruined the marbury’s career and the knicks franchise with it.
its hard to deny that hes a great coach…but the guy is a total douchebag as a human being. how many times did he call out marbury to the press? even i know you gota handle that stuff behind closed doors.
but GREAT interview by scoop. so good to hear that the olympics have become a priority for team usa. so many guys turning the team down, its awesome to see melo, wade, bron, and kobe taking this responsibility so seriously again.
i definitely agree w/ scoop that melo is team usa’s mvp. no one in international play can guard the guy, and he lights it up every time he steps on the court. if it comes down to who has to shoot the game winner, its gota be melo….(or mamba)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:32 am
MSkittle says:
They were real young at the time. Weren’t they 22, 21, and 20 back then?
July 24th, 2008 at 10:54 am
fiyaman says:
nobody killed Starbust’s career but Starburst.. he was always overrated b/c he from NY he didnt do anything b4 Larry or aft Larry ..every team he was on got better aft he left and that had nothing to do with Larry Brown.. I dont like Larry but he has nothing to do with Steph. He killed his career all by his lonesome. Y do people still make excuses for this bum thats y he’s never gonna change cause there’s always someone thats gonna baby him and tell him its not his fault.. He needs to manup and accept responsibility for being such a scrub.
I wasnt gonna comment on this post but I hate to see people (especially Knicks fans) keep making excuses for him. Between him Isiah and Dolan I dont know who to hate more.. Maybe Riley started this whole thing..
July 24th, 2008 at 11:09 am
fiyaman says:
yes I am a disgruntled Knicks fan
July 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
doc says:
Yeah Larry Brown a dickhead.He fucked that team up now all these overseas dudes think they teams can really fuck with us.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Sir Charles says:
@ shake and bake correction allen iverson cared about it too @ doc there u go with those ignorant comments again, so ur saying that because of larry brown the other teams can beat team usa now like they did in the world championships??? umm news flash LB dint coach the world championships and USA still lost. the world has caught up to the usa in basketball. dont get me wrng im rooting for team usa but its just soo ignorant to think that way. Oh and for melo karma is a bitch cuz team pr asked him to play for our team and he said no and said some nasty things and what happened he got his ass whooped in the olympics
July 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
doc says:
Only reason you want usa to win is because your beloved Rican team got they ass handed to them.The world aint catch up shit until I see a Lebron or kobe or Dwight come from somewhere else.Dirk Yao and Manu aint it.Whats ignorant is u a grown ass man and wore the same sneaks for 3 years or I hope u made that up for AI sneaks.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
daQUeSt?oN says:
na i dint make that up, i have 2 other sneakers but i play with the answers black and white that pumps when u start running( those are my lucky shoes) and im proud of them
July 24th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
doc says:
the sole probaly falling off them bitches.What size u wear I send u some help my Rican brother.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
daQuesT?On says:
they are , they have no grip but i still play wit them