Basketball Hall of Fame: Carmelo Anthony belongs to the game more than

It’s a good thing the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame isn’t like baseball, where the players who are enshrined must select a baseball cap to go in with, designating which team he wants to be most associated with. Because there’s no way to categorize Carmelo Anthony as he enters the Hall this weekend, at least in a team concept.

Being one of the best scorers of all time almost feels limiting to him, especially in the manner in which he produced — a tight handle for someone his size, a silky smooth jumper from all parts of the floor and the capability to bully even bigger defenders when it came time to box.

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But when picturing Anthony operating in a phone booth — jab-jab, pivot, bump — which jersey does one see? It’s probably not definitively any jersey, unless one considers his one-year domination at Syracuse, where all he needed was a freshman campaign to deliver a national title and be listed as one of the top prospects in the historic 2003 NBA Draft.

It’s probably not a single jersey, which is the way it should be, considering Anthony belongs to the game more than any franchise. It was that game at that time Anthony nestled perfectly into, before the ball movement and spread offenses took over as Anthony was beginning his exit.

It could be the New York Knicks, the place Anthony forced himself to in 2011, after his relationship with the Denver Nuggets soured after seven seasons. At a time when the Knicks were routinely spurned by the league’s marquee stars in free agency, Anthony wanted the spotlight and stage — having been born in Brooklyn before moving to Baltimore for most of his youth.

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But this was a time for superteams and SuperFriends, spurred on by LeBron James teaming with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, turning the league upside down for the…