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Carmelo Anthony says he's the 'most underrated superstar' in the NBA

Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports

Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports

The New York Knicks have high hopes for the upcoming season after finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference in 2014. President Phil Jackson, at the helm for his first full season in New York, says that Carmelo Anthony will become a better player in his triangle offense, and that the Knicks are a playoff-bound team. Rookie coach Derek Fisher may not have any experience, but he should have the respect of the players, and he’s personally won four times as many playoff games as the Knicks have since 1977.

Carmelo Anthony, meanwhile, thinks he’s underrated as a star player.

There’s no doubting that Carmelo Anthony is a top-5 scorer. He won the scoring title in 2013, and has averaged more than 25 points per game in seven of his 11 seasons. He’s simply unstoppable playing for Team USA, and he’ll likely retire with 11 or 12 All-Star selections to his name.

Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports

Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports

Still, his game is not without some obvious shortcomings, especially on defense. Anthony’s made it to the playoffs 10 times, but his teams were eliminated in the first round in eight of those seasons. He’s made one appearance in the conference finals (in 2009), but his Nuggets lost 4-2 to the Lakers. Just last year, the Anthony-led Knicks went from 54-28 and the second-seed in the East to 37-45 and out of the playoffs entirely. Are those failures entirely Anthony’s fault? Of course not — but his body of work would suggest that Anthony might be overrated, rather than underrated.

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