Heartfelt letter to OKC Thunder from Carmelo Anthony wraps up his short tenure

Before he embarks on a new journey, Carmelo Anthony wrote a heartfelt thank you letter to the OKC Thunder organization and the fans.

As a longtime fan of Carmelo Anthony living near Oklahoma City, nobody was more excited than myself when he was traded to the Thunder. Having just acquired Paul George, I naively believed OKC had all the pieces necessary to go toe-to-toe with the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

The dream, however, quickly gave in to reality when the experiment began to go south. Many Thunder fans like me kept preaching early on the trio just needed to time to adjust.  As the season went on and the losses piled up, the argument began to lose credibility.

We continued to watch as the Thunder went from on the playoff bubble to the fourth seed and ultimately eliminated in the first round.

Throughout the roller coaster, Oklahoma City heard more than its fair share of hate coming from the media and online trolls. Perhaps nobody more than Russell Westbrook and Anthony. And while some of criticism is deserved to a certain extent, much of it was an over reaction.

When it comes to last season, let’s not sugar coat how bad it was. In particular of Anthony. No matter how you slice it, Melo’s one season in OKC was his worst year as a professional. He was a shell of himself, as he continuously missed open looks and looked out of place on the court. There were moments here and there where we saw flashes of his old self, but quite frankly, it was mostly hard to watch. Once again, it appeared Father Time had won.

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For what it’s worth, Anthony did his best to make the most out of a bad situation. Haters will point to his refusal to come off the bench, but he was still wiling to switch his position playing the four.

And, he accepted often being second or third fiddle to George and Westbrook without hesitation. He didn’t even make a big deal of sitting on the bench late in games. Overall, there was no sign of problems in the locker room and the media couldn’t get under his skin when times were tough.

Aside from not coming off the bench, Anthony handled everything with class. It was tough from the very beginning when the roster was thrown together at the last minute and everybody was working to adjust on the fly.

Even right up to the very end, he kept fighting like everyone else and ended his time with a sincere thank you letter.

History won’t look kindly on Anthony in his one year with the Thunder. Just don’t forget he wasn’t a bad teammate. Perhaps we’ll learn it was the Thunder system if he delivers and shows what he’s capable of doing with the Rockets.

Some Thunder fans will likely continue to hate and root against him as he plays for a rival team. Yet, I know at least one Thunder fan who won’t.