Carmelo Anthony And Trainer Launch Virtual Mentoring Platform

The death of the late, great Kobe Bryant inspired the Portland Trail Blazers’ Carmelo Anthony and trainer Alex Bazzell to create an educational platform that will reach the next generation of basketball players, reports Jarrel Harris of Sports Illustrated. Besides Anthony, Bazzell has worked with other NBA and WNBA greats: Trae Young, Candace Parker, and Kyrie Irving among them. Regarding the start of Through the Lens, Anthony said he has one goal in mind.

“Put simply, my goal is to leave the game better than how I found it. Over the years I’ve put a lot of thought into the best way to go about that, and it starts with making coaching and education about the sport accessible for young people, regardless of their gender, race, skill level or background,” Anthony says. “Alex and I are proud to introduce Through the Lens as a platform offering unprecedented access to education and motivation at the highest level, to keep pushing the game and the next generation forward.”

In an interview with Bazzell, Bazzell discussed his relationship with Anthony, whom he met while Anthony was out of the league. Their unique relationship allowed them to develop this platform together, noted Bazzell.

We have a very unique relationship. He was very tight with Kobe, but that’s not how we met. We met through a different source and I kind of met him at the lowest point of his career. He was out of the league. There had to be a quick amount of trust that we built. So forming that relationship at a level to where we felt like we were kind of in this dog fight together. I think it brought us together a lot closer than if I would’ve joined him at the peak of his career or early in his career when things were going well. So that formed that unique relationship that not a lot of people ever get to experience. Then once he decided he wanted to kind of step in and spearhead this thing, just with how powerful his voice is, the conversations I always have with him is there’s very few people that demand the respect that he does from all age groups.

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