Carmelo Anthony says he wants to stay with the New York Knicks (Photo : Facebook/CarmeloAnthony)
The NBA is filled with interesting stories on and off the court and the New York Knicks could have their own soap opera.
One of the last moments of Knicks glory happened in the 2011-2012 season in a short stretch of games that is now remembered as "Linsanity." This was when an undrafted guard out of Harvard, Jeremy Lin, suddenly exploded from out of nowhere.
Apparently, not everyone in the Big Apple, or even in the New York Knicks bench was happy about that development. This was pointed out as one of the reasons why Lin's tenure ended abruptly. Former Knick Amare Stoudemire recently spilled the beans.
"Everyone wasn't a fan of [Lin] being the new star," Stoudemire said, via ESPN. "So he didn't stay long. But Jeremy was a great, great guy. Great teammate. He worked hard. He put the work in and we're proud of him to have his moment. A lot of times you gotta enjoy someone's success. And that wasn't the case for us during that stretch."
Stoudemire added: "You got to enjoy that. You got to let that player enjoy himself and cherish those moments. He was becoming a star and I don't think everybody was pleased with that."
For his part, Anthony reacted by reminding us that it happened four years ago. But he realized he had to address the issue just the same.
"Still?" Anthony reacted, when faced with a "Linsanity" related question. "That was [four] years ago? I don't know. I don't have no comment about that. If [Lin] was becoming a star, we should embrace that. I don't know. We didn't embrace it? Was that the word?"
The superstar of Madison Square Garden still found it proper to defend himself.
"S---, if that was the case then I'd be upset right now with KP (Kristaps Porzingis, their new rising star), if he's talking about me. I doubt if [Stoudemire is] talking about me. I doubt that. I highly doubt that."
There are mixed opinions in this issue, as SB Nation presented. On the one hand, Carmelo speaks the truth about Porzingis. SB Nation's Yaron Weitzman believes that Melo has indeed been a big brother to his young Latvian teammate this season.
However, it does not change what actually happened in the Linsanity era, as he claims: "Stoudemire's comments don't come as much of a surprise. That Anthony wasn't a huge fan of Lin is common knowledge at this point. But these quotes do shed light on issues that previously held the Knicks back and lend credence to the idea that an Anthony-led team can never be a championship contender."
