by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
The soap opera playing out in Denver is a lot like watching a bad marriage slowly crumble. One side (seemingly) wants out, while the other, knowing full well that everything would be ruined should a split happen, desperately tries to hang on.
The Nuggets introduced their new VP of basketball operations to the world yesterday, and his first task is the most important job in the entire organization: convince Carmelo Anthony to stay.
The team attempted to paint a rosy picture between Anthony’s representatives and front-office execs in Denver, and as the Denver Post reports, the Nuggets are ready to listen to ‘Melo, assuming he wants to talk:
The Nuggets’ new executive vice president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, reiterated Tuesday he intends to meet with Anthony soon to get a clearer picture of what the star forward wants to see in order to convince him Denver is the place to stay for at least three more seasons.
“I think that all the speculation is about the team,” Ujiri said. “I think the team is a good team. I don’t know if he has anything that he wants us to do. I think he’s been treated very well by this organization, and he’ll continue to be treated well by this organization. I’ll wait and talk to Melo and see what he has to say. I think so far things have been positive. There’s been a lot of speculation, but hey, that’s how it works in our business.”
“Anything that has been said is either someone trying to manipulate the situation behind the scenes or other motives that are unknown at this point,” [Josh] Kroenke said. “But Melo and his representation have been great to us. I think he knows he can come to me as an individual. We have that amount of respect that we can talk about things openly in a noncombative way. So anything that has been stated from sources behind sources . . . All of our talks have been extremely cordial. I haven’t had a negative conversation with Carmelo Anthony since I’ve known him, and that goes back to my time as a college basketball player. I don’t have a bad word to say about Melo as a person.”
The battle to win back Carmelo Anthony’s heart and mind in Denver has officially begun.
