Melo doubts Stoudemire comments are about him
Former New York Knicks big man Amar'e Stoudemire was less than complementary when asked to reflect upon the state of the franchise he spent four-plus seasons with.
Stoudemire was highly critical of the Knicks' current lack of chemistry, something he said he worked hard to improve upon during his time in the "Big Apple."
"It's hard for me to watch from the outside looking in because I was so involved with creating a positive atmosphere around the Knicks," said to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, "Now it's gone the opposite way. Hopefully, things can pan out well in the near future."
When asked if he feels bad for his former teammate Carmelo Anthony for the Knicks' lack of his success since his departure, Stoudemire stated that it was up to Anthony to pull his team out of their current funk.
"It's tough," Stoudemire said. "When you get involved in this situation, you have to take ownership of it. You have to make sure you made the right decisions for your team and teammates. You have to become a complete player in order to bring your team out of a rut. Everyone can't do it. It's not always easy."
Stoudemire also mentioned that 'everyone wasn't a fan' of Jeremy Lin during the point guard's heightened popularity in 2012, mentioning that some of his teammates didn't care for Lin's sudden stardom.
It appeared Stoudemire may have been referring to Anthony, considering the Syracuse product called Lin's contract 'ridiculous' back in 2012. However, Anthony did not feel that he or his teammates treated their former point guard poorly.
"Still?" Anthony said. "That was (four) years ago? I don't know. I don't have no comment about that. If (Lin) was becoming a star, we should embrace that. I don't know. We didn't embrace it? Was that the word?"
Although it seems very plausible that Stoudemire was blaming Anthony for the Knicks' struggles of late, Anthony was confident that Stoudemire was referring to someone else.
"If he's talking about me. I doubt if (Stoudemire is) talking about me. I doubt that. I highly doubt that," Anthony said.