To The Bench Goes Carmelo

[TheAdmin]

Carmelo Anthony is too old and too rich to be bent over the knee of a basketball coach and spanked, although some tough love seems to be precisely what Melo deserves.

But the stressed-out, sulking star of the slumping Nuggets is not so big that coach George Karl is afraid to bench Anthony.

"I think that's the next move," Karl said Monday, revealing that Anthony will be removed from games and shown a seat on the bench if the all-star forward fails to play smart, team basketball.

"I've told Melo in the last two weeks, 'I don't think you're listening. I don't think you're listening as well as you need to listen.' For me, the next step is to change the democracy back to a dictatorship."

The coddling of Anthony needs to stop. It's time he grows up.

Somewhere between his infamous punch in New York City and the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Anthony got lost.

"One of my assistants calls this 'The Year of The Punch,' and I don't consider that a good thing," Karl said.

Anthony smashed the good vibe the Nuggets had going with a fist thrown in stupid macho anger in December, and since returning from a 15-game suspension that turned the team's chemistry stale, he has been so blinded by the bright lights of personal glory that Melo can no longer see what's essential for victory. He laughs with new teammate Allen Iverson, but their work together on the court has been a bad joke.

"The inconsistencies, we have excuses for. But I'm tired of seeing it," Karl said.

Obsessed with scoring to the point of distraction and prone to moping when his jumpers clank, Anthony insists he is ready to become a father at age 22, but has not figured out how to be the leader Denver needs in the locker room.

"I didn't expect to be seventh or eighth (in the Western Conference standings). But it is what it is," Anthony said after a late-morning practice Monday. "We just have to come together as a team. Me, A.I., Marcus Camby, everybody has got to come together ... and get it going. We only have a month-and-a-half left."

Then, either bored or peeved by the subject of a team that has embarrassingly underachieved, Anthony promptly spun on the heels of his signature sneakers and walked away without so much as goodbye.

Anthony stuck his nose in sweaty chests when he wanted to show he belonged on Team USA, yet cannot be bothered with something as mundane as boxing out for a rebound against the Utah Jazz.

"I think what you're baffled by is you see a guy who could be a top-five player in basketball," said Karl, claiming to have discovered a statistic he hopes to use as a motivational tool. Anthony recorded more double- double games of points and rebounds in a single season at Syracuse than he has produced in nearly four seasons as a pro.

While fears of the Nuggets being slimed by the bad attitude of Iverson have proved to be 100 percent unfounded, it's Melo who has grown fussier than a night at the opera, refusing to attend a news conference after a recent, humiliating loss to Houston.

"If you're scoring at a high rate and your team's not winning, people come at you and want to know what more you can do. It's a lose-lose situation," said Iverson, who can empathize with Melo's plight.

Anthony entered this season with ambitions the size of Mount Evans, looking forward to huge things on the court and in his personal life. Melo seemed to have the competent hands to juggle it all. He was going to lead the league in scoring and become a daddy.

No problem, no worries, no sweat. Anthony can drop 30 points on any given night and the baby could arrive any minute.

But remember the really big dream? Anthony also planned to show D-Wade and King James that this fresh, young prince from Denver also knew how to lead a team to victory in the playoffs.

On that important count, Carmelo, we have a problem.

And it's you.

- Read More

Seems Coach Karl has had enough with his one dimensional franchise player.

 

[Deadlock]

I never liked his style of play. He can score and score only. That will NEVER take a team far at all.

 

[cdt]

They have two guys that want to do nothing but shoot and jog back down court..and pundits like Marc Stein conveniently remove their blogs from the ESPN server where they acted like giddy school girls about the Melo Iverson marriage..

LeBron and Iverson..now that would have been something to see...LeBron's passing is as lethal as his scoring..who would complain about LeBron deferring to a wide open AI in the waning seconds?

 

[Jon]

I really don't much like how Karl keeps taking Melo to the woodshed in public... one of these times he's just going to wear out the act.

Yes, Melo is a scorer. If you want to have a balanced team you need it from other players, but they lost TWO PG's this season and they play a run and gun offense. That's what Karl wants. If Melo wasn't leaking out in transition all the time, he'd have a lot more rebounds. Seems to me that's Karl's choice. Their biggest hole has been at SG and they tried to fill it with JR Smith who has shot the 3-ball well, but he's been injured, and does he do anything else well?

You look at the fact Iverson's net is +/- with Denver is -4.3 while Steve Blake's is +5.4 and the problem with the team seems pretty clear. btw, Andre Miller is +2.3 with Philly, but Boykins is -0.7 with the Bucks.

Anthony has always been a scorer and he's doing a fine job of that, but to put the burden of the FO's and coaches decisions on him is just kind of crappy.

If you want to see a smooth running team you don't trade away your starting PG in the middle of the season. If you want to see better half court execution on offense and solid rebounding and defense then you don't play a run 'n gun style game.

Their best hope is perhaps to start Blake at PG and move Iverson off