Throughout Anthony’s basketball odyssey, and especially as his career has wandered, there were always persistent claims questioning his effort or suggesting he wasn’t a team player. Barton, who said Anthony was a top-five basketball player in the world in his prime, wouldn’t stand for that. “The outside world is not in the NBA,” Barton said. “Like fans, and stuff like that, could portray him that way and just ridicule him in the media and stuff like that, social media. It’s crazy the disrespect a guy that good gets on social media. You look on Twitter and Instagram, they’re kind of always clowning him. But real basketball heads know how good that guy is and he’s a special talent. It’s crazy that some of the kids in this generation are going to think of him in that way because he’s really good, and he was really good in his prime.”