Knicks' Anthony Optimistic After Olympics - New York Times (blog)

Jed Jacobsohn for The New York TimesCarmelo Anthony in a game against Nigeria at the London Olympics.

This off-season has been a success for Carmelo Anthony. He won his second Olympic gold medal for the United States in London, where he averaged 16.3 points and set a single-game American Olympic scoring record with 37 points against Nigeria.

Anthony believes his success at the Olympics can translate to the Knicks.

“I’m excited just to get this thing going, especially coming off of the run I had on the U.S.A. team” said Anthony, who was at St. John’s on Friday to promote a new video game, “N.B.A. Baller Beats.” “We were able to accomplish something with everybody on that team, and I’m excited to bring that mentality back here to the Knicks.”

Anthony has also noticed the way his teammates have approached the new season.

“Everybody’s working,” he said. “I see Amar’e Stoudemire is in the gym working. Iman Shumpert is getting his knee right. Tyson Chandler was out there at the Olympics with me.”

Unlike some veterans, Anthony is looking forward to training camp. It will be his first full camp since joining the Knicks. He and Stoudemire said this week that last year’s condensed training camp hurt the Knicks.

“Anybody who says it doesn’t is lying,” Anthony said. “When I first got here, it was the middle of the year and last year it was dealing with the lockout. Now we can just focus on basketball.”

Anthony is looking forward to playing with Raymond Felton, the new starting point guard, whom he has been playing against since they were both 9 in A.A.U. tournaments.

“This is a special year for him mentally, for him being traded here and having the chance to come back and prove to people what his game is about,” Anthony said. “When he was in New York, he was having an All-Star year, so to bring him back was an extra incentive for him to want to do well.”