Carmelo Anthony hasn't always been labeled 'selfish', but that tag was mentioned everytime that Melo's name was in the newspapers it seems for the better part of the second half of last season. Anthony, on duty with the American national team in London, says that he has never been a 'selfish' player and that the tag only came to light during the Linsanity stage of the Knicks season.

Anthony added that he understands as the Knicks leader, the spotlight is firmly on him.

"Now that I'm in the spotlight a lot more being in New York City, you've got multiple opinions," Anthony told USA TODAY Sports. "You've got everybody saying something about this, about that. For me, just play ball. When it comes to the Knicks, we're talking about one particular point in time. We're talking about the whole 'Linsanity' thing. That's when it started. That's when it started to escalate as far as people saying I was selfish."

"Lin came and we started winning games and then we started losing games, and they could only point to one thing, which is me, the leader of the team," Anthony said. "They're not going to point to Amar'e. They're not going to point to (guard) Iman Shumpert. They're going to point to me. I accept that. It doesn't bother me."

Melo came under fire when the Knicks went 2-8 during a period that led to the dismissal of Mike D'Antoni. Anthony was deemed a 'selfish coach killer.'