This whole Carmelo Anthony trade thing will probably shake out in the next few days, but it\'s interesting to see all the little things that go on as a top 10 talent in the league, and a franchise player is on the block.
As a Denver Nuggets fan, I would obviously rather have Anthony stick with the Nuggets. The team made it to the Western Conference finals only two years ago, and returns a more talented team this year, after fading out last year with injuries and George Karl out with cancer treatments. Since that run to the WCF, they have added a very solid 3 and D young shooting guard in Arron Afflalo, a dynamic point guard of the future in Ty Lawson, and, most recently, persuaded Al Harrington to sign as a free agent. This team has a chance to be very good if Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen come back from their respective surgeries. Chauncey Billups is probably on the downside of a great career, but he still offers a very competitive demeanor, and a championship ring.
And, if they make a run, but come up short they have a lot of salary coming off the books after the 2011 season, including Martin\'s gigantic $16 million a year. That enables the team to grab another crucial piece.
Instead, Melo seems to be disgruntled at the flux in the front office - fired Mark Warkentien and Rex Chapman, the shake up in ownership, Stan Kroenke passed the reins to son, Josh, in order to take full ownership of the St. Louis Rams and still comply with league rules. Most recently assistant Tim Grgurich left, which is a huge blow to the team, as he\'s probably one of the top developmental coaches in the league and a very calming presence on the bench. Plus, Martin and Andersen are scheduled to miss a good chunk of the beginning of the season, so the bigs rotation to start the season is sketchy at best.
Of course, if New Jersey does land Melo, they won\'t be better than the Nuggets as currently constructed. Anthony will be making a huge bet on competency of the new ownership, new coach, and the talents of Brook Lopez. That\'s a risky gamble, especially since Avery Johnson has been Blake Griffin Jerseys known to piss off star players with his overly demanding coaching philosophy that includes an insistence on playing all out on defense every position, which is not exactly Carmelo\'s strength. Carmelo would be betting that the Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, can also lure in star point guard Chris Paul, at Blake Griffin Jerseys least in time to grab him during the 2012 free agency period.
Reports are now saying that Kobe is telling Melo to take a minute and make sure he really wants to leave, and that the new situation is really what he wants, rather than just leaving for leaving\'s sake. There are also players across the league that have been reaching out to Anthony about bad experiences in New Jersey including fan apathy, and a 12-win season last year. Melo will have to take all of this into consideration as he weighs his options, and decides whether or not to commit to a contract extension if traded.
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The stat geeks over at Wages of Wins aren\'t as high on Melo as most, because he doesn\'t rack up the types of numbers, aside from points, that they like to see in their star players in order to produce wins, thus, the Nuggets are projected to come out as winners on most trades that have been bandied about in the last month. I\'m not vehemently opposed to a change of scenery for this very reason. Melo is a great scorer, but he may not have the intangibles needed to carry an NBA team to a championship. He isn\'t necessarily a strong leader, he takes defensive possessions off, and if he was stuck in a confessional, it would probably come out that scoring points is slightly more important than winning to him.
I like what Denver\'s front office, including new vice president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, is doing right now. They got a firm commitment on the NJ offer with Derrick Favors, the 3rd pick in this year\'s draft going to the Nuggets, along with a number one draft pick, and Andrei Kirilenko, and his expiring $18 million salary, which is a pretty good package, but they\'re not rushing into anything. Obviously, they\'re taking this offering, showing it around the league and asking if anyone else can beat it. I would prefer a Chicago Bulls trade that includes Joakim Noah, who will anchor the team in the middle for years to come, or if the LA Clippers offered Blake Griffin, I would take that in a heart beat. If not, you can expect the Nuggets to sign off, and the deal to go through, which I think will be for the best.
All of a sudden Denver becomes a very defensive-minded team. Part of the Favors appeal in the draft was his shot blocking and hustle at Georgia Tech, while Kirilenko made an all-star team by being an incredible off the ball shot blocker and tenacious defender. Blake Griffin Jerseys He\'s fallen off in the past few years, but had a bit of a resurgence last year, which may turn into a full blown comeback with a change of scenery.
Anyway, it will be very interesting to see how this thing shakes out. I don\'t think it is devastating at all for the Nuggets. In fact, I think they\'ll still make the playoffs, and the new blood, and moves yet to be made after salaries come off the books, may be just the catalyst the team needed to seriously contend in a few years.
