Jim Boeheim got a chuckle out of the jabbering of fools yesterday — some of whom questioned if former Syracuse star Carmelo Anthony could handle the pressure of playing in the Big Apple and others who believe the Knicks’ trade with the Nuggets was the worst deal since the Lenni Lenape Indians sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch for $24 in trinkets.
Boeheim might have thrown up his hands had he not been driving.
“He’ll be great in New York, great,” Boeheim told The Post. “He loves the big time, the spotlight, the pressure. He’s one guy that will thrive in New York.
“I know there have been some baseball players who had trouble playing in New York, but not only will Melo be great, but he’s going to make the players around him better. The only thing he loves more than making great plays is winning. He’s all about winning.”
Sounds good, Coach, but the Knicks gave up Danilo Gallinari (age 22), Wilson Chandler (23), Raymond Felton (26), Timofey Mozgov (24), a 2014 first-round pick, $3 million, the Brooklyn Bridge …
“So what you’re really talking about is Chandler and Gallinari for Carmelo,” Boeheim said. “Who do you want?
“He helps the Knicks now and in the future. There are other players who are going to want to play with those two guys, those two scorers. And they each have at last five or six good years left.”
Boeheim was referring to Anthony (27) and Amar’e Stoudmire (28). Imagine them playing with Chris Paul and perhaps Dwight Howard. The heat is on in Miami.
But Boeheim wasn’t about to speculate on future NBA moves. He knows about Anthony from the Orange’s national championship season of 2002-03 when Anthony was a freshman. He led them to a 95-84 win over Texas in the semifinals and an 81-78 win over Kansas in the championship.
“He didn’t play great in the tournament and he kept saying to me, ‘It’s OK with me as long as we keep winning,’” Boeheim said. “Then he had a monstrous game against Texas (33 points, 14 rebounds) and was so good against Kansas (20 and 10). Not too many freshmen win the MVP of the Final Four.”
Anthony averaged 14.5 points on 28-of-64 shooting in the first four rounds. But when the spotlight was on, when the pressure was at its highest, Anthony was at his best.
