Last year, the New York Knicks were in a bad place and there had to be some moves made to change the path of the Knicks future. They dealt wingmen J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers to clear up some cap room and it also allowed them to give away any semblance of NBA talent that they had.
The Knicks tanked and it was all over but in Cleveland, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert saw immediate success alongside LeBron James. The Cavs went to the NBA Finals with Smith and Shumpert playing pivotal roles.
Fast forward to this season and the Cavs are without Smith and Shumpert, due to injury, going into their first matchup of the season against Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks. Carmelo talked about his relationship with his former teammates, men he calls his brothers.
Following from Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
Carmelo on Shumpert and JR not playing tonight: "I would love to play against my brothers. It seems like LeBron took all my family from me."
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) November 4, 2015
We’ve seen Carmelo workout with Iman Shumpert recently and we also know what kind of bond Melo and J.R. Smith had over the years so for Melo to be saddened at the fact that he won’t be playing against two of his favorite teammates is fun to see.
Obviously Melo saying LeBron took his family away is in jest but it wasn’t LeBron’s fault, Melo. You can partly blame Phil Jackson. Despite the fact that LeBron has always been consulted on any big personnel decisions in Cleveland since he returned, you can’t put all the blame on ‘The King’.
