Carmelo Anthony claims he inspired LeBron James's Cleveland homecoming -- Yeah Right! FUNKED!
When LeBron James decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, his original NBA team and the franchise closest to his hometown of Akron, the reaction was largely positive. LeBron didn't only reverse the pain of 2010's widely criticized "The Decision" — he also expressed a seemingly genuine desire to give back to his home state and community. It reminded NBA fans that the sport isn't just about the business. Sometimes, a player can make a decision with a sizable interest in his own history and in leaving a legacy to others who might grow up in a similar situation.
Yet James is not the first superstar to opt to play for his hometown team. In 2011, Carmelo Anthony, born in Brooklyn, orchestrated a trade to the New York Knicks, ostensibly the team he grew up watching. This summer, Anthony chose not to move elsewhere as a free agent in part because he is comfortable in the NYC environment. In fact, Anthony believes that his own success and hero's welcome in his hometown may have inspired LeBron to return to Cleveland. From Lisa Granatstein for Adweek, although much of the article takes the form of an interview with former New York Giants star and TV personality Michael Strahan (via SLAM):
Strahan: [On being a pro athlete in New York] Not only on the court, but off the court, you’re the leader. Everything you do is more scrutinized. You have to be more careful than anybody else. And watching LeBron [James] go back to Cleveland, did that affect your decision on staying in New York, and did you learn anything from watching LeBron go back home?
Anthony: No. Honestly, I think it was the other way around. I think he saw when I came back home to New York and saw the response and saw the reaction and saw how at peace I was when I came back home. ... I’m pretty sure he looked at that moment and saw that that was a very special moment, and he had the opportunity to go back home himself and regain that love.
With all due respect to Melo, it stands to reason that LeBron could have made this decision without the precedent of Anthony, which isn't even a particularly great model given that the Knicks are a disappointing outfit and widely criticized by New Yorkers even when their star is at his best. If anything, Anthony would serve as an example of how returning home can be a complicated event in which public relations and good feelings cannot substitute for elite performances on the court.
For that matter, the character of Anthony's apparent homecoming has been unclear for some time. While Melo was born in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood and lived in the borough until he was eight years old, he spent the bulk of his youth in West Baltimore and was overwhelmingly identified with that city prior to his trade to the Knicks. When Melo began to talk up his New York connections around the team of that deal, it struck some as a calculated PR ploy to deflect attention away from his camp's unpopular, months-long attempts to orchestrate a move away from the Denver Nuggets (derisively known as the "Melodrama"). That perspective isn't especially fair to Melo — there's no reason a person can't feel a meaningful connection to two cities he called home — but it does question the idea that his time with the Knicks has been an unmitigated success and a model for other high-profile free agents. Melo's not exactly Derek Jeter or John Starks when it comes to New York popularity.
Then again, this interview is just the latest stop in Anthony's very long offseason media tour, a journey that has included press for his new venture capital firm and soundbytes regarding his desire to brand himself as "the digital athlete," which is either a meaningless buzzword or an indication that Melo recently purchased several copies of "Transcendence" on home video. Perhaps it's best to take his latest comment as an act of brand-building and little more.
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Eric Freeman is a writer. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com.
Courtesy: yahoo.com
