Chris Broussard on Carmelo Anthony: I Hate to See Him Beg Like This

Carmelo Anthony’s NBA believers may be dwindling, but Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard emerged as one of his biggest on Friday.

The NBA analyst and reporter appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd to speak with substitute host Doug Gottlieb about Anthony’s quest to return to the court. Anthony remains a free agent after a fast and furious NBA free agency period despite showing tell-tale signs of retirement.

Broussard made it clear that he doesn’t see Anthony joining an NBA team before the season tips off this fall. He also reiterated a belief he made in a prior visit to The Herd that Anthony would probably be better off retiring. But Broussard did come to Carmelo’s defense while speaking to Gottlieb.

“I think Melo is better than 60-70 percent of the players in the NBA,” Broussard said. “There’s no question he’s good enough to play in the NBA.”

Anthony, 35, last took the court in the early stages of last with the Houston Rockets. He played 10 games with Houston, starting two. Rumors circulated that Anthony wasn’t pleased with coming off the bench. Anthony would be traded to Chicago in January and was waived about two weeks later.

The 10-time NBA All-Star has since expressed some remorse for the way things went in Houston. He also has appeared to soften his stance about coming in as a reserve should a team come calling.

“If you sat down with me man-to-man and said, ‘Look, what’s best for this team is for you to come off the bench,’ I would’ve fought it a little bit, but would’ve stepped away from it and said, ‘You know what? This is what’s best for the team,’” Anthony said on ESPN’s First Take. ““I do everything: I train the young guys, I’m training myself. I’m in it now. I’ve got a new life about me. It took me awhile to get out of that situation emotionally.”

Broussard offered several teams that would be in an optimal position to take Anthony, teams that he described as “sputtering”.

“A Miami, a Detroit, a Washington, a Charlotte, you know teams that aren’t at the bottom and aren’t full of young players but certainly aren’t contenders.”

Broussard further stated that Anthony’s newfound liking of the bench was somewhat “beneath” his star status.

“I hate to see a guy that I consider a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer begging like this,” he said. “I think he said some great stuff and represented himself well on (First Take). But, ultimately, there’s a part of this that just bothered me because it felt like he’s desperate and he’s begging people to put him back in the league.”

Anthony has averaged 24.5 points over a 17-year NBA career. He has also played with the Oklahoma City Thunder. A championship has eluded Anthony, but the Syracuse alum has a college champion from 2003 on his resume as well as three Olympic gold medals and the 2013 scoring title.