Can you imagine Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony not wearing his trademark headband? Well, that would be the case if he played for the Chicago Bulls.
It was recently revealed that the Bulls don’t allow their players to wear headbands after newcomer Ben Wallace was benched for donning a red one during Chicago’s 106-95 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday.
Anthony declined to get into specifics about Wallace’s situation. But the Western Conference player of the week couldn’t remember the last time he played without a headband.
“It gives comfort,” Anthony said. “I always have to have something on my head. I don’t think I can play without a headband. I wouldn’t feel comfortable. It’s part of my uniform. I got to have it.”
Nuggets guards DerMarr Johnson and J.R. Smith and injured forward Kenyon Martin also wear headbands regularly during games. Johnson said he has worn a headband during every game of his seven-year NBA career.
“That’s messed up,” Johnson said of Wallace’s benching by the Bulls. “Ben Wallace is a veteran, established player in the league. A role model. Good image. What’s wrong with wearing a headband?”
Show the shoe
A day after Anthony had a party for the debut of his Melo M3 shoe Friday, he met with Jordan Jumpman shoe developer D’Wayne Edwards for four hours about next season’s special shoe, the Melo M4. Anthony said he is involved in 85 percent of the process of developing the shoe.
“We start early,” Anthony said. “I talked to him before in (Las) Vegas about some ideas. He had the first mock up of it. Nothing too serious. We meet in the summertime every year after all the shoes come out. I give him my ideas.
“He’ll put it into a shoe form by drawing it up. Then I see it on a piece of paper and say, ‘I like this,’ or ‘I don’t like this.’ Than he comes back every November to show me the first mock draft of the shoe.”
Nene update
Nuggets forward-center Nene has missed the past 8 1/2 games with a right knee contusion. He could play Friday at Minnesota. Nuggets trainer Jim Gillen declined to put a timetable on Nene, but said he was improving on the court and the swelling in his sore knee was gone.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-954-1098 or mspears@denverpost.com.
