Carmelo Anthony spoke at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit on Tuesday, and said he believes even better things are in store for this season's New York Knicks team, after they finished second in the Eastern Conference in 2012-2013.
"We were the top two seed last year. I think nobody expected that. This year we expect to do the same thing. I actually see this team be better than last year’s team. I won’t get into all the details [why]. But we feel that. We feel we have improved as a unit."
The Knicks' offseason additions: Andrea Bargnani, Tim Hardaway Jr., Metta World Peace, and Beno Udrih. They said goodbye to Marcus Camby, Jason Kidd, and Steve Novak. And, yes, I know, calling Bargnani an "addition" might be a stretch, but it's technically true. He's been "added" to the roster.
Speaking of Kidd, who's now coaching in Brooklyn, Anthony called the Knicks/Nets rivalry the best in the Association.
"I love it. I think it’s a great for sports," he said. "I think it’s great for us as a Knicks organization. To have somebody we can compete with on a consistent basis four times a year, I think it’s going to be the best rivalry in basketball for a long, long time."
Anthony led the NBA in scoring last season, averaging 28.7 points per game on 45 percent shooting. He's set to earn just under $21.5 million in 2013-2014, and can opt out of the final year of his contract once the season's over.
Anthony wouldn't address speculation about his future, and whether he might end up in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform.
While Anthony has said he wants to be a more well-rounded player, he's focused on one thing, and one thing only, at this stage of his career: a title.
"For me now, the only thing I need is a championship. I think I proved to everybody the type of basketball player I am. Everyone in the world knows I can score the basketball — to separate myself is a championship. I can count on one hand the amount of people that won a national championship in college, a gold medal and an NBA title. If I can do that, that kind of separates me from some others."