There is the pressure associated with bein💃g the son of a former NBA player. For Cole Anthony, that means following in Greg 𒐪Anthony’s large footsteps.
Cole faces the pressure of being hailed as the neﷺxt great New York City prospect, a title that comes with plenty of potential pratfalls, and being ranked near the top of his class nationally. Pressure of being the first freshman to start at point guard from Day 1 at his high school, Archbishop Molloy in Queens, in more than three decades.
And thus far, Cole has answered it all like this pressure is a defender who has no shot of staying in front of him. He’s led Molloy to a 12-2 record while averaging 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists, guiding the Stanners to the top of the Catholic League.
Cole said he doesn’t feel any of it, or let ✤it affect him.
“I embrace it,” said the 6-foot-3, 15-year-old from the Upper West Side with th🔯e silky jump shot and eye-popping leaping a𒁏bility.
“In his mind, [it’s not] ‘I want to play in the NBA,’ it’s, ‘I’m going to p🍷lay in the NBA,’ ” his mother, Crystal McCrary, said. “You can’t t🍎ell him he’s not.”
Cole’s family is aware of the danger of the New York City hype, of becoming the next Lenny Cooke — a tragic tale of pressure being too much, the high ranking coming too soon. But they believe Cole is being raised in such a way he is equipped to handle it. McCrary makes sure he has other interests — he has knowledge 🦹of the stock market and visits museums — so it’s not just basketball all the time. Basketball w🧔ill get taken away if his average drops below a “B.”
His grandmother, Thelma McCrary, sends him articles of promising young players who went down ꧂the wrong path. Every time Anthony will show his grandmother a video of himself or a positive article, he෴r response is similar.
“That’s great, but you have to stay humblꦕe,” she says.
“Now he almost silences me before I say it. He says, ‘I know, got to st🍌ay humble.’ I’m sure it might be like a broken record by no꧒w.”
Greg tells him the same — “Never let the hype get to you” — and so does his 🅠stepfather, Raymond McGuire. It can get old, Cole said, but he also understands w💞hy he hears it so often. His solution is simple.
“Always stay in the gym,” he said. “I just focus onꦯ my craft.”
As much as his family keeps him humble, Cole is his toughest critic. After a re🧜cent game against All Hallows, in which he scored 26 points and thoroughly dominated the contest, he harped on his mistakes — too many turnovers — instead of the clear positives. His mother has yet to hear him give himself an “A.” There always is room fo꧑r improvement.
“The more basketball success he has, however that’s defined by him, it makes him hungry for more,” said Crystal, a producer/director and author. “It feeds him to want to con🍰tinue playing harder and refining what it is he’s learned.
“He’s constantly thinking about ways to improve.”
Greg’s basketball career was over, after an 11-year NBA career, by the time Cole was 2 years old. Cole played a variety of sports growing up. Basketball wasn’t pushed on him. But it was his passion — that and football, which he also played through middle school at Poly Prep in Brooklyn. Fearing the violent nature of the sports, Greg and his ex-wife eliminated itꦅ. That made more time for basketball, which is where Cole has devo𒁃ted all of his energy.
For years, Cole and Greg would play one-on-one. But that came to an end thi🧔s summer. Cole was getting too good, and finally defe𒅌ated his dad.
“Now I just play vicariously though him,” said Greg, who played four seasons with ♒the Knicks and is now an NBA analyst for TNT and CBS. “He needs a litt🔯le bit more competition than me.”
Cole has watched film of his dad, from his UN☂LV days to time in the NBA, and is impressed.
“I want to be better, though,” Cole sai🐽d with a smile. “I want to be great.”
Asked how he would compare himself with his son at the same age, Greg was diplomatic, giving a non-answer. But McCrary said her ex-husba💙nd is honest with her about where they stood: Cole is better — way better.
“Every nook and cranny of basketball that Greg has pi♔cked up over the 40 years he’s played at or commentated on, I see it being heard and passed on to Cole,” McCrary said. “It’s like the family business.
“We’re divorced, but his involvement never wavered, never slipped off because of that. Greg is his biggest adviser, his biggest fan and his biggesᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚt critic.”
