Morning Brew: Nuggets need to keep Carmelo Anthony

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Don’t hate me KU, but I love Carmelo Anthony.

The smooth, small forward from Baltimore led Syracuse to a National Championship in 2003 at the hands of the Jayhawks, and a lot of you can’t forgive him for it. But seeing how he’s been the core of the Denver Nuggets’ current seven-year playoff streak, I just can’t hold it against him.

Any basketball fan can’t deny his skill set. He’s a complete scorer who can drive and shoot as well as anyone in the league. His ability to draw fouls and make free throws only make him more dynamic. While his commitment to defense is often questioned, he’s proven to be solid when needed. And he’s about to be traded?

The Nuggets have been trying their hardest to resign Anthony in the offseason. They’ve offered an extension to his current contract, which expires after the upcoming season, and he’s refused it. Now, that core of the Nuggets is at the core of a four-team trade that would send Anthony to New Jersey.

I really don’t blame him. The Nuggets have supplied him with a team that will be successful to a point – more specifically, the Western Conference finals. There’s no denying the talent they put on the court, but they’re not an elite team. The New Jersey Nets will move to Brooklyn, where Anthony was born, in a couple years. The new owner of the Nets, Mikhail Prokorov, won’t be as shy in shelling out money to surround Anthony with more top-tier talent, enough to challenge the NBA’s evil empire in Miami.

For my Nuggets, the compensation is plentiful. Derrick Favors, Andrei Kirilenko and multiple first-round draft picks will be enough to rebuild a Denver squad with a couple pieces already in place. But just as Kansas fans will always think of Carmelo Anthony as LaLa Vasquez’s husband and don’t recognize his existence in the basketball world, I’ll always see ‘Melo as a Nugget.

— Edited by Anna Nordling

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