Carmelo Anthony doesn’t want his return to Denver jeopardized – NBA Update
New York Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony is not very pleased with the NBA lockout.
And it is not only because of the obvious reasons.
While all NBA players are upset at games being cancelled, the lockout has hit Anthony particularly hard. The forward was is scheduled to return to Denver for a regular season game on November 16th, and with games already
cancelled up to November 14th, his trip to the old hunting ground is now under serious threat.
Anthony started his NBA career back in 2003 with the Denver Nuggets, who drafted him as the 3rd overall pick. In the years that followed, Carmelo became a super star and established himself as one of the most potent
small forwards in the league. However, the Bronchos failed to develop into a serious championship contender in his era and with time, Anthony became disillusioned by the lack of success. Ultimately in the middle of last season, he forced a move to New York,
much to the disgust of the Nuggets fans.
He could therefore get a frosty reception in Denver, but surprisingly still wanted a return to his first home in basketball.
"I can't shy away from that. I've got to deal with it." Melo said in an interview published on ESPN.
"Obviously once they said the first two weeks was going to be cancelled, of course the Denver game was highlighted on the calendar, not just for me but for everybody. So right now, that has a chance to be up in flames now."
The forward had a great relationship with the fans for the most part of his career, but he does expect some to turn on him when he returns. Carmelo however justifies his move to the Knicks saying he didn’t want to go away as a
free-agent and at least this way, the Nuggets got compensation.
How the Nuggets fans will react to Melo's arrival is anybody’s guess, and the way things are going, chances are that will remain a guess for some time to come. The NBA owners and the players association are still gulfs apart on
the new Collective Bargaining agreement and even if they merge on an agreement next week, time will be required for re-scheduling, free agency and pre-season games. Thus, the Denver game can be re-scheduled.
And that is the optimistic view.
If the players and owners do not come to an agreement, which seems to be the more likely course of action at the moment, there might be more cancellations. That worries Carmelo.
"Right now, anybody would be," he said Wednesday. "They cancel the first two weeks of the season, maybe in a couple of days they cancel another two weeks of the season. So I don't know how to feel right now."
Carmelo made the move away from Denver because he wanted to play at a bigger stage, and on a team, he knew had a genuine chance of winning top honours in NBA. With Chauncey Billups and Amar’e Stoudemire by his side in New York,
Melo finally seems to have the kind of support he yearned for.
Therefore the lockout really came at the wrong time for him.
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