RANK CHECK
Melo angered being No. 64 on ESPN's list of top players
Carmelo Anthony seems to have a habit of pushing his personal drama into the public eye. From taking subtle shots at Phil Jackson on Instagram to tweeting cryptic photos of his estranged wife, La La, the Knicks star has shown he is not shy on social media. His latest target? ESPN. The Worldwide Leader has begun counting down its annual NBA player rankings, releasing a batch of 25 players each day. On Tuesday, the site released numbers 51-75. Sliding in at a measly No. 64 was Anthony, and the Knicks forward made it clear he wasn’t pleased.
“@ESPN Don’t be so Blatant with the disrespect,” Anthony wrote in a tweet, adding that the rankings were “Non Sense.”
Just last year, ESPN ranked Anthony No. 31 on the same list. In the season that followed, Anthony posted nearly identical scoring statistics from the previous season — if not better. He averaged 22.4 points a game in 2016-17 compared with 21.8 the year prior, saw his 3-point percentage rise from 33.9 to 35.9 and shot virtually the same percentage from the field (43.3 compared to 43.4). As his scoring remained about the same, his rebound and assist numbers dropped.
Perhaps a source of Anthony’s discontent was a player ranked directly ahead of him. Slotting just in front of Anthony at No. 63 was Lonzo Ball, the Lakers’ rookie who hasn’t played a minute in the NBA.
Anthony was upset with SLAM Magazine last year when he came in at No. 15 on its Top-50 list and made it known in an Instagram comment, writing the magazine “lost all credibility in my [eyes emoji].”
Other players who ranked ahead of the 33-year-old Anthony this year included the Pistons’ Avery Bradley (61), the Bucks’ Malcolm Brogdon (56) and the 76ers’ Robert Covington (55).