Dime Exclusive: Carmelo Anthony talks about the trade, the barbershop, and the Melo M5
Carmelo Anthony (photo. Mannion)Whether or not you believe his thinly-veiled NBA Live promo, Carmelo Anthony swears the NBA’s most talked-about haircut has nothing to do with the fact that he’s opening up a new luxury barbershop in Denver. Soon after ‘Melo cut the ribbon at “Studio 15″ yesterday, he got on the line for an interview about, amongst other things, the Chauncey Billups trade, his role on the Nuggets, and how he strategizes to get buckets to the tune of 25.7 points per game last season…
Dime: After having a few days to think about it, how do you feel about the Chauncey Billups/Allen Iverson trade?
Carmelo Anthony: It should work out. Our first game with Chauncey is against Dallas (Friday), so we’ll see how everything turns out.
Dime: Being that Chauncey and A.I. are such different players, will this change the Nuggets’ style of play at all?
CA: Nah, I don’t think so. We’re still gonna get up and down the court. We’re the same team, Chauncey just brings that leadership and that point guard we’ve been looking for for a long time.
Dime: Does this change the expectations? With Chauncey coming in and the Marcus Camby trade, the team looks a lot different than it did just a few months ago.
CA: We still have the same goals — trying to win and get back to the playoffs. That’s always our goal. I still think we’ll get it done.
Dime: You’re a pretty versatile scorer, but is there one move that you’d consider your signature move on the court?
CA: I don’t know. I don’t really have one. I watch film all the time — I watch a lot of film on the person and on the team I’m going up against — but when I have the ball it ain’t nothing really planned out. When you get in that zone, it’s just like whatever you do works and whatever you put up goes in. Even when you miss, it feels good.
Dime: It hasn’t hit stores yet, but we’ve seen the Jordan Melo M5 already. Talk about your involvement in the design and production process this time around.
CA: With all my shoes I have to same involvement regardless, as far as having stuff to say about it during the process, about how it looks and how it feels. I really like this shoe. It’s much better from a design standpoint and the performance. They get better every year.
Dime: What are your immediate goals for the Studio 15 barbershop?
CA: I just wanna get it up and going, then I wanna make it one of the main attractions here in Denver. That’s the main goal.
Dime: What kind of Carmelo are we gonna see on the court this year? Was there anything specific you worked on over the summer?
CA: I worked on everything, really. You’ll still see the same ‘Melo, but different in that I’m trying to get better every day. I’m trying to make everybody better on my team, trying to do whatever I can to make the team succeed.
For more info (including photos) on ‘Melo’s Studio 15, keep an eye out for Dime #46, coming soon.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Derik says:
unlike his shoes…Melo just gets worse every year
November 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
loganlight says:
Could this interview be more empty? All we got was Cliche’ answers…
I guess I expected a little more from Melo. Shame on me.
LL
November 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
doc says:
For all the hate he gets and I give it to him for his lack of effort on D,he is the 3rd best SF in my opinion behind The King and The Truth.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Illmatic says:
@loganlight
Don’t feel bad. Everybody expects more from Melo except, well, Melo.
I just don’t see where dude gets his props from. All I ever do is see him jacking up shots everytime the ball is in his hands. It’s really easy to get 25 pts a game when you shoot the ball like 30+ times.
Maybe if he focused more on playing defense, rebounding, making his teammates better, and just caring in general, he’d actually be deserving of all the praise he gets.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
justice says:
I don’t know if i could put him over Ak,and Josh Smith he’s a better scorer than those guys but he gives up so much on the defensive end…but definetely he’s after artest in my book
It’s so bad i was watching the game against the warriors the other night and my old high school coach calls me the other night to vent about it…im in florida he’s in ny just to let you know..that’s pretty bad…
November 7th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
doc says:
The players and coaches have him 3rd in ESPN mag.That means something to me.Respect from your peers is the top respect.He also 3rd worst defender by players votes behind Wally World and Nash.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
knoc says:
and hes still a bitch for that sucker punch
November 7th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Illmatic says:
@doc
Obviously that’s important, and he’s definitely a gifted scorer, but being a great scorer doesn’t make you a great basketball player. It makes you a great scorer.
What is it exactly that sets him apart from his peers? Dude gets praise like he’s the 3rd best player in the NBA.. he’s not even the 3rd best at his position.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
justice says:
I blame george karl for a lot of this shytt, put melo on utah, detroit,boston i think he at least tries to play d…
November 7th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
justice says:
i just have to put artest higher imo because ron ron can stop him or at least slow him down but there’s no way in hell he can stop ron…
November 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
GEE...Please Report to the Office! says:
justice I agree on both ya comments.
