Pro basketball’s long grind is just beginning, as the Nuggets are the first to point out. But it is still worth noticing that through three games, Carmelo Anthony has been the best player in the NBA.
He leads the league in scoring at 37.7 points per game on .536 shooting. He is among the Nuggets’ leaders in steals, rebounds and assists.
In short, as he begins his seventh NBA season at the still-tender age of 25, Melo is taking his game to another level.
“He’s just so focused,” teammate Chauncey Billups said. “And he’s just riding a high wave right now. We’re just kind of getting on his back.”
If Anthony is setting a tone for the season, not only is a scoring title within his reach, so is consideration for most valuable player. And if their star can reach those heights, the Nuggets’ championship aspirations take on a more realistic cast.
“I told you all before training camp started I felt better than I ever felt coming into the season,” Anthony told reporters after scoring a season-high 42 against Memphis to lead the Nuggets to a 3-0 start.
“My body felt good. My stamina feels great. I just feel good all around. My confidence is up. I’ve got one thing ahead of me, which is that gold ball.”
That would be the ornament atop the Larry O’Brien Trophy, awarded to the NBA champions. This goal is reflected in Melo’s increasing emphasis on his all- around game.
Once, he was just a scorer. He could have maintained that niche and had a great career, a Hall of Fame career, without doing much of anything else. Instead, he has used intimations of such limitations as motivation to expand his game.
“I just use what people say, what I read and what I hear, to fuel my fire,” he said. “I search for any and all that stuff. That’s just me. I’m a competitor, so I’m going to find anything that somebody’s saying that I can’t do.”
He paused, smiling. “I don’t hear I can’t get out of the first round no more. So that’s a good thing,” he said.
Anthony showed off his improving focus at the defensive end early Sunday night, stealing the ball from Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay at one end and converting it at the other. Later, he fed Kenyon Martin on an alley-oop, one of his five assists on the night, then was on the receiving end of a lob from rookie Ty Lawson.
“He’s one of the players I watched a lot in college,” Lawson said. “He was one of my favorite players, so to see him scoring so many points and doing it so effortlessly, it’s crazy.”
Coach George Karl is more interested in Anthony’s maturation than his point totals.
“My big thing with Melo is be a team leader,” Karl said. “The more effective and efficient he is both as a player and as a leader, a captain, a locker room guy, the more consistent he is in his approach, I think the more we’re going to feel comfortable following him.”
A year ago, the Nuggets had a leadership vacuum in the locker room. Then they traded for Billups, a veteran leader. And now their young star is shouldering some of that burden.
“People talk about they want to be a leader,” Anthony said. “If you don’t have them qualities in you, then you’re not a leader. Leadership is something that I always had in me. It’s just that it’s coming about now.
“I’ve been through a lot in my six-year career so far, so my teammates are starting to respect what I got to say, respect what I’m out there doing. My game is speaking for myself. They see me out there hustling, diving on the floor for loose balls, playing defense, and they’re going to do the same thing.”
Along the way, if Anthony should collect a scoring title or get the first serious MVP consideration of his career, he won’t object. But he has learned those things are byproducts, not goals.
“This is the way I look at it: If I do what I’ve got to do, if my team wins, then all them accolades will come,” he said. “I’m not coming out saying I’m going to get MVP. It’s too early for that. But if we’re winning and we’re playing great, then we’ll see what happens after that.”
Three games are the blink of an eye in the NBA’s six-month marathon. Still, they are enough for Anthony to offer up a glimpse of the transcendent player he might yet become.
Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297 or dkrieger@denverpost.com
