Boeheim’s Army GM Kevin Belbey made a pitch to former Syracuse basketball star Carmelo Anthony on why he should join TBT. Here are the details.
Boeheim’s Army has completed its initial roster for The Basketball Tournament. There are eight players on the team, seven of them being Syracuse basketball alum (Jordan Crawford being the lone exception).
But that doesn’t mean this will be the same Boeheim’s Army team that suits up at the end of July, there’s still room for movement.
One of the biggest names that have been floating in the rumor mills is Syracuse basketball legend: Carmelo Anthony.
General manager for Boeheim’s Army Kevin Belbey joined The Manchild Show with Boy Green on The Score 1260 to talk Carmelo Anthony:
"“I know Carmelo Anthony means a lot to Syracuse fans everywhere. My general read on things is if guys are on the fringe of the NBA, it can generally take a year before guys start to consider other options outside the NBA. I think it was similar for a guy like Chris McCullough. I don’t think he would’ve considered playing for us last Summer because he was just in the NBA and that’s what he was focused on. But after a year playing overseas, why not play in something like this?”"
Boeheim’s Army head coach Ryan Blackwell name dropped Carmelo during his CNY Central Interview with Niko Tamurian locally. Later the official social media account of The Basketball Tournament confirmed that Melo is “a top target” for Boeheim’s Army.
Kevin did confirm during the interview that he did ask the Carmelo Anthony camp about joining Boeheim’s Army this season.
Syracuse basketball fans when asked in a Twitter poll whether they’d like to see Carmelo join the squad was emphatic in their response. As a matter of fact, 94 percent of the voters said “hell yes” they’d love to see this pairing happen.
Would you like to see @Cuse_MBB legend @carmeloanthony join @BoeheimsArmy in their chase for @thetournament title?
— InsideTheLoudHouse (@LoudHouseFS) May 30, 2019
When one considers the pros and cons of Carmelo joining the TBT there are several things to be considered: injury concerns, guaranteed money overseas potentially, and he’s on the fringe of the NBA.
Before Belbey left the show he provided his pitch to Carmelo on why he should join the team:
"“My counter to some of those concerns is you’re going to be playing basketball anyways. Whether that’s by yourself or in a gym or running five-on-five locally. That goes back to the Zion Williamson argument when he got injured at Duke. I think Melo would have a lot of fun playing, we’ve got his former teammate Hakim Warrick on the squad. The Basketball Tournament has established a lot of legitimacy over the last five or six years. TBT didn’t take any shortcuts in building this and they took it one step at a time. Almost every game this Summer will be on ESPN.My pitch is sure there’s a lot of money on the line ($2 million cash prize) but even more than that you can change your life with the exposure of the tournament. If you go out there and average 20 plus points a night on ESPN and lead us to a championship people are going to take notice of that.”"
Carmelo Anthony hasn’t played in a competitive basketball game since November of the 2018-19 NBA season. That was over seven months ago.
Perhaps if Melo joined the squad he could remind NBA teams that he still has plenty left in the tank on a national stage and can drum up the interest of some real contenders that can help fill the missing void in his otherwise Hall of Fame career: an NBA championship.
Although there’s one other thing missing from the Anthony trophy case: a TBT championship. Carmelo joining Boeheim’s Army could be the missing piece to cutting down the nets this Summer.