Kenyon Martin came to Carmelo Anthony’s defense when asked to comment on criticism levied against Anthony by current Nuggets coach George Karl.

"Man, listen, George needs to keep his mouth shut, first and foremost," Martin said. "Melo don't play there no more. So Karl shouldn't be commenting on Melo. If George was such a great coach, then Melo would want to stay. He wouldn't want to leave.”

Karl has often praised his team's new style and how the absence of Anthony has made his job easier.

"If the organization was ran right, he wouldn't want to leave, so it ain't Melo,” Martin said. “With Melo, not one time when he was there [in the Nuggets' locker room] did he bring that in the locker room when all that stuff was going on. Not one day. Everybody made it a bigger deal than it had to be. That's a good kid.

"They act like this kid was a cancer, like he came in there and destroyed the locker room and made everybody hate him. No, it wasn't nothing like that man. And it bothers me for people to be talking about how he's a selfish player and he has to defend himself."