What kind of experience shaped a person like Carmelo Anthony ? It’s the long nights spent in Baltimore in childhood, the car washing years on Martin Luther-Golden Avenue as a teenager...
With past pains, Anthony From one city to another. In his new book "An Uncertain Future: A Memoir of Survival and Hope", he unveiled his past years to readers.
Like many children who grew up in poor neighborhoods, Anthony's childhood was full of chaos and violence, but he did not sink in. Instead, he got out of the silt without getting infected, and developed a tough and tyrannical character. This personality helped him enter the Syracuse University , won the national championship, and became a NBA star.
Anthony admitted that his own experience cannot be copied, and sports cannot allow everyone to get the key to success, but he is willing to share his past and let those who are still in the dark know himself Not alone.
In an interview with " GQ ", Anthony talked all the way from his childhood to his outlook for the next season:
What made you decide to publish an autobiography at this time?
Answer: Actually, I have been thinking about this for a long time. In this book, I wrote a lot of things that I experienced as a child,It conveys a lot of information, which can inspire many children, let them know that they are not alone, and let them know that their future is worth looking forward to. I hope this memoir can make those children more active, so that my efforts will not be in vain.
You write that there are always many basketball players and people who work hard around you when you grow up. Why focus on telling the story of your early years and the pain around you instead of the things in your NBA career?
Answer: I want to tell the story in my own way, because this is the only way I know. I know how to tell the truth, what I have really experienced. I will only share my own experience, hoping that my story can push people to realize "Damn, I am not the only person who has experienced this, everyone is like this." If I have experienced this, then it will be the same as other people's. The experience is no different. This book tells stories like this: My childhood, everything I experienced allowed me to go back to that story and time.
But why focus on that part of the story?
Answer: Because that is my real experience. People started to understand me in the NBA. They only knew the part of basketball. They know my experience of playing in the NBA for nearly 20 years after being drafted. But what you don't understand is how I got there. This is the part I want to talk about. When people read this book, they will understand me more clearly. Maybe it will open the eyes of many people and enrich their minds. I am also very careful about these.
also keeps mentioning in your autobiography that you grew up in housing projects in Baltimore and New York. You said that your worldview is nothing more than basketball players and hard work in the surrounding environment. People living".What does this mean for a child who doesn't know what it means?
Answer: When you grow up in that environment, you are a member of that environment. Whether you prefer it or not, every four blocks has the same thing-liquor stores, supermarkets, small shops and takeaway shops. This is your environment, and maybe a school. In the book, it is told as I am 6 or 7 years old. At that time, I was living in the Red Hook District. For a toddler who was still a toddler, being able to tell those moments and stories clearly was already very important. It's difficult.
You wrote in the book that your shelter is an asphalt road or hardwood floor. What makes these an oasis in your childhood?
A: Even I don’t know that I play basketball because basketball is there. I know how to play. Everyone around me will play basketball in the community center. It is also very fun for me, and it also creates a safe haven for me. When I was in school, I couldn't even wait to finish school, and then I rushed to a corner of the community center. Before I knew it, it became my oasis without even trying.
You emphasized again and again in your autobiography: "Sports can't save you".
Answer: Sports cannot save you. In the end, you need to actively pursue it. I never thought about playing in the NBA before. I was not my goal. Think of those who did well in basketball. Some time after graduating from high school or college, they returned to that environment. Think about statistics. This is hopeless! When you look at these numbers, you will think that you will never be one of the winners. Sports can't save you, what it can't save is that it can save 10 times the number of people.
Have you ever been one of the famous Baltimore "rubber boys"? In those hot days,What has been learned from the experience of washing a car for a dollar?
Answer: You have learned responsibility. This is not a typical job. It is very busy and requires responsibility and dedication. I am fully committed to it, I am looking forward to it, some people look down on this salary. My mother is like this, she won't give me money to do this. This is why I did this job: I don't want to ask her for money all the time, I want to start earning money on my own, this job is easy. This is part of our environment, to do some scrubbing work, and then earn some money back.
What do you think prevented Cameron from becoming vulnerable during adolescence?
Answer: facts do not allow it, we do not allow fragility. In such a community, you cannot be vulnerable, you need to be always strong and reliable, and you cannot let people see your crying or weak side. Let others see your fragile side, and you will be slaughtered. Looking back now, I felt very depressed for a while. Because I can't be fragile, I don't want to be inactive, we need to be strong.
I am glad you said that, in Syracuse you also experienced the same moment of depression. How lonely were you in school in your freshman year?
Answer: This is more like a shocking education, damn, I am already a college student. Then I had to do it all over again. I trained hard in high school and wanted to be the top player. Now I have come to a brand new stage, even though I have a title, I am still very new to these people. No one knows me, and I don't know anyone. Even in the team, I didn't know them well at first. You are lonely on the university campus, you can only rely on yourself, have nothing, the campus makes people lonely.
