The Grass is not always greener: Carmelo Anthony

July 6th 2006, Carmelo Anthony signed an five year $80 million dollar contract with an option to become a free agent in the fourth year with the Denver Nuggets.  During that summer Anthony along with Dwyane Wade and Lebron James discussed two deals, the one that Anthony eventually signed and a three year deal worth $63 million dollars with an option for the fourth year to become a free agent that Wade and James eventually signed.  Alongside of the glaring $17 million dollar difference between the two contracts, the shorter contract that was signed by Wade and James gave those players more flexibility when it came to their futures which saw its fruition this past summer when both signed six year, $100 million dollar contracts.  After he signed his contract Anthony spoke of family and how much he loved the Nuggets.

"My situation is different than other situations," he said. "I had to make sure my family is straight, make sure my kids, my grandkids, my great-great grandkids are straight. That's why I feel good about it."


"It was a no-brainer for me," Anthony said. "When all the rumors were out there saying I was signing this type of deal or that type of deal, my family called me and said, 'Look, are you crazy?' Growing up we don't have [much]."


Since Anthony's arrival, the Nuggets have enjoyed success that teams like the Clippers would die for, trips to the playoffs and even one trip in 2009 to the Western Conference Finals.  It was said at that time that the Nuggets were going to be the team to eventually dethrone the LA Lakers, my how things have changed!  All was well with Anthony and the Nuggets until July 8th 2010 when Lebron James shocked the basketball world by joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.  That was the night everything changed and all of a sudden the Nuggets who worked harder than most teams to surround Anthony with talent was deemed not good enough.  Here's another quote from Anthony after he signed his $80 million dollar contract:

"This is where I want to be," Anthony said. "The whole state has embraced me."


During his seven plus seasons with the Nuggets Anthony has done something that Wade, James, and Bosh haven't.  Every year that he's been in the league the Nuggets have made the playoffs; despite that fact the success in the playoffs eluded him all but one year.  Anthony and the Nuggets lost in the first round of the playoffs his first five seasons to Minnesota, San Antonio, the LA Clippers, San Antonio once more, and the LA Lakers before finally making it to the conference finals in the 2008/09 season and losing to the Lakers in 6 tough games, last season the Nuggets reverted to old form losing in the first round to Utah.  All in all up until this season the Nuggets have a winning percentage of 58.28% since drafting Anthony.  More than half of the players/teams in the NBA would take that winning percentage.  Among his three draft mates, Anthony has the second highest number of total wins since the 03/04 season.


All summer Anthony has been saying good things in front of the camera when it came to whether or not he was going to resign with Denver in the off-season but behind the scenes he has been pushing for a trade out of Denver because he feels that the team can't compete with the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, or Magic.  Even though the Nugget have done a poor job in finding a future home for Anthony, he needs to stop lying to the fans.  Smart NBA fans already know that the writing is on the wall, but Anthony needs to make his trade request public and stop trying to play the role of the good guy, Melo we all know that you want out, please stop the BS.  We know that your wife, Lala Vasquez-Anthony wants you to play in New York so that she can further her entertainment career, we all know this!  Had you signed the contract that Wade and James signed you would not be in this situation and it's a shame because the Nuggets fans are the ones who are losing.  To make matters worse Anthony took a swipe and how Chris Bosh left the Raptors when he was a FREE AGENT:


"I'm not Chris Bosh," Anthony declared. "We're not the same person. What I do will be straight up. Management knows that."

Really Melo?  I don't understand how you can make such a statement when as a free agent Bosh had every right to leave his team under the rules but you are forcing a trade away from the team who has given you everything to make you successful.  Instead of looking at the Nuggets and saying you guys aren't good enough for me anymore, maybe you need to look into the mirror and say damn, maybe I wasn't a good enough player when it mattered or leader to allow my team to have more success.  The way Anthony has handled this situation is extremely disappointing and the Nuggets fans should let him know how they feel every time they see him until he is granted his trade request which will happen at any moment.  The New Jersey Nets have the inside track on Anthony now and in two seasons they will move to Brooklyn.  My sources say he will be in New Jersey by weeks end if not sooner.  The grass is not always greener on the other side Carmelo Anthony, hopefully your leaving the Nuggets will not end up being career suicide.