“Oh, you a bully” — the words that Kobe Bryant had for Carmelo Anthony, as recalled by the Knicks star himself. The revelation came during a discussion with Matt Barnes on a podcast episode. As recollected by Melo, the intense physicality between him and Kobe earned him the nickname of “bully” from Black Mamba. And those who know the Lakers icon would understand that this was his way of respecting the ex-Knicks. Now, more recently, Anthony’s 17-year-old had something similar to say about his father.

Kiyan shared his opinion during his appearance on the recent episode of Unapologetically Angel. Angel Reese asked the 17-year-old to describe his father’s gameplay in three words. Now, one of these words was exactly what Kobe used to call Melo. “A killer,” Kiyan replied with his first word for his father’s gameplay. “Feel like he a bully a little bit, like he just move you get to the basket whenever he wants,” he added. Apart from this, he described Carmelo Anthony as a “leader” who knows how to bring along the best in his teammates.

Well, it’s no secret that Melo was the leading face of the New York Knicks for a significant duration of time. And as far as his proficiency is concerned, Kiyan stands unmistaken there as well. Raymond Felton, during his appearance on Run Your Race podcast, claiming Melo is the best scorer the NBA has ever seen, is a testament to this. Yes, even compared to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. A bold claim, right? Especially considering Melo’s career average of 22.5 ppg has nothing on someone like His Airness.

Felton, however, emphasized that Melo’s ability to score from anywhere was unmatched. “Whatever you want, he (Melo) can give to you… ‘If you want just midrange all game, I got you. You want me to post you up? I got you. You want me to shoot the three? I got you,'” he explained his point. With such versatility at his disposal, there’s no doubt he could bully players on the court just with his game.

Something that Carmelo Anthony’s son wants to take from his father’s game

During the aforementioned podcast with Angel Reese, Kiyan shared that if he could take anything from his father, it would be his mentality. “I would take his mentality… Even when he’s missing shots or even when the game’s not going his way, he’s still going to find a way to get to it,” he said.

Kiyan has said that he does not have the same play style as his dad. However, he understands his mentality well. And considering the kind of year he has had, it seems the current playing style of Kiyan is suiting him, anyway. While he dropped impressive numbers at EYBL and Top 100 Camp, more recently he won the MVP honor at ACES Hustle & Heart Classic.

And now, as per the reports, he will soon be committing to one of the three colleges—USC, Syracuse, or Florida—on November 15. And even if he does not want to follow the same playing style, he could use the same level of proficiency that, as he said on Unapologetically Angel, can “bully” others on the court.