by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
According to the latest media reports, things seem to have reached the point of no return between the Denver Nuggets and their franchise player, Carmelo Anthony. It now appears almost definite that a split is inevitable.
While Nuggets fans (and the team) would be devastated should this occur, would a break up be such a bad thing?
The Denver Post tries to argue that Melo and the Nuggets going their separate way may be best for both parties (though it will certainly not be an easy task):
While Team USA headed to the world basketball championships in Turkey, Anthony has set his sights on China to film a movie. The task of receiving anywhere near market value for Anthony in trade only figures to be more difficult with a growing perception the 6-foot-8 Denver forward is more interested in winning an Oscar than an NBA title.
As a league executive told me: Anthony used to bleed basketball. But if you opened him up now and looked inside, what could be found closest to the player’s heart? A love of the game? Or the desire to be a Hollywood star?
As soon as Masai Ujiri settles in his chair as the team’s new general manager, it will be a hot seat. How many pressure-packed chores can one man handle? Within 12 months, the Nuggets as we know could well be unrecognizable … Virtually every key figure of a team that advanced to the Western Conference finals in 2009 will no longer be around when the dust settles from a major shakeup of the Nuggets, predicted a league executive who has kept close tabs on the increasingly volatile situation in Denver. It’s beginning to look as if rebuilding the team could be a far bigger, messier task than finding a trade partner to take Anthony. This might be a scrape-off project.
Wait, how is any of the above supposed to be “good” for the Nuggets again?
Should they blow the team up — starting with a trade of Carmelo Anthony for a bunch of smaller pieces — they’ll be back in rebuilding mode, and become almost completely irrelevant in the NBA. We could be headed towards very bad times in Denver.
