Jim Boeheim ripped a number of Carmelo Anthony’s teammates and said the Knicks need a second scorer in order for Anthony to lead the team to an NBA championship.
“I believe he’s good enough to win an NBA championship but I believe he needs another guy with him,” Boeheim said Tuesday on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike.”
The Syracuse coach said that people who say Anthony isn’t a winner “don’t understand history” because Anthony won in high school, at Syracuse and with the Olympic team.
Boeheim asked rhetorically if the Knicks as currently constituted had that second “guy,” implying that J.R. Smith didn’t fit the bill of other traditional second stars like Scottie Pippen and Dwyane Wade.
In a separate interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, Boeheim, speaking of Smith and Raymond Felton, said: “Those guys weren’t great players where they were and now they’re asking them to be second and third options. In Miami the second and third options are Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Your fourth option is Ray Allen, who is still in good shape. Your fifth option is Shane Battier, who is still a good player. The New York Knicks have who?”
Boeheim also went off on Tyson Chandler and Pablo Prigioni.
“Tyson Chandler claims he never gets the ball,” Boeheim said. “He doesn’t try to get the ball. He had two points and [Roy] Hibbert had (21). What was the difference in the series? Raymond Felton was 0-for-7. Lance Stephenson had (25) points. They’re going to blame it on Carmelo? I told him when he went to New York, they’re going to blame it on you.”
He added: “They have no chance to win. (Knicks starter) Pablo Prigioni has never scored against (the U.S. team). We played Argentina six or seven times in different events. He hasn’t scored … against us. You have to have players to win in the NBA.”
Boeheim said in both interviews that he believes the Pacers have three All-Stars in Paul George, Roy Hibbert and David West. During the ESPN1050 radio, he asked if Hibbert wasn’t the best center in the NBA.
He said that depending on Wade’s knee, the Pacers could beat the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Things won’t get any easier for the Knicks next year, either.
The Pacers (Danny Granger), Celtics (Rajon Rondo) and Bulls (Derrick Rose) all get injured stars back next year and the Heat aren’t going anywhere.
Anthony, meantime, can opt out of his Knicks’ contract after next season, but said Monday he wasn’t thinking about that.
“They’re getting nothing but older,” Boeheim told the Post-Standard of the Knicks. “They’re not going to get better. They need two more options. Chris Paul would be the guy. … No one else can help them. They’re not going to beat Miami. Indiana’s not going to get worse, they’re going to get better. It doesn’t look good.”
