Moment former Syracuse manager and ESPN NBA reporter Dave McMenamin knew Carmelo Anthony was legit

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00:00What's the first moment, whether it was from a practice or from a game, that you just,

00:04I don't know, if everybody maybe turned to each other and was like,

00:07oh my God, this guy is legit.

00:08This guy is exactly what everybody's been so hyped about.

00:12I mean, the first moment that I remember was being in the Syracuse basketball office

00:19and watching the McDonald's All-American game before he came to practice

00:24and all of us kind of getting excited about it.

00:27Seeing him in person, the memory that sticks out,

00:31I wish I could like peg it to an exact moment of the season,

00:35but at some point throughout the year, Todd Forcier,

00:39who was the team's strength and conditioning coach,

00:41who ended up being a strength and conditioning coach in the NBA

00:45and whose brother, Chad Forcier, has been a longtime NBA assistant coach,

00:49started to work with Carmelo more after practice.

00:52And it was, I think, Melo was paying attention because he knew that Todd had kind of seen the other side of like,

01:03if you do X, Y, and Z, this is what my brother's telling me that NBA players are doing,

01:08this will give you a little bit more preparation and seasoning for when you are in the NBA.

01:13And so he would stay after practice and sprint three-point line to three-point line

01:19and had to make catch-and-shoot threes.

01:22And I can't remember exactly the number,

01:25and I think maybe it grew progressively from the point of the season when he started doing it onward.

01:31But, you know, he was surrounded by some maniacal workers.

01:35Jerry McNamara had one of the best work ethics of any NBA,

01:38excuse me, Syracuse freshman I was around him in my four years around that team.

01:43Carmelo saw Jerry putting in work after practice, and he was doing it himself.

01:48And particularly working on the three-point shot is what I remember.

01:53And I was like, wow, you already had all the other things.

01:55He was already showing the signs of the jab series.

01:58He could already dominate the glass.

02:00He averaged 10 rebounds a game at Syracuse.

02:03Obviously he could play above the rim.

02:04And now here you are getting your conditioning elite by sprinting after practice

02:09and also working on your three-point touch.

02:12And I thought his three-pointer, I think he shot around 33% in his freshman season at Syracuse.

02:19But it was such a dynamic part of his package in the NCAA tournament in particular.

02:25And so just kind of that's my memory thinking back to where he was not satisfied

02:30with how well he was already playing, how well the team was already playing.

02:33And that extra work paying off dividends in the tournament.