Trail Blazers

Kenyon Martin wishes Carmelo Anthony landed with the Trail Blazers sooner

/ by Jonathan Warner
Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony has been in the NBA for some time now.

And it seems like he has found a spark while playing in Portland the last two seasons.

One more teammate of Anthony’s certainly sees that now and he wishes he actually would have joined the Blazers sooner.

Former NBA player Kenyon Martin paid respect to his former teammate Anthony in a Basketball News feature.

Martin, who played with Anthony in Denver and New York, explained that the Blazers veteran has an established history of earning respect from his teammates.

As that respect has been shown by his teammates with CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard.

Say what you want about ‘Melo, but he always got the ultimate respect from his teammates. When you’re in a locker room or a huddle, there are only a few players whose presence lights a fire under everyone. Not all players that are called “superstars” today are capable of getting their teammates to believe in them. For those who can, it’s the ultimate sign of respect. With ‘Melo, for me, it happened fast.

Kenyon Martin

Later in the feature, Martin even goes as far as saying that Portland could have had a championship if he had joined the team much earlier than now.

Truth be told, ‘Melo never told me that he wishes he ended up with the Blazers earlier or anything like that, cause like I said, most of us don’t like to think about the “what if?” But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I wish he ended up there three or four years earlier. If so, the Blazers might have been champions.

Kenyon Martin

For the Blazers Anthony has played in 103 regular season games. During that span, he has averaged 14.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Anthony sits at the No. 11 spot on the NBA’s All-time scoring headboard.

We can always play the ‘what if’ game if Anthony would have joined sooner with Portland.

But for now, the Blazers are 10 games over .500 and things are looking great for the team as everyone is back from injury.

If anything, Blazers fans are happy Anthony is with Portland now.

You can check out Martin's full piece here.