Late last summer, we witnessed the birth of something magical: Carmelo Anthony participating in offseason workouts and pickup games inexplicably wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up tight over his head. “Hoodie Melo” quickly became the meme of the summer, with “China Klay” coming in at a close second.
“Hoodie Melo” made his world premier at Life Time Athletic at Sky in New York City, the gym that subsequently became famous for hosting some of the most loaded pickup basketball games ever captured on video. The gym’s owner, Chris Brickley, trains numerous NBA players and every summer hosts these wonderfully-nicknamed “Black Ops” games that set the Internet on fire.
The games started back up this week, with Carmelo Anthony headlining the runs, along with former teammates Raymond Felton and Enes Kanter, as well as incoming rookies Trae Young, Mo Bamba, Miles Bridges and several others.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmj63oWgY-n/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Melo looks as smooth and dominant as he always does in these runs, which of course prompted the trolls to take a swipe at him in the comments section. But Melo quickly sniped back.
Melo going at people in the comments😂 pic.twitter.com/MiMRq7xzar
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) August 17, 2018
We can’t wait to see who else pops up in these runs over the next couple of weeks. Last summer’s included everyone from James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to LeBron James and countless others. It’s a hoops fan’s dream come true, especially at this point in the summer when we are excruciatingly bereft of elite-level basketball.
