Carmelo Anthony has had quite the summer, from the constant trade rumors that have yet to materialize into anything with the Houston Rockets to his now famous pickup games in New York that have attracted stars like Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul, and more.
Hoodie Melo has become a phenomenon and, while at 33 years old he’s surely exiting his prime, he appears to be motivated and in excellent shape coming into this season. In case he needed any added motivation, Anthony got it on Tuesday when ESPN, as part of their NBA Rank series, revealed that the Knicks’ star has plummeted to 64th in their annual ranking of the best players in the NBA.
That comes in one spot below rookie Lonzo Ball, who has yet to step foot on an NBA floor, and when Melo caught wind of his new ranking — the lowest of his career — he posted to Instagram with a message blasting ESPN.
“Can’t Make Sense Out Of Non Sense! AS LONG AS I KNOW IM NICE, F*CK IT IM MY OWN FAN “A certain darkness is needed to see the stars.”@Espn Don’t be so Blatant with the disrespect #GoneToFar #LineEmUp”
It’s clear that Anthony isn’t pleased with his ranking and he joins DeMar DeRozan as NBA stars to voice displeasures with their position on a preseason player rank — DeRozan landed 36th on Sports Illustrated‘s list. Player rankings are a great way to spark discussion and debate among fans, but it’s also a very good way to get players upset with your outlet. You can bet Anthony won’t forget this and, while not every ESPN analyst and personality is consulted in the NBA Rank process (or agrees with it), it’ll probably make things a little tougher to get access to Melo this year for anyone with the Worldwide Leader.
