SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Carmelo Anthony learned tough lessons coming of age playing basketball on playgrounds in Brooklyn and Baltimore.
It culminated with him becoming one of the sports' purest scorers and most decorated players ever.
Walking onto the stage for his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday to chants of «Melo! Melo,» Anthony took his place alongside basketball's immortals.
«Pardon my language, but damn,» Anthony said, tearing up. «Tonight I just don't step into the Hall of Fame, I carry the echoes of every voice that ever told me I couldn't.… I had to build a new road. I had to write a new ending.»
Anthony was part of a quintet of players that were inducted into the Hall on Saturday as individuals, joining Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles. Together they were part of 11 WNBA or NBA championship teams, captured 15 Olympic gold medals, made 37 All-NBA or All-WNBA appearances and were named as All-Stars 45 times in their careers.
«I never got an NBA ring.… But I know what I gave to the game,» Anthony said.
Anthony and Howard were dual-enshrinees as members of the 2008 Olympic men's basketball team that became known as the «Redeem Team,» after winning gold at the Beijing Games that summer after only capturing a bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 FIBA world championships. Howard and Anthony joined 2008 team members Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the late Kobe Bryant who were already enshrined as individuals.
This year's class was rounded out by Chicago Bulls coach and two-time NCAA champion Billy Donovan, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.
The inclusion of Bird, Moore and Fowles'
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