Filed Under » Carmelo Anthony

Riding a six-game win streak behind new superstar Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks assigned Carmelo Anthony to their D-League affiliate in Erie, the team announced Wednesday.

"Carmelo no longer has an obvious role on this team," head coach Mike D'Antoni said, "and we thought he would benefit from getting regular minutes."

The Knicks were just 10-12 with Anthony in the lineup and had been struggling since acquiring the once-superstar from Denver last season. However, Lin — the second-year player who was undrafted out of Harvard — has turned their season around, much to the delight of his teammates.

"I love playing with Jeremy so much," said star forward Amar'e Stoudemire. "He's way better than that guy who used to play for us. Carson? Carmax? What was his name again? Cancer?"

Anthony, who is recovering from an injured groin, is taking his demotion in stride.

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is reportedly meeting with close associates and team officials to put the finishing touches on plans for a press conference in which he will admit that he is not a superstar.

"Carmelo has been fighting with this for a long time," said a Knicks team official. "It's not that he doesn't want to be on the level of guys like Kobe and Lebron. He does. Unfortunately, even though he has a cool, unique name like those guys, he's not nearly as good as them. And it's hard to live and perform under the expectations that he is."

Anthony's arrival in New York via a blockbuster trade with the Denver Nuggets last season only increased the pressure to perform on a player who won an NCAA title as a freshman and was selected No. 3 overall in 2003 between Lebron James at No. 1 and Dwyane Wade at No. 5.

"Why can't people just think of Carmelo as a good player?" said a close friend of Anthony's. "Like: 'Boy, that Carmelo is pretty good,' instead of 'Carmelo sure isn't living up to expectations' or 'that Carmelo is the shittiest superstar ever.' That stuff hurts."

Despite high expectations in New York, Anthony's Knicks are only 7-11 while his former Nuggets team has greatly improved without him and has the second-best record in the Western Conference.

"I have nothing but positive things to say about Carmelo," said Nuggets head coach George Karl. "He would be a great piece here. Just imagine how great he would be to bring off the bench as a scoring threat. He'd be the superstar of sixth men."