Carmelo Anthony is all about reinventing himself.
Mere months after the league’s No. 2 overall scorer showed the world just how committed he is to finding a way to comfortably fit into Phil Jackson’s triangle offense by re-upping with the New York Knicks for the next five years, now comes word Anthony is just as intent on branding himself as Hoops Nation’s “digital athlete.”
In earning his tech title, the 30-year-old Anthony is convinced he can prove capable of conquering such obstacles even the legendary likes of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson have yet to be able to.
“I really want to be the pioneer for that digital athlete,” Anthony told reporters while attending the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit this week in Manhattan. “When it comes to tech, I want to be the face of that space. Nobody really took that place. There’ve been athletes that came before me that were doing what I’m doing and there are going to be people after me that are doing what I’m doing. But I really want to be the pioneer for that digital athlete.”
The 11-year veteran and seven-time All-Star is already more than in the game. Just last month, Anthony announced a partnership with former NBC senior exec Stuart Goldfarb to launch Melo7 Tech Partners, a venture capital firm that will invest in startup companies specializing in digital media, Internet consumer ventures and technology-based operations.
“At the end of the day, we all know what’s my day job: basketball,” said Anthony, rumored to have already lost as much as 20 pounds this offseason. “That’s what my brand is built on, but I’m trying to take my brand to the next level, make it bigger, make it stronger.”
Along with Peyton and Eli Manning, Anthony is also a central investor in SeatGeek, a ticket-buying search engine. “You get to manage your tickets the way you want,” raved Anthony. “You don’t have to go there and hope and wish you get a seat. I believe SeatGeek will change the game over the next couple years.”
Now that he’s again settling in as a Knick and the idea of building under Jackson and new coach Derek Fisher, Anthony admits some of the things he stands to be able to do off the court had as almost as much deciding to remain as the prospect of what the high-powered trio might be able to achieve as an organization.
“I just felt if I was to leave, I would have to … build that foundation up once again, and it took me a while to build that foundation and to get it up and going to where it’s at right now,” he said. “It wasn’t for me to go and try to strike a two-year deal and then have to go through this situation in two years. I plan on ending my career here.”
And as a modern day renaissance man.
