Archive for the 'Carmelo Anthony' Category

The Return of the Enver Nuggets

July 15, 2008

It looks like 2008 will be the return of the Enver Nuggets, the team with no D. The Nuggets traded Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers for a future second-round draft pick.

This is the stupidest move, ever. If I had to make a top-10 stupid trades list, this would be up there. (Hey, maybe I’ll do that some day, when I’m less pissed off than I am right now.)

Maybe somebody in the front office is allergic to rebounding. First they got rid of Reggie Evans — yeah, I know, my Iowa love for him aside, he’s not all that or anything. Then they get rid of Camby. Who in the hell is going to rebound now? How in the hell are they going to play their fast-paced, hustle game without anybody pounding the boards? Shit, I don’t want to sound like John Madden, but you can’t run with the ball if you don’t have the ball. Who in the hell is going to get the ball?

I know I love Marcus Camby more than I should, probably, but he was the team’s defense. Without him, they’re going to suck even more than they already did. I’ve said it before, but I think he was a strong, stabilizing force in the locker room and probably the closest thing to a leader this sorry team had.

And let me just go on the record right now — if they had to make a blue-light special move for salary cap space, I’d rather they moved Carmelo Anthony. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t hate Melo, and I don’t blame him for the lame-ass season we ended up with last year. However, let’s face it, he’s not getting any better and he’s one fuck up away from being completely untouchable. One more DUI charge, “it’s not my backpack” incident, or misguided video, and no team in the world will trade for him. If he keeps stagnating, playing lazy, and being a generally selfish player, we’ll be stuck with him.

Well. I thought a little bitching would make me feel better, but it really didn’t.

Posted in Bitching, Carmelo Anthony, Hit by a Pitch, NBA, Nuggets, Sports, Sports/News, Stupid trades, Transactions | 3 Comments »

Here come the Lithuanians again.

January 24, 2008
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Remember that time last year when a bunch of Lithuanian hoops fans congregated at the Pepsi Center to do some mad crazy cheering for Linas Kleiza (discussed here)? Well, they were back in full force last night, representing for Lietuvos Respublika. Ačiū for the good luck, guys (have you seen the Nugs lose a game when they’re present?).

A Nuggets team decimated by injury beat the Atlanta Hawks — without Carmelo Anthony. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a win. No Nene? Najera with a wonky elbow? No Melo? No chance, right? The team looked good, though. Cohesive. Camby had a double-double and some Andre-Miller-like assists to Kleiza, who scored 23 points. Kenyon Martin had a double-double; a healthy Kenyon Martin is a monster. Iverson contributed, as usual, with 29 points, and Anthony Carter had nine assists.

This was a nice win, and you almost have to feel a little warm and fuzzy about the Nuggets right now. The problem is that I’m never quite sure what to think about the team — and that reveals the real issue they’re facing this year: inconsistency. As soon as you’re happy about a win over a good opponent or the team’s awesome home record, they get pounded by the Lakers and lose all road games so far this month.

So we’ll see. Today, I’m cautiously optimistic and not thinking beyond the end of the month. January ends with one more home game, then three on the road. I think they can win at home, take two of the three road games, and hopefully avoid additional injuries.

Good luck, guys, and good thoughts to Nene for a speedy and complete recovery.

Posted in Carmelo Anthony, Hit by a Pitch, Linas Kleiza, Lithuanians, NBA, Nene, Nuggets, Sports | 2 Comments »

Serious Carmelo

December 1, 2007

I don’t want to make too much of this (really!) but during last night’s Nuggets game, I saw Carmelo’s gigantic smile exactly once, and it was after a questionable call went his way. Even when he messed up or didn’t get a foul call he should’ve gotten, the smile wasn’t there. He seemed serious during the entire game, really serious. Mature, even. He hustled on defense. And they kicked ass against the Clippers, a team I didn’t think they’d beat on the second night of a back-to-back.

Nice work, Melo. Let’s see more of this!

Posted in Carmelo Anthony, Hit by a Pitch, NBA, Nuggets, Sports | No Comments »

Grow up, Carmelo.

November 30, 2007

I’m not going to hate on Carmelo Anthony or blame him for the craptacular play of the Nuggets last night. Carmelo is a good player with the potential to be great — but he’s not going to be great until he grows up.

Something bad was going on during last night’s game — Carmelo was smiling that big smile after getting called for fouls. Did you see that? I’ve noticed him doing this, last season and the season before, when something doesn’t go his way. He gets called for a foul or there’s no whistle when he gets hammered on the way to the hoop, and out comes the shit-eating grin. It means he’s not giving 100%. His head isn’t in the game and instead of an elite athlete, he’s acting more like a surly teenager.

If you see that smile, it means trouble. It means he’s going to be careless. He’ll only give a half-effort when driving to the basket for a layup (which means he’ll miss the shot and might not get the foul call). In the worst case, after that smile comes out Carmelo will do something ridiculously stupid and immature, like jab the throat of an opposing player and get thrown out of the game.

I’m not saying he shouldn’t smile or have fun playing basketball. But if you’ve seen the smile I’m talking about, you probably understand that it shows frustration instead of happiness. It’s the look of “why me” and “here we go again.” It’s not the look of someone who’s going help his team get past the first round of the playoffs this year.

I don’t know if Carmelo Anthony has to be the team’s leader. Iverson and Camby can do that. Carmelo does have to take each game seriously and play hard instead of slipping into smiling give-up mode, and this will require maturity that he seems to be lacking. I don’t know how he’ll develop that maturity, but I hope it happens soon.

Posted in Carmelo Anthony, Hit by a Pitch, NBA, Nuggets, Sports | 4 Comments »