“One of the best scorers that this game so far has seen. He just perfected that fu–ing jab step, and you got to respect it or he going by you.” Former teammate at Nuggets, Kenyon Martin, highly praised Carmelo Anthony for his scoring ability. The Knicks legend established himself as one of those scores who could drop buckets consistently. Dwight Howard recently echoed this sentiment about his former Lakers teammate. However, that appreciation also came with an honest confession.

“I just remember watching y’all play like dang; I want to get my jump shot like Melo. Then when I got to the league I started lifting weights, I couldn’t get follow-through right.” Dwight Howard stated on the clip from the upcoming 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. This appearance from 3x DPOY and Carmelo Anthony comes a month after the news about their first ballot Hall of Fame nomination.

“Blessed to be named among such incredible players. My love for basketball is forever… To my family, friends, fans, teammates, and coaches — THANK YOU. #STAYME7O.” Carmelo Anthony wrote on X. For Howard, it was a bittersweet feeling. “I’m not retired yet but I’ll take it 😅 I’m extremely grateful I just pray they don’t do me like they did the last list🙏🏾.” The former Center was talking about his exclusion from the NBA75 team, which still stings him. His exclusion even irked Melo.

“That Orlando Dwight? When he started calling himself Superman, his assault tape was crazy. And we had to go up against that. Like they were scared to go in there against Dwight. And the last time that people felt fear to go into the lane was against Shaq.” The Knicks legend believed Howard deserved and earned that honor. This mutual admiration goes a long way, even though they played just one season together. But did you know that the Syracuse alum once shared about difficulties with his shooting?

Carmelo Anthony on changing his jump shot

There is no doubt about Melo’s shooting abilities, as he averaged 22.5 points per game after 19 seasons in the league. Gilbert Arenas even dubbed Melo as a ‘complete scorer’ as he had more than 3 levels of shooting. Despite that praise, one injury made the 10x All-Star change his game.

After a season-ending left knee surgery, Carmelo Anthony changed his jump shot from one foot to two feet. “So look, I was really f–ked up though. I was playing the season damn near limping on one leg and we was trash… So to answer your question, I had that surgery and that made me start playing off two [feet].” Despite playing through injury, Anthony managed to average a team-high 24.2 points per game.

As per Per Basketball Reference, Melo would shoot 45.5% from the field and 34.5% from three from 2003 to 2015. Post-surgery, the numbers did not decrease. He would go on to shoot 42.6% from the field and increase his three-point shooting to 36.8%. Which is why he is a revered figure when it comes to scoring.