It’s been years since we’ve seen Carmelo Anthony be a productive member of an NBA team. You would need to go back to the brief stint he had in OKC during the 2017-2018 season, where he teamed up with Russell Westbrook and Paul George. What we thought would become a three-headed monster, was indeed a monster, in all the wrong ways. The three stars never meshed, eventually losing to the Utah Jazz in 6 games in the first round. The beginning of the OKC made us believe that Melo would turn into Olympic Melo, that catch and shoot scorer who wouldn’t take extra dribbles. This never came to fruition as Melo continued to catch and hold the ball.
Fastforward a few months and we see him sign with the Rockets, and just as fast, get told to go home because he wasn’t meshing with the organization (which I’m still dubious of). All in all, it’s been a few years (to say the least), that we’ve seen Melo give us strong play, arguably since his last couple of seasons in New York. So why is the Internet still so in love with Carmelo Anthony? Why is the Internet so happy that Melo signed with the Blazers in 2019? The answer is more complicated than it seems.
Internet Melo
Before China Klay, Melo was the beloved son of the NBA Internet. Hoodie Melo was the kind of guy who showed up at the gym at 4:00AM, and stayed til 9:00pm. He’s the guy who never missed a shot and looked cool as hell doing it. He made the player-training videos popular with Chris Brickley. He made it important for players to show off their summer workout routines or shooting drills, even if it was in a completely empty gym against cones or chairs. He made it important for us to understand that he could score in any type of scenario, even with a hoodie on, showing complete focus and tunnel vision (story of his life, eh).
Carmelo Anthony in a bodega flicking a stack of cash in his monogrammed Olympic bathrobe. He has to be mayor now. pic.twitter.com/JIwzvCWm6j
— Pokemon Buddy Hield (@TheDoctorCarson) August 26, 2016
Melo was one of the hypest players for the Internet to follow along with. Remember when Melo rolled up to a Bodega still in his robe, looking for groceries? Can you forget when Melo lost a video game, so he had to cut his hair and get rid of his corn rows? How about Melo being cheesed that he has to listen to his younger Olympic teammates singing to Vanessa Carleton. And of course, 3 to the dome Melo getting hyped up everytime he hit a 3 made everyone at the gym try doing it at least once, until we all realized how much it hurts your head. Melo propelled the NBA Internet, and that’s why we can’t afford to lose him.
The legacy that is Melo
Melo is among one of three players remaining from the coveted 2003 draft class (along with LeBron and, oh yeah, Kyle Korver). There are only 5 active players in the NBA that are older than Melo, one of which is Udonis Haslem who has played in 10, 14, and 16 games in the last three seasons, respectively. For those who grew up watching the likes of Vince Carter (still kicking it in Atlanta), Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady, Melo is one of the few guys to latch on to. Of course you’ll have people following LeBron, but Melo did it as an old school player and never changed the way he played. He was the kind of player who would catch the ball at the elbow, face up against the defender, jab step a few times, and then pull up or bang inside until he drew a foul. There was no flashy passing, there was no defense being played, he was just a walking bucket. This is what NBA fans in the 2000s grew up watching and refuse to let go of.
The legacy of Melo is from his play in Denver and New York. No one will remember his brief stints in OKC and Houston, because that wasn’t the Melo we loved. That was Melo as a shell of himself. So what makes Melo in Portland anything different than the other Melo’s we’ve seen? In all honesty, there really might not be a difference. He’s still the same type of scorer that loves having the ball in his hands, that will put it all on the floor on the offensive end and won’t prioritize defense, that will cuss out his teammates for trying to steal his rebounds (get your numbers, boi).
*NSFW* rebound ☑️
3PT ☑️
Classic Melo sequence. pic.twitter.com/tFPSsOznWW— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 22, 2019
But this is the Melo that the Internet loves. We’ll only remember Melo the same way we remember Kobe, for his highlights on offense, not his inefficient shooting. His powerful dunks, not getting blown by. Getting buckets against LeBron, not LeBron getting buckets on him.