Perhaps if I start a fire George Karl.com web site it might get attention.
There is probably already one out.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
RED says:
Shoulda worked on interview skillz, and also some defense on the off season.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Dennis Castro says:
My top 3 SF’s are:
1) Lebron
2) Pierce
3) Caron
Melo is the next coming of Glenn Robinson, and that’s not such a great thing.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Brad says:
Poor Chauncey, he is going to have to put up with this idiot for the rest of his career.
November 7th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
blah says:
glenn robinson, that’s a damn good comparison. Melo is like an idiot savant in basketball. He can’t do anything on the basketball court on even an average level, except that one thing that he somehow does so well so easily (scoring). Carmelo is the NBA’s Rain Man.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Tbone says:
The whole no defense from Melo thing is such a bandwagon issue. Most people who don’t really know basketball hear other people saying that Melo’s D is weak, and then more people jump on that train and it has really really spiraled out of control.
Shut up and watch him play. You’ll see he isn’t an amazing defender, but he does give effort on every possession and he is far from a horrible defender. If he was really as bad as you say he is, would he have been picked for THE OLYMPIC TEAM? Sure he’s a great scorer, but he’s not THAT great to make up for defense as weak as everybody makes it out to be.
This topic is so played out it makes me wanna ralph.
I f u ckin HATE bandwagon stereotypes. After enough people blurt it out, eveyone jumps on and it’s soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lame. Justice and Illmatic, you’ve probably heard enough other people say it that now you say it too. Have you actually watched Melo for any significant number of possesions THIS SEASON?
I didn’t think so
November 7th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
SayItIsntSo says:
I think Carmelo is a good dude off the court, but on the court his ego is bigger then his game. This is for real do or die time for Melo. Its his sixth season and his peers seem light years ahead of him when it comes to elivating their games and leadership. I watched Melo a lot last season and it was not a good look. If Carmelo cant help his team get out the first round with Billups (or even win more then one game for that matter) then Melo may want to start looking at himself in the mirror and the Nuggets may face a strong possibility of trading Melo within the next few seasons and starting all over.
They were saying that Karl actually wanted to keep Iverson and get rid of Melo over the Summer and that the management was actually split over this issue. That is NOT a good sign for Melo. The main reason why they let Iverson go is because they knew they weren’t close to contending and thought he should get a chance to contend before retirement, also they didn’t want to watch him walk away next season and get nothing in return for him. The fact that Melo didn’t even know that Iverson was getting traded goes to show how much clout he has at this point with that franchise, so he needs to get himself together and figure out wether he wants to be an All-Star or a Superstar. Because right now, he’s an just All-Star.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Ta!ented says:
Defense please bruh, i hope he been workin on that. Carmelo and Dwyane Wade are my fav. players n i seen a lil improvement in Melos D..jus a lil bit tho
November 9th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
weng santos says:
I fuckin hate the individualistic style people veil on NBA basketball.
NBA is not a top-flight defender. Wow, that’s news. So fuckin what? A bunch of guys can’t stop anybody else 1 on 1, but they contribute in other ways. Melo is a natural scorer- Denver knew that from the start and drafted hom anyway. They knew what they were getting; they wanted to draft a scorer, they got Melo, and I think he has succeeded in being the scorer that the Nuggets drafted.
So, because he’s no Artest on defense, he shouldn’t be in the game? That’s lame. What’s important is team defense. Let the rest of the team play good team D on the best scorers, and let Melo do his thing on the other end.
Besides, good offense is designed to beat good defenses. Otherwise, we’ll have 0-0 games. That’s why people scoring on you in the NBA is not such a big deal, but being a top-flight scorer- while the D keys on you- gets attention. At the end of the day, the game’s objective is still about putting the ball in the basket.
Melo is getting left behind by his peers? Yeah right. Only Lebron is head and shoulders above him in his draft class, and Lebron is head and shoulders above everybody, save for maybe Kobe. What’s Bosh, Hinrich, Darko, Ford, doing right now? Any of them HOF material? How about Wade, doing so poorly in the least-ern conference? If the refs didnt save him in 06 he still wouldn’t be a champ; talk about forcing shots and zero range- only he gets bailed out by the whistle. And he’s no lockdown defender, either.
Somebody said that this is a bandwagon stereotype, and I agree. The Nashes, Korvers,
Nash, Arenas, and all the other cats who get chastized for not being exceptional defenders, still get tick because they contribute so much on offense. The Bowens, Princes, and Artests are defensive specialists- that what they bring. The point is, you just have to find a way to contribute to the game’s many facets.
With Melo, obviously, his ability to score and hit big buckets outweighs his non-exceptional defense.
That’s why he gets his props.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
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