It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon at the famed Gauchos Gym in The Bronx, a sparse 🏅crowd on hand to watch Molloy face All Hallows. Anthony didn’t take his first shot until there were 30 seconds left in the first quarter, preferring to get his teammates involved rather tꦏhan looking for his shot.
He is a ball-mover and willing passer, more interested in advancing it than dribbling. His first shot, a left-corner 3-pointer, barely moved the net, it was so pure. He finished with ♛26 points, effortlessly dazzling the small crowd with a 🥂series of feathery jump shots, explosive drives to the hoop and a two-handed dunk.
Posting gaudy numbers isn’t his style. Cole and his father have worked on his becoming a good teamm൩ate the past few years, of developing the kind of game thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚat will make others want to play with him.
“I’veꦫ just always been told you can’t win by yoursel✅f,” Cole said.
“It’s🔥 innate in him,” Greg said. “That’s who he is. He judges everything based on winning. What do the best players do? They♔ win.”
Winning always has been important to C🍨ole, his mom said. When he was younger, he couldn’t lose in anything. Temper tantrums would be the result.
“It could be darts, it could be Monopoly,” McCrary sa💛id. “He wanted to win at all costs.”
MSG Varsity analyst Mike Quick watched four of Cole’s games, and though the talent was obvious, the way in﷽ which he affects the game is what truly stood out. His unselfishness, his desire to win. His temperament didn’t change from one game to the next, whether or not his shot was falling or he was posting big scoring games. The fewe༒r points he scored, the more he rebounded or the better defense he played. In a narrow victory over Bishop Loughlin, he inspired teammate Khalid Moore to make big free throws, giving him a boost of confidence.
“He can have an off-day scoring, but he won’t have an off-game because he plays with great effort,” Quick said. “He plays for the name on the front of the jersꦕey.”
Kenny Anderson didn’t start as a freshman at Molloy, and neither did Kenny Smith — the two best point guards in the school’s storied basketball history. Clearly, high school basketball is different these days, the level significantly lower. Still, Quick 💦is adamant Cole could have played as a freshman in any era, even when local hoops was king.
Molloy assistant coach Fran Leary watched Anderson dazzle everyone as a freshman coming ꧂off the bench — legendary former coach Jack Curran wouldn’t start a freshman at the time — and go on to enjoy one of the great high school careers in New York City history. Cole isn’t quite at that level, Leary cautioned, but there are similarities. And there are things he said Cole does better at the same age.
“I’ve never seen Kenny jump as high as Cole does,” Leary said. “Cole’s a better athlete. … They have the same makeup.”
Leary is not alone in the pra꧃ise. A number of college coaches already have been in to se🐎e Cole, and they have left impressed.
“He sees plays two or three plays ahead, which is not the norm for a 15-year-old kid,” one coach said. “He sees the play develop before it actually develops. You have some high school seniors — some college freshmen — who d🍌on’t see that.”
“It’s understated excellence, the way he plays,” another coach said. “He just doe🔴s so much, like of like in a Jason Kidd mold.”
“He’s the best point guard I’ve see🃏n since Stephon Marbury at that age,” said Christ the King coach Joe Arbitello, who has been around New York City high school basketball as a player or coach since the early 1990s.
Perhaps what is so exciting about Cole, more than the p��𝓰otential he has exhibited, his poise and his ability, is his future within the five boroughs. So many top prospects leave New York City for prep schools, to face better competition, avoid the many distractions. That hasn’t happened yet with Cole.
When picking a school, McCrary said they w💃ere looking for the best combination of academics and basketball, so though traditional powerhouses Lincoln, Christ the King and Cardinal Hayes recruited him, the family chose Molloy.
“He can be the torch-bearer for New York City basketball,” Q💛uick said.
It’s a lot of pressure to be place on a 15-year-old, but it’s pꦦressure those close to him believe he can handle. After all, nobody is putting more pressure on Cole Antho🎃ny than himself.
“My goal,” he said, “is to make it to the 🧸NBA and be remembered as one of the all-time greats.”