Agree totally- I say trade him while his perceived stock is high, get some quality (and depth most likely) in return and start looking forward... Melo is not going to bring a Championship to Denver with that attitude. Better of with AI running the show.

I kept on hearing Melo's name in trade rumours in the offseason, the strongest one being Melo for Billups and Prince. This would have been fantastic for Denver had it happened. A lineup of Billups, AI, Prince, Nene and Camby would have done quite nicely before they dumped Camby.
Before they acquired AI I might have disagreed with you both, purely for his talent, but now that AI's in town, I'd much rather have him as the man than Melo. You could get a lot for Melo, what about Deng and Hinrich? Hinrich will soon be expendable in Chicago and Melo is an upgrade talent-wise over Deng. Not sure if the salaries match but it's an idea

The Nuggets have deep deep problems, Cap issues, whether to trade AI or Melo plus their in the West and will struggle to even make the Playoffs, i say trade Melo, get some youngers players and blow the rest of the team up and start afresh because at the moment they're going nowhere.

If I were an Enver fan, I'd be *****ed. "You mean that you can play D, but you've chosen not to? Where was that during the first round of the playoffs last season???"

Actually surprised how many agree with me. But I think that the Nugs really need to trade him. Of all the players in the NBA... it's Anthony that most reminds me of Michael Vick. At the rate he's going... it's only a matter of time.

Why do you insist on calling Denver "Enver", it's quite annoying.

Also Nuggets don't have enough scorers to play without Melo, but that could be changed with a trade.

I honestly think that trading iverson for a up and coming pass first point guard and getting rid of K-Mart (if we haven't already)

Half of the team are not compatible with eachother but 'Melo is definetely a keeper, unless offered something amazing, i wouldn't trade him.

Can I just ask why everyone keeps being critical of Denvers defense? Yeh they concede a lot of points per game, but this has nothing to do with their defense, but mainly the high-tempo style of play. Name me how they were a bad defensive side last year?? They had the best shot blocker in Camby, while K-Mart performed admiradly as well.

Also, I would rate Iverson a worse defender then Melo, yet I don't see people criticising him. With Camby gone, I'm willing to give Melo the benefit of the doubt when he says he's gonna start being the D'.

Everyone is also so critical of his attitude off the court. Yeh he's done some stupid things and rates himself highly, but which NBA player hasn't. Shit what he's done is nothing compared to rape and women-bashing charges laid on certain other superstars. In fact, compare Melo's attitude to Iverson, and he looks like a saint.
Yet what he does off the court has never affected his on-court game. When have you ever seen Melo unfit or miss a large amount of games through injury. Don't know the actual stats but he's probably played in around 90% of matches since his debut. Again, compare this to other players and he rates highly.



Yeh, when the Billups/Prince Melo trade was thrown around, I would've been happy to see this happen. Prince & Billups more then sufficiently makes up for the lose of Melo. Though they would very much be doing a Boston-like deal, as it only really presented a 2 year window for them to win the championship before Billups & AI got too old.
But as a Nuggets fan, I would much prefer to keep Anthony then AI. Melo's best years are ahead of him, AI's are behind him.


I took that quote from the other thread.
How do you know I don't care about the Nuggets franchise? You can probably tell by how defensive I have gotton over my team & star player that I care deeply about them. I want to see them do their best, but I get upset when people lay the blame solely on Anthony.
Melo is the type of player they can build a franchise around. Remember he's young and rich, in the next few years he'll settle down.
The Nuggets are not going to win the Championship with the team they got. Getting rid of Camby was a good start for the future, now they need to ship of AI & Martins big contracts. Trade him to Memphis for a draft pick if neccessary. Keep the core young players in Smith, Atkins, Nene, Kleiza and use Melo as the cornerstone. Draft well, pick up a good free agent in 2010 and go from there.

Ummm... no.
Pretty much to all of it.








I'll expound upon that tho'.

People are critical of Enver's defense because - quite simply - it doesn't exist. Why do you think Camby has to block shots? Because the rest of the 'D' is a sieve. Iverson? Too short. Melo? Doesn't even play D. Immediately, your two stars are an incredible liability to the team.
Sure, AI's a worse defender, but AI's barely 6'0" tall - he has an excuse. And even so - he generates far more turnovers than layback Melo. Melo? Sure is - on D ('mellow'). Except on the bench where he can abuse the team for not bringing their A game - coach included.

And on Melo himself, who else is more likely to do something on a truly Vickian scale? Sure, Ron-ron does stupid stuff, but when it comes to doing ***** that will not only end a career, but pretty much his life - my money'd be on Melo. Guy mixes with out-and-out gangsters. It's only luck thus far that's kept him on court - guy does something boneheaded, gets free, apologises... and within a week or two is doing something stupid again.

Maybe the only reason that you're both a Nugs fan and a Melo fan is you don't live in Colorado. I work with a guy from Colorado (Nugs fan) now, he is not a fan. I've met several (both online and in reality) Nugs fans through my blog - and almost all of them think Enver should trade him. Some adamant, some sadly... but most agree that it'd be the best thing for the franchise.

Look in my opinion Melo gives his all to the Nuggets and is not responsible for their lack of success. In fact, there is no real player responsible, its more a team chemistry thing.
Melo is an out-and-out scorer. Like you (and everyone else) will mention ALL THE TIME, Melo doesn't do much on D'. But so what, that shouldn't be his job. Why the Nuggets decided to get another scorer in Iverson is beyond me. Looking back on it now, it was never gonna work. I would have surrounded him with defensive minded players.
I'm not against Melo being traded. Like I said, the Billups/Prince trade excited me. But I AM against him being traded for nothing, ala Camby. And Melo is not impossible to trade. The NBA is a business. He can do whatever he wants off the court, the fact is he has got game and any GM will be willing to take him on. Iverson has been closer to getting jail time then Melo, yet you guys are all touting his trade potential. Off-court drama means fuck all in the NBA, all that matters is what they do ON the court. Look at the Trail Blazers. Look at Kobe 6-7 years ago

Oh and the whole 'he mixes with gansters' crap. So what? 90% of NBA players do, most of them are 'gangsters' themselves.

I take anything Hollinger says with a grain of salt, i mean the guy reckons the Jazz are the number one team in the West. All he does is throws arounds stats. I still don't believe he actually watches much NBA.
But I still believe the Nuggets defend a lot better then people give them credit. They play a fast tempo style game because they have fast tempo style players. Melo, AI, Smith...of course you're gonna want them playing fast tempo. You're not gonna get them to play Spurs style. This trio, however, lies the problem. Whats that saying again: Too many chefs spoils the broth...

Oh and I wasn't suggesting Memphis in particular, I just meant they should be another Camby trade, and just ship him off to a side with cap space in return for a draft pick (1st round draft pick!). Yeh they won't have a championship side, but its something for them to build on. By the time Melo reaches 30, they could have built a side worthy of championship status

I think if your going to be the leader of a club, which Melo wants to be, then you have to show leadership on both ends of the court. He has to make it his job to hustle and show some grind on D.
All he is at the moment is a slightly better version of Glenn Robinson.