Carmelo Anthony said he wants to be a more all-around player, score less and help the team win more — and it’s not just words this time.
Anthony no longer wants to be counted on to score 35-to-40 points a night and is willing to defer more to Knicks teammate Amar’e Stoudemire, especially now that he has developed a newfangled post game.
The motivation came from being a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic Team, on which everyone sacrificed and trusted. Anthony said it put “a lot of things in perspective.’’ Though Anthony didn’t say it, it could also be that he has finally learned from LeBron James, who guided the Heat to his first title by doing a lot more than ringing up big scoring totals. Anthony’s playoff resume, meanwhile, is checkered: In eight of his nine seasons, he has gone out in the first round.
“For me personally, I’m in my 10th year,’’ Anthony said. “Everyone pretty much knows I can score the basketball. But for me to challenge myself, instill the trust into my teammates to give them that confidence when they do shoot the ball, to have that confidence that they can make it happen as well.
“I’m done trying to score 35, 40 points to win the basketball game. I don’t want that role anymore. I can do it. That’s what I do. But in order for this team to be successful, for guys we have right now, we need a more well-rounded team. If I have to sacrifice on the offensive end, I’m willing to do it. It’s easy for me to sit here and say it. But this year it’s going to be locking in and doing it as the leader of this team.’’
Anthony, who has a 24.7 points per game career scoring average, said getting guys like J.R. Smith and Stoudemire going is as important. Anthony’s defense became solid under coach Mike Woodson after he virtually admitted he wasn’t putting out on defense for former coach Mike D’Antoni.
However, no amount of offseason moves can dim the perception Anthony and Stoudemire don’t mesh well. Stoudemire offered the tired excuse they haven’t had a full training camp or played a full 82-game season together.
“A lot of times we keep hearing about we can’t coexist,’’ Stoudemire said. “First, people don’t realize the first year we played together, we had a huge trade, we lost six players, got six players I hadn’t played with before. The lockout year, we got off to a slow start and had a coaching change at midseason. This year is a great test for us with a full training camp and coaching staff. We’ll have a full year. It’ll be a great year for us.’’
If it still doesn’t work, however, there will be no more excuses.
“We’re not paying attention to that this year,’’ Anthony said. “I spoke to [Stoudemire]. Nothing’s going to come between us in our locker room. We will be a tight group this season.’’