You said that college life is great,Because your life is all about playing basketball and going to parties. Because of this, everyone loves you very much.
Answer: The previous month? In the first few weeks? I feel that college life is cruel.
What is the best party you have attended at Syracuse University?
Answer: That must be when everyone got together because of basketball. Syracuse is very big, we are the only team there, so our game is the most important activity in the city, the feeling is very different. When you start to win, the whole city will stand together.
You once said that at Syracuse that year was the most magical year in your life. Do you still think that?
Answer: Of course it is. To be able to enter such a school, and then win the championship in the freshman year, and we played 17 wins and 0 losses. I have never lost a ball at home in Syracuse. We lost four or five games throughout the year, and we won the championship. I have never been able to achieve such stable results in a year.
After winning the national championship, your celebration was crazy. You stayed in school for several months, although you already knew that you were going to play a career. Is that your best memory?
Answer: We had a championship parade, which was really crazy. Thousands of people are standing there waiting for you to come back, all schools are closed to celebrate the championship together. I don't want to leave school right away, the happy moments have just begun.
even though you have done well,You said you feel that you still feel a little frustrating in a school for the wealthy and predominantly white. Can you explain it?
Answer: Because I didn't understand at all, I didn't understand everything around me at all. I felt that I had come into a completely different world, and I was not used to it. I went to Torson Catholic School in high school. I have been trying to blend in, but I didn't fully adapt at the time.
Finally you left the school, you met Larry Brown , you really want to play for the Pistons . Did they send you training uniforms for the Pistons?
Answer: No, they did not send it. I got it from someone else, but I got it anyway.
In your opinion, is this group of players a crazy draft in 2003?
Answer: This player is really special. Entering the league from high school is a feat, because this is the first time we broke the barrier to enter the league after the freshman season. This moment was born. NS. I, , Bosh , and some others. At the time, we all ran for the election after a year in college, which was unheard of before. To this day, I still feel that it was one of the most memorable draft nights and one of the top draft picks in history. (Talking about the best draft) People always say 1996 or 1984, but what about 2003? The node at which we entered the alliance is very critical. We were at the forefront as soon as we entered the alliance. The time we entered the alliance, in my opinion, was a change of guard.
The Pistons chose the former between Darko Milicic and you. How much damage did you suffer?
Answer: I was really injured at the time, I was so disappointed, it was like, damn it! Why didn't they choose me? Why is it always me who is disappointed? Why am I not doing everything well? Why didn't they choose me? This caused me to fall into a long collapse at the time. Why? Why does this happen to me? I kept asking myself this way. Before I went to Philadelphia to meet with the Pistons, they told me a lot of things, but in the end they didn’t choose me... Although I was used to disappointment at that time, but when I felt that I could finally move forward At that time, I didn't expect even greater disappointment to wait.
Anyway, it was an epic draft. When you played for the Nuggets and Knicks, you became one of the strongest players in the league. What moments did you remember when you played for them?
Answer: I can still recall the bits and pieces of playing for the Nuggets. The Nuggets are not fish belly! They found their own presence at the time. Before I came, people always regarded this place as a laughing stock, but after I was selected, everything changed. We changed the color and jersey of the team, and injected fresh blood into Denver , and I also created a new culture for this place at the time. So far, people started talking about Denver more, but after I left, everything was gone. In general, my Denver career has become special because of this, and I have really created something here.
As for New York, it’s really great, it’s the best city in the world, and I enjoyed the best resources of the best city. Every day there, no matter where you go,(You can enjoy it). For me, playing at home, playing some results, enjoying it and embracing it, there is no more perfect experience than this. When you embrace New York in this way, New York will give you such feedback.
The experience of the past few years in your career has been a bit turbulent. When you first left the Rockets, some people don't even know if you will continue to play. There was no team recruiting you, and you even had to apologize publicly for your time with the Rockets. Did it mean that you chose to bow your head? Have you ever thought that you would be in such a situation before?
Answer: I never thought about it, but such a situation would definitely make me humble. In fact, some teams had approached me at that time, and people said I needed to talk openly about myself. I always had It bothers me to pay attention to what everyone is saying and who said it. As a result, I had to stay away from the game and negative energy for a period of time, to rediscover my value as a person, and choose to forget basketball. Facts have proved that the adjustment during that period really helped me, and I do not regret it (I was far away from basketball at the time). It is with these experiences that I can now sit here to tell these stories, which makes me have to go back and re-examine myself.
You are 37 years old this year, and in the future you will have the opportunity to play with your best friend LeBron James. Why did you choose to join the Lakers?
Answer: The timing is right. In fact, we have been discussing teamwork over the past few years, but the situation and timing of the two teams are not right, but it is natural now. At this stage of our career, I think we need to fully grasp this opportunity. Many years ago, we were all on our own career track, staying in our own team, and we might not have the chance to join forces at all, but now, at the end of our career, we are all more mature.Both appreciate each other and the game more, and both have the same goal. We will enjoy this moment. The timing is right now.
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