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Some Syracuse fans worry that having Carmelo Anthony courtside to watch his son, Kiyan Anthony, could create added pressure for the program.
For the players.
For the coach.
For everyone.
New Syracuse head coach Gerry McNamara didn't seem concerned.
His response?
"He can sit wherever he wants."
Six simple words.
But D.A. says they revealed something important.
This wasn't a coach nervously trying to appease a Syracuse legend.
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0:00
He can sit wherever he wants. With those
0:02
six words, Gerry McNamara proved he is
0:06
the perfect head coach for the Syracuse
0:08
basketball program. Here's why.
0:14
You see, when McNamara does it, it comes
0:17
off differently than another coach.
0:18
Because if another coach says that about
0:20
Carmelo Anthony sitting courtside as his
0:23
son plays,
0:25
it feels like somebody getting pushed
0:28
over by the legend, by the star that is
0:31
Carmelo.
0:33
You know, but this is a guy that doesn't
0:35
really know Syracuse, or a guy that
0:37
doesn't have hardware himself, or a guy
0:39
that didn't play in the NBA. And he
0:41
says, "He can sit wherever he wants." It
0:44
comes off as placating a program legend,
0:47
which obviously Carmelo is. But when
0:49
Gerry McNamara says it,
0:52
it comes off as confident and I know the
0:55
deal.
0:57
And I think that right there is how you
0:59
attract
1:01
elite-level
1:03
talent to the program. There's a lot of
1:05
layers to this, but let's start here.
1:08
The last coach, Adrian Autry, played at
1:12
the Carrier Dome, but the job itself
1:15
felt too big for him. Three years, no
1:19
NCAA tournament appearances, sniping
1:22
with the media at times, even the did
1:25
not play situation with Kiyan Anthony
1:28
early in earlier in this calendar year,
1:32
felt like either he was putting his foot
1:35
down because Carmelo was the huge brand,
1:40
or
1:41
making a major strategic misstep because
1:45
he was going to get bowled over by
1:47
public sentiment, or again, the brand in
1:50
Carmelo. Hey, I appreciate you watching
1:52
everybody. Thanks so much. Subscribe to
1:55
the channel. Make sure you're clicked on
1:56
this button below me. That way you are
1:58
notified and in the feed when we do
2:00
Syracuse coverage like this for the
2:02
Orange Fizz. If Gerry McNamara is to
2:05
bench Kiyan at any point this season,
2:09
I don't think any of those things come
2:12
into play where you feel like the job is
2:13
too big for him.
2:15
Now, it really helps that Gerry McNamara
2:18
is a teammate of Carmelo. And it really
2:20
helps that McNamara has the ultimate
2:24
kind of sign-off and credibility because
2:26
he was a star, a fellow freshman starter
2:30
on a team that won the national
2:31
championship. So, Carmelo, I'm sure,
2:32
looks at G-Mac as his boy, his running
2:36
mate. I trust your judgment here.
2:38
But again, it comes back to the
2:40
sentiment that McNamara can say, "Man,
2:43
he can sit wherever he wants and it is
2:45
not I'm going to bend over backwards for
2:48
Carmelo. It is I get it."
2:51
All right? I I understand this.
2:55
Now, when Carmelo says this on Q Sports
2:58
Talk, I should say when McNamara says
3:00
this on Q Sports Talk, it comes
3:03
as part of the conversation, "Hey, there
3:05
are There are Syracuse fans calling in
3:08
who have voiced criticism that Carmelo,
3:10
you know, sitting courtside is a
3:12
distraction or is putting too much
3:14
pressure on the coach or the player."
3:18
And McNamara laughs at that and says,
3:20
"Hey,
3:21
if my son is is playing on this team, I
3:25
would want to be courtside. And
3:27
Carmelo's got credibility because it's
3:29
not like when he left the program, he
3:31
just totally detached. He was rooting
3:33
for Syracuse basketball, which is
3:35
absolutely true."
3:37
But let's take this a a step deeper.
3:40
This is also important because it's not
3:44
necessarily just about Kiyan Anthony.
3:46
It's not really about Carmelo.
3:50
It's about getting the next Carmelo
3:52
Anthony.
3:53
It's about making sure somebody like
3:55
Carmelo still remains a cheerleader for
3:59
the program and
4:01
part of hopefully this next wave of
4:04
success.
4:05
Because what are you you are hunting is
4:07
not just Carmelo Anthony success. You
4:09
are hunting the next Carmelo Anthony.
4:11
Now again, there's only one Carmelo
4:13
Anthony.
4:14
But there's a a a sea
4:18
of NBA players, maybe not Hall of
4:20
Famers, but NBA players
4:22
who have kids, who have sons, who got to
4:25
play somewhere.
4:26
I mean, look at how many players in the
4:29
NBA are children of former NBA players.
4:33
Even somebody like Jalen Brunson, whose
4:36
dad is Rick Brunson and and kind of had
4:38
a cup of coffee in the NBA, still played
4:40
in the NBA.
4:42
You want to make sure you are
4:44
comfortable around that level of
4:47
basketball dad.
4:49
And McNamara might not have played in
4:51
the NBA,
4:52
but in handling it like this, it tells
4:54
me he can handle other guys who have
4:58
kids
4:59
who want to play college ball at
5:00
Syracuse and have played in the
5:03
association.
