"He made the team better": Jim Boeheim makes feelings clear on Carmelo Anthony getting critiqued by George Karl, Phil Jackson (Exclusive)

Carmelo Anthony, before and after playing under Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, was a different player. Boeheim and his coaching crew helped the NBA legend work on his offense at Syracuse.

Melo developed into one of the greatest offensive players in the NBA. From ball fake, turnaround fade away to his jab step, the NBA became a fan of Melo's game. As great as Anthony was on offense, some weren't big fans of his game, including legendary coach Phil Jackson and his former Denver Nuggets coach, George Karl.

When Anthony was with the Knicks, the 11-time NBA champion coach was the acting president of the team. Long before his big fallout with Anthony, Jackson publicly expressed his discomfort with the former All-Star player's game on multiple occasions.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than -- we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense," Jackson said in 2016.

Karl previously spoke about his star player's game. While Karl has great words for the former Nuggets player's offensive game, he said he didn't like Melo's tendency to score and not work on his defense.

Just a week before Melo's induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Boeheim defended his former pupil against the criticisms. In a conversation with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, Boeheim said:

"Well, the thing I think about the NBA is that he made every team that he was on better than they were. Whether it was Denver or the Knicks, he made them better. They had to go up against the Lakers and the Spurs in Denver. They couldn't do it, but he made the team better.

"That's all you can do sometimes as players. You can't make a team a championship team by yourself. You have to have a lot of parts to it. His time in Denver, there were some great teams with the Lakers and the Spurs. He made them better, and that's all you can do as a player."

Earlier this year, Carmelo Anthony made the list of finalists for the HoF. He will be officially inducted on Saturday in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Jim Boeheim gets honest about Carmelo Anthony's HoF induction

Carmelo Anthony's HoF induction wasn't a surprise to the basketball world. From the NCAA title and scoring title to All-NBA selections, the 10x All-Star was an obvious selection for the honor.

"He's had a great career and has given back to every place that he's been," Boeheim said. "That’s what you like to think when you think about a Hall-of-Fame type person. He's that kind of person."

A member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, Anthony is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and also a two-time USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year.