Carmelo Anthony On Tough Love From Michael Jordan And Kobe Bryant: 'Why Didn't You Shoot That?'

Carmelo Anthony was fortunate enough to have Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as mentors during his basketball career. Jordan and Bryant have gone down as two of the greatest players ever, but you were only ever getting tough love from them. Anthony spoke about how the two icons pushed him to greatness on Open Run.

"I think the tough love was there because [Jordan] saw what I had to offer, he saw the potential," Anthony said. "To have that backing, to have that support from him, it just meant a lot. When a lot of people went left, he stayed solid. He stayed with me. He had my back.

"Brand-wise, company-wise, I got him, he’s with us," Anthony added. "And when you have that type of support, you want so hard to try to just change for that person."

Anthony was the first player to get a signature shoe from the Jordan Brand, and he'd end up getting 13 of them in total over the years. Jordan's relationship with certain individuals has deteriorated over time, but that's not the case here. 

Anthony was one of the big names invited to a private gathering of the brand's athletes recently, and he claimed Jordan is the only one who can get everyone to a single location. That could well be true.

While Anthony didn't have the privilege of playing against Jordan, he did face off against Bryant for over a decade in the NBA. When asked about what advice the Los Angeles Lakers icon used to give him, the 41-year-old gave the most unsurprising answer imaginable.

“That was a different type of advice," Anthony said. "... Kobe advice all the time was he would watch games, and he would just call me after the game and say, ‘Why didn’t you shoot that? ... Why you pass that? What the f*** you doing?'

"That's just him," Anthony added. "... He didn't even have to say much. It was just the fact that he was acknowledging like, 'Yo, what you doing?' And the fact that he cared that much to understand or know what I was thinking, what I was doing."

Bryant wasn't just giving out this advice after the games either. Anthony revealed he called him out for passing the ball too much during a Christmas Day game. Bryant certainly never needed anyone to tell him to shoot, and he wanted to push Anthony so that he reached greater heights.

Anthony didn't end up having the kind of career that Bryant and Jordan had, but it was a pretty good one nonetheless. He played 19 seasons in the NBA and averaged 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. He also made 10 All-Star and six All-NBA teams, and won a scoring title in 2013.

To go with his accomplishments in the NBA, Anthony won a national title with Syracuse in 2003 and three Olympic gold medals with Team USA. He entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday as part of the Class of 2025.