5:05
You've got to have a confidence without
5:08
an arrogance. And
5:11
I think Gerry is going to be a work in
5:13
progress. I mean, it's his first big
5:15
time job.
5:16
And there are so many expectations and
5:20
so many people that now are reconnected
5:23
to the program that if it's bad, if they
5:25
lose, there's going to be a lot of
5:28
scrutiny and a lot of disappointment and
5:29
a lot of frustration and a lot of oh my
5:31
gosh, even this didn't work.
5:34
But what I really liked about Gerry
5:36
McNamara so far, and I'm really excited
5:39
to talk to him at some point this
5:40
summer,
5:42
right here on this channel.
5:44
I want my head coach to be convicted
5:49
without being an a-hole.
5:52
He's got conviction in this. You hear
5:54
McNamara
5:55
blast critics that think his roster
5:59
doesn't have enough high-level talent on
6:01
it. He's like, "Man,
6:03
I don't need high-level talent. I need
6:05
dogs here. I don't care what anybody
6:07
says."
6:08
When somebody goes after one of his
6:10
players
6:11
and he's going, "Man, you didn't see him
6:13
play. I've seen him play."
6:16
I've seen him in camps. I've seen him in
6:18
AAU.
6:19
How did he do? I got no problem
6:22
with that type of confidence, okay? And
6:26
when he addresses critics or doubters
6:28
that Carmelo could be a negative a net
6:30
negative for the program by being too
6:33
close to things and he scoffs it off,
6:36
I don't take any of that as arrogance.
6:39
There might be a level of
6:41
strong confidence,
6:44
but I don't think that Gerry McNamara is
6:45
not listening. I don't think that he
6:47
thinks he's got all the answers. I don't
6:49
think he thinks he's got this all
6:50
figured out.
6:52
What I think is there's a very specific
6:54
line you walk with I got this
6:58
as well as a little humility
7:02
to where
7:03
you know that if you know, you walk into
7:06
a room and it's not working or you get
7:08
it to a game and you're losing, hey, we
7:10
can make adjustments too. We are not
7:11
totally wedded to I got all the answers.
7:15
I think this is just a really important
7:18
microcosm of how Gerry is going to coach
7:23
this program and and handle this
7:24
program.
7:25
This is not an easy program. This is not
7:29
a turnkey winner. We have learned the
7:31
hard way over the last 5 years
7:34
that no matter how many final four
7:35
banners hang in the Carrier Dome, no
7:37
matter what the attendance is inside the
7:39
JMA Wireless, no matter what the brand
7:43
is nationally, no matter how many
7:45
all-Americans or whatever NBA players
7:47
have played for this for this
7:50
institution.
7:52
It doesn't mean a damn thing right now.
7:55
You got to win here with the new players
7:58
and a new life and a new dynamic and a
8:01
new sport in many ways.
8:04
And
8:05
when I look at this program,
8:09
I'm also not looking at a program that
8:10
yet has all of its rocket boosters for
8:14
fundraising firing yet.
8:16
I think they've got a lot of good
8:17
building blocks.
8:19
I think when you see Brian Blair's
8:21
history and you see who they've hired as
8:23
GM and you hear what they're talking
8:26
about with NIL and you hear some of the
8:29
the talking points of those that are
8:30
running point on NIL,
8:32
I think you get the the vibe that okay,
8:35
they're starting to get in sync. They're
8:36
starting to to brand new ideas. They're
8:39
starting to create new streams, which is
8:41
really important. But all this is hard.
8:43
This is a brand new landscape for
8:45
everybody, specifically Syracuse who's
8:46
not done a good enough job in this space
8:49
over the last 5 years getting ahead of
8:51
the curve. And Adrian Autry admitted
8:54
this on the podium last year.
8:56
They
8:57
they weren't ready for the new NIL world
9:01
in college basketball.
9:02
So, I'm not going to sit here and say
9:04
they're going to immediately win and
9:07
that everything is solved and it's only
9:09
bright skies. You're not going to get
9:10
that from me. I don't think that's
9:12
I don't think it's realistic or honest
9:14
to say something like that. But what is
9:16
honest to me is
9:19
Gerry McNamara, if anybody is going to
9:22
make this work,
9:24
I feel like he's got the most cards in
9:27
the deck to have a winning hand.
9:30
I think he's got the most
9:32
of what it would take to do it.
9:36
And one of those pieces, one of those
9:38
cards
9:39
is confidence without arrogance. And
9:43
I get this. And I'm not worried about
9:45
criticism. I'm not worried about what
9:47
the doubters say. That's not going to
9:49
throw me off course cuz I know what the
9:51
right answer is and will do the right
9:53
answer.
9:54
That part of it is very encouraging to
9:56
me. So, the Carmelo thing, again, is a
9:58
microcosm of a bigger thing.
10:01
When he says he can sit wherever he
10:02
wants,
10:04
it is
10:06
I know there's noise out there.
10:08
I know there's skepticism about some of
10:10
this stuff.
10:11
I'm not worried about it because
10:14
it's the right thing.
10:16
And is his X Y or Z might be different
10:18
than my X Y or Z?
10:20
But I think his X Y or Z probably pretty
10:23
similar. Pretty similar. And because of
10:26
that,
10:28
it's going to give Syracuse the best
10:31
chance to get back on top.
10:33
Thanks for watching, everybody.
10:34
Appreciate it very much. Hey, you got to
10:36
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10:38
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