Written by Stefan Bondy at New York Daily News.com
Carmelo Anthony’s elite superstar standing has taken a little bit of a hit in the last few years, with dips in his scoring, health and winning percentage.
But the Knicks forward clearly believes he belongs in the top-14 of NBA players – at the very least – as indicated by his response to his No. 15 Slam Magazine ranking posted on Instagram on Wednesday.
“don’t play yaself,” Anthony commented to Slam Magazine from his account.
Slam Magazine is counting down the rankings, and Anthony followed No. 16Draymond Green, No. 17 John Wall, No.18 LaMarcus Aldridge, No. 19 Jimmy Butler and No. 20 Karl Anthony-Towns.
It was actually a favorable ranking for Anthony among pundits considering Sports Illustrated had him at No. 24 heading into next season, and Bleacher Report placed him at No. 21.
This is reminiscent of last year when Anthony went to Instagram to respond to a question about whether or not he was still an elite player – “That might be the dumbest question ever asked,” he wrote.
At 32 years old, Anthony is in the backend of his prime and coming off a seventh straight All-Star season. The Knicks are only 49-115 the last two ugly seasons, but their record when Anthony plays during that stretch is much better.
He averaged 21.8 points last season – his lowest since 2004-05 – but posted a career-high 4.2 assists per game. Anthony also won a record third Olympic gold medal with Team USA over the summer.
Kristaps Porzingis (No. 37) was the only other Knicks player to crack Slam Magazine’s top-50 players.
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