Carmelo Anthony has led the United States to three Olympic gold medals. He carried Syracuse University to its only national championship.
He resurrected the Denver Nuggets _ yes, I realize resurrection requires death _ and took Colorado fans on seven straight trips to the playoffs before departing for New York, and an avalanche of trouble, in 2011.
Yet this winner is seen as a loser.
That's not right. He deserves applause, and this applause should be heard even from Colorado, the state Anthony scorned and abandoned.
Anthony delivered the second-greatest career in Nuggets history, right behind Alex English. He packed the big room at Pepsi Center with his star power, and fans started finding other things to do on game nights soon after he departed. On many nights, the big room is now half-empty.
Someday, Carmelo's No. 15 will hang from the rafters at the Pepsi Center as a reminder of all the fun nights from the first decade of the 21st century. Scoff if you want, but basketball justice demands a future Carmelo retirement ceremony in downtown Denver.
Charlie Rosen writes often about basketball. He's a former coach. He's also one of the closest friends of Knicks mastermind Phil Jackson.
"His sticky fingers cause whatever ball-and-player movement is in effect to come to a grinding stop," Rosen recently wrote. "Carmelo Anthony has outlived his usefulness in New York."
Did Rosen get any ideas from Jackson? Rosen says no, but also says he frequently talks with Jackson.
To add to Anthony's pain, former Nuggets coach George Karl re-ignited his long-running feud with Carmelo.
"He was a user of people, addicted to the spotlight and very unhappy when he had to share it," Karl writes in his biography "Furious George." "He made it plain he couldn't lead the Nuggets, even though he said he wanted to."
Karl paints a strangely sinister take on his seven seasons with Anthony. In the 2009 playoffs, Carmelo and Furious George demolished Chris Paul and the Hornets and Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks, winning eight of 10 games, on their way to the Western Conference Finals and a confrontation with the Kobe Bryant Lakers.
In Game One, Anthony delivered a staggering performance, collecting 39 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Nuggets still found a way to lose, largely because of Karl's coaching blunders. I'll forever believe that if the Nuggets win Game One, they conquer the Lakers, win the West and seize the NBA title.
During that 2009 playoff run, Carmelo made it plain he could lead the Nuggets. Please, don't make the mistake of listening to Karl's bitter revisionist history.
Listen instead to Oscar Robertson, one of basketball history's top 10 players. The Big O compares Anthony favorably _ yes, favorably _ to LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
"But what gets me is that everyone thinks that everything that happens bad is his fault," Robertson told fellow basketball enthusiast Spike Lee.
Well said, Big O.
Carmelo needs a fresh start. He needs to follow the example of Bob McAdoo, a star from the 1970s and '80s with a game and a let's-shoot-right-now attitude remarkably similar to Carmelo's.
In 1981, McAdoo arrived in Los Angeles. His reputation was in tatters. He was seen as a ball-hogging has-been, but his luck was about to change. For one thing, he arrived in La-La Land along with a rookie named Magic Johnson.
In four seasons, McAdoo started one game for the Lakers, but he was a vital player on a team that roared to four straight trips to the NBA Finals, with two titles. He collected rings and renovated his reputation.
Carmelo should start plotting his own joyous career finale. He can play a key role on the roster of a future NBA champ. He just needs to escape New York and Jackson and overblown expectations and bad memories.
