With the last jumper canned and his jersey discarded, there’s nothing left for Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony to do after practice except make a VIP list.
It’s a very short list. And Melo puts himself on it.
He is asked to count the number of elite players in the NBA.
“There’s no more than 10,” Anthony says.
OK. Give up the names.
“You’ve got the established guys. There’s Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal,” Anthony says.
“You have to include Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. That’s the older tier of the elite.”
Keep going.
“Then you’ve got the up-and-comers. Me, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire,” says Anthony, his chest bare and not afraid to thump it. “I think we’re the young guys headed to the top.”
Now there’s a top-10 list you don’t want to mess with.
“That’s some fast company right there,” Anthony says.
The Nuggets entered the NBA’s world in 1976, eight years before Anthony was born.Since joining the league, this franchise has never won more than 54 games in a single season.
“This franchise has had some great teams through the years, so that should tell you how hard winning 55 or 60 games in this league is to accomplish,” Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe says.
Denver has been the basketball home of David Thompson, Dan Issel and Alex English, remembered as the Skywalker, the Horse and a shooter smoother than Courvoisier.
“This team has had some great players, more than a lot of franchises,” Vandeweghe says.
Now, for this to be the greatest Denver team ever, all the 21-year-old Anthony has to do is grow up to be the greatest Nuggets player of them all.
Is he ready?
In this town, strange as it sounds, Anthony has always been more celebrity than celebrated.
While he gave Denver a reason to talk hoops for the first time in years, way too much of the chatter about Anthony has been about what he’s not. He’s not James. Or he’s not Wade. He’s not anything except a shooter. He’s not mature. He’s not enough about winning.
But during the playoffs against San Antonio, Melo demonstrated something his doubters missed. It was a passion, a stubborn refusal to accept defeat. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich saw it, too. And it scared him. On the night the Nuggets were eliminated from the playoffs, Popovich predicted Melo was going to grow very quickly into a much bigger force in the NBA.
Anthony has already established himself as a reliable 20-point scorer. Not too shabby.
I think he’s ready to be the most improved player in the league.
With the street cred from winning a championship at Syracuse, Melo arrived in the NBA a star.
But now it’s time to blow up and become a force with the single-name fame of Shaq or T-Mac.
The all-NBA team has not included a Denver player in its starting five since Thompson in 1978. To be known as the best small forward in the game, Melo must make himself a more ferocious rebounder and a smarter passer.
To be the best small forward in the game, he must perform at a higher level than McGrady, Peja Stojakovic or Ron Artest.
To be considered elite in the NBA requires more than giving your dream a voice. How much does Melo want to do it?
“It’s real important. I don’t want to be just an average player,” Anthony says.
During the 12 months after Anthony was born in 1984, the Nuggets made their one appearance in the NBA conference finals.
Truth be known, this franchise has never been a contender for the league championship.
To be considered one of the 10 best players in basketball, Anthony knows what he must do.
“Win,” Melo says quietly. “Winning says a lot.”
Winning never has to shout for everybody to listen.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
