Current Knicks Perfect for 'Prime Melo'

In a hypothetical comeback bid, Carmelo Anthony believes his best basketball self would've been perfect on the current New York Knicks.

Jan 17, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks former player Carmelo Anthony sits court side / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

If New York Knicks president Leon Rose can acquire a time machine by Saturday evening, he may be able to make one of the most meaningful transactions of the NBA postseason.

Previewing the playoffs on his podcast "7PM in Brooklyn," NBA legend Carmelo Anthony was asked by co-host The Kid Mero which playoff team would benefit most from having "Prime Melo" on board/ Considering the way his real-life tenure with the Knicks ended, Anthony perhaps presented a surprising hypothetical, though the presence of point guard Jalen Brunson justifies his decision and then some.

"To be honest with you, New York," Anthony said (h/t New York Basketball on X). "I wanted a point guard, I always needed ... somebody like Andre Miller or Chauncey Billups, I needed somebody at that position that was a big guard, you know, could post up, know how to run a team, who still could do what they do. I always needed somebody like a power forward, a very explosive power forward at the four, just toughness like Kenyon Martin."

May 16, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) drives past / Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

"I just think the way that the Knicks' roster is put together, they have a lead guard that is very ... he can lead," he continued. "So it takes it off of me to just try and go do everything. Now I can just be Prime Melo and just out and roll on this specific team right here, to go score ... We've got everything else, we've got defenders, we've got three-point shooters, we've got a hell of a coach. Prime Melo and (Tom Thibodeau) would have to sit down and have a real conversation!"

As Anthony alluded to, he had some semblance of the complete team he was looking for during his rollercoaster Knicks career (2011-17). Billups, now a Hall-of-Famer point guard, came over with him from the Rockies in the famous 2011 trade with the Denver Nuggets and he also got to work with Raymond Felton and Amar'e Stoudemire.

Keeping those guys healthy and available, however, proved challenging, as did coaching stability: the Knicks went through five different coaches in Anthony's six-plus years in Manhattan and things ended on a sour note when then-team president Phil Jackson shipped off to Oklahoma City in 2017.

Now, the Knicks have set themselves up for success both now and later: most of their major contributors (i.e. Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart) are locked up for the long term and there's a sterling case for the city's newest star, Brunson, to stay. On the bench, Thibodeau is the third-longest tenured coach among the 12 automatic playoff qualifiers, behind only Mike Malone (Denver) and JB Bickerstaff (Cleveland).

Their efforts and more guided the Knicks to both 50 wins and the second seed on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, reaching those landmarks for the first time since Anthony's finest campaign with the Knicks in 2012-13.

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