The NBA already took some of the fun out of a contest of class pride between rookies and sophomores during NBA All-Star weekend. Instead, TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will overshadow — literally and figuratively — the players themselves by drafting teams Thursday for the Rising Stars Challenge, which in any other setting would simply be called a pickup game.
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Heck, the NBA might as well make sure Jeremy Lin is among the players available, too.
“It’s not like if he gets in the game people will be upset,” O’Neal said during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “People will want to see what the guy can do.”
On the call with O’Neal, Steve Smith and Steve Kerr both co-signed, helping to take the story of the NBA season — one that is still less than two weeks old — to yet another level.
“We’re all in amazement at what we’re seeing,” Kerr said. “It’s made for an incredible storyline, given that he’s breathed life back into that franchise where Carmelo Anthony couldn’t, and now all of a sudden you’ve got this great story of can Carmelo submit to this undrafted free agent rookie from Harvard? It’s a crazy story, but it’s fantastic.”
Lin’s actually in his second year, but no matter, it’s reached the point where there is a straight-faced discussion of Anthony and Amare Stoudemire — 11 NBA All-Star nods and more than $160 million due in salary between them — allowing Lin and his sub-$1 million paycheck to do his thing in order for the New York Knicks to succeed.
“Carmelo, I think he just needs to sit back and get to his spots,” O’Neal said. “In [Knicks coach] Mike D’Antoni’s offense, the ball has to be moving at all times so Carmelo likes to get the ball a lot of times, take one or two dribbles and shoot. When you do that, the other four guys cannot get into a rhythm.”
Smith interjected with a moment of clarity, that Anthony should have the ball in his hands down the stretch when he returns from his groin injury: “We know that’s when Carmelo is at his best.”
But there’s little disagreement that two players who had NBA teams doing somersaults to try to land them in free agency or via trade need to check their egos at the Madison Square Garden door.
“It comes down to whether Carmelo and Amare are capable of adapting and maybe taking on lesser roles,” Kerr said. “That’s something that they’re not accustomed to, but they may have to.”
– Craig Stouffer
