NBA: Carmelo Anthony’s heads towards destination “unknown”
As we all know how crazy the NBA free-agency was this year, the media could not stop talking about LeBron James departure from his hometown team and joining his 2003 NBA draft season batch mates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the Miami Heat. Sports analysts are already predicting the three-peat will devour every franchise in the National Basketball Association, be it the alpha dogs Los Angeles Lakers or the veteran infested the Boston Celtics.
LeBron was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers as the 1st pick overall while Chris at 4th and Dwyane at 5th in the 2003 drafting season.
Rumours and speculations about the newly formed power-house are still hitting the news every day; paparazzi’s following the three superstars everywhere, media outlets watching their every move. Although contrary to the hype and stardom all three are embracing, there is much hatred being diverted towards the trio as well.
LeBron’s billboards in Cleveland had been taken down, critics say Dwyane has proved he is no less than a child who needs someone to hold his finger and guide him the way, while Chris was recently bashed by his former team coach and is being called the odd one out of the trio.
There might a lot of praising and scrutiny going around by the media and basketball pundits, however somehow they forgot there was another great player in the NBA 2003 drafting season who made his debut with the Denver Nuggets as the 3rd pick overall higher than the much talked about Dwyane and Chris.
So who is this young stellar player who was drafted amongst the top 3 in 2003 and was constantly talked about until recently, who also has his own brand of shoes named “Melo” endorsed by Nike.
The ostensibly forgotten one is Carmelo Anthony, the three-time All-Star made headlines as much as the other three did a few years ago, but somehow his recognition seems to have dwindled. It has come to a point that Carmelo is still a free-agent, considering the fact the free-agency has technically been over since almost two months now.
Is it because Carmelo is not the player he used to be once? Is it because his scoring average has decreased over the years or because most franchises have already obtained the players they desired?
The fact that Carmelo averaged 30.7 points with an astounding number of 8.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in this year’s playoffs diminishes the theory of how he is deteriorating as a player. Carmelo is a player who has improved over the years and has made it to the playoffs seven consecutive times, unlike Dwayne who has only made it to the playoffs six- times, LeBron five-times and Chris only twice.
Carmelo points per game average has increased each time over the year, from 15.0 in 2004, 19.2 in 2005, 21.0 in 2006, 26.8. in 2007, 22.5 in 2008, 27.2 in 2009 and 30.7 in 2010. He also won the NBA Rookie Challenge MVP in 2005.
The small forward has kept consistency; his total average may not be as high is LeBron or Dwyane but it still does not change the fact of his career average of 24.5PPG, which only the elite of NBA have and can maintain. It is a fact in the NBA anyone with an average higher than 20.0 is considered a legit professional.
So what went wrong? Is there no room left for Carmelo in other team’s rosters?
It’s certainly a tough question to answer as statistically he is an A Grade player and is amongst the youngest high scorers currently present in the NBA. Basketball pundits say the fact that 90% of the franchises were banking on the thought that they’d be able land the newly formed Miami trio to their bench, turned out otherwise. Leaving most franchises such as New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers visibly upset. The thought of Carmelo’s mere existence as a free-agent seemed to have faded away.
Whatever the case maybe, it’s quite strange how till now there have not been many rumours or speculations regarding teams being interested in the All-Star. Carmelo’s destination is still unknown, however let’s hopes he remains true to the Nuggets and does not scat of like most superstars these days in the NBA.
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