Carmelo Anthony Calls George Karl's Criticism of Him 'Irrelevant'

Carmelo Anthony calls George Karl's criticism of him in his new book 'Furious George' irrelevant.

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Complex Original

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On Thursday morning we got our first look at some excerpts from George Karl's upcoming book, Furious George, and, well, let's just say that they weren't kind to a handful of his former players, namely J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony. The line that appeared to cause the most acrimony amongst those who read it was Karl saying "Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man." While Smith and Martin took to Twitter to let their immediate feelings be known, Anthony opted to stay reserved until Thursday night, when he was inevitably asked about it at MSG as the Knicks took on the Magic.

"I just hope that he finds happiness in what he's doing. His book, hopefully, will bring him happiness," Anthony said about his former coach, according to ESPN. He then added, "I'm past being disappointed [by the remarks]." He further stated that he was happy that both Smith and Martin stood up for him. "It's irrelevant to me. It's irrelevant at this point," he said. "The truth of the matter is everybody else is kind of speaking up for me from their own experience. So I really don't have to speak on it."

Amongst many other things, Karl wrote in the book that "Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him. He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it."

Anthony responded to that by saying nobody ever conveyed that to him when he and Karl were actually together for half a dozen seasons in Denver. "I never knew I was a—what was the word—conundrum? I don't even know what the hell that means, to be honest with you," he said. "I never knew that. That never was brought up, anybody that you ask—​assistant coaches, players, front-office people—anybody you ask will sing a different tune when it comes to me, when it comes to our mentality, that team."

He jokingly added he might have something different to say when he writes his own book, which would be called "Stay Melo. Not Furious." Solid title. As for Karl, his actual book comes out in January. And while the reveal of the first few quotes from it definitely led to a rocky start, this type of controversy is the sort of thing that actually gets people to read.

Stay tuned.

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