Carmelo Anthony Recruiting Rajon Rondo?

Yesterday on his mostly insufferable radio show, Steven A. Smith proclaimed that Carmelo Anthony was all but 'gone' from the New York Knicks, proclaiming the Knicks to be in too dire of straights for the New York native to stay afoot. While Smith fluctuates between 'obnoxious' and 'barely tolerable', he unfortunately has seemed to find his way into certain NBA circles - which would seem to imply that at the very least Carmelo Anthony is at least considering New York.

That escape from New York won't come without a fight.

Courtesy of Jason Jordan at USA Today

In an interview with USA Today’s Jason Jordan, Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy boys basketball coach Steve Smith, whose teams featured Rajon Rondo and Carmelo Anthony at the prep level, claimed the Knicks superstar is lobbying the Celtics point guard to join him in New York.

JJ: Are you confident that he’ll be just as good, if not better, coming off of the ACL tear?

SS: No, I think he should be fine. He took a long time off and he’s rehabbed the right way. Whether he stays in Boston or not who knows. I know, talking to Melo , he’s recruiting Rajon to come to New York. Melo thinks he’ll come too. You never know about that stuff though. I think either way, Rajon will be fine

As Ben Rhorbach at GreenStreet points out, this makes Frank Isola's piece about the Knicks looking to target Rajon Rondo, who could become a free agent after next year, make that much more sense.

This tidbit's interesting for quite a few reasons, but to me, nothing's more interesting than the reiteration that Carmelo Anthony just doesn't understand what he is as a basketball player.

Put aside for a moment if Rajon Rondo would entertain the idea, I'm sure others will discuss it. What we know is what Rondo is as a basketball player - a young, dynamic, all star point guard, whose lightning quick, has incredible court vision, and needs the ball in his hands to be most effective.

He's many things, but a fit with Carmelo Anthony? Absolutely not.

Carmelo Anthony isn't going to become a catch and shoot player, nor should he. Which is really what Rajon Rondo needs out of his teammates.

What's abundantly clear to anyone who watches even a few Knicks games here and there, is that Carmelo Anthony is a power forward. Someone who should predominantly operate 15-18 feet from the hoop - using his speed against slower opponents, and size against smaller opponents - and occasionally drifting to the 3 point line either to create space, or just an occasional leak out.

But doing that is only of interest to Carmelo Anthony here and there. He, for whatever reason, can only seem to get himself to play that way consistently on Team USA; btw, where unquestionably plays his best brand of basketball.

But anytime he's playing in this country, he can't but help himself from finding himself floating around the 3 point line, often standing 5 feet behind the line, calling for the ball in a way that only Antoine Walker could truly appreciate. It's why he had such a difficult time playing with Jeremy Lin, and it's why he'd have such an impossible time playing alongside Rajon Rondo.

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