Carmelo Anthony Responds to George Karl's Criticism in Coach's Memoir

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony responded to criticism former coach George Karl lobbed Thursday, telling reporters Karl never made his thoughts public when the two were with the Denver Nuggets.

Anthony said the following:

"

When you're there, it's a different story than what you hear after the fact. I never knew I was a...what was the word...conundrum? I don't even know what the hell that means, to be honest with you. I never knew that. ... Ask the assistant coaches, players, front-office people (in Denver), they will sing a different tune when it comes to me and our mentality as a team.

"

According to an excerpt of Karl's upcoming book, Furious George, per Marc Berman of the New York Post, Karl described Anthony as a "conundrum" while bemoaning his lack of commitment on the defensive end:

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Carmelo was a true conundrum for me in the six years I had him. He was the best offensive player I ever coached. He was also a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it.

He really lit my fuse with his low demand of himself on defense. He had no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy. My ideal — probably every coach's ideal — is when your best player is also your leader. But since Carmelo only played hard on one side of the ball, he made it plain he couldn't lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to. Coaching him meant working around his defense and compensating for his attitude.

"

Karl also wrote he believed Anthony and former teammate Kenyon Martin struggled with maturity because they lacked a father figure growing up. The 65-year-old coached Anthony for parts of six seasons in Denver.

Anthony told reporters: "Nothing disappoints me anymore. I'm past being disappointed. I just hope he finds happiness in what he's doing. His book…hopefully it will bring him happiness."

Martin defended himself and Anthony in a string of tweets Thursday evening:

"It's irrelevant to me at this point," Anthony said. "The truth of the matter is everybody else is kind of speaking up for me from their own experiences."

Karl last coached the Sacramento Kings during the 2015-16 season. His 1,175 career wins are the fifth most in NBA history, but his teams were eliminated in the first round in nine of his last 10 playoff appearances.

Anthony, meanwhile, has helped the Knicks off to a 16-13 start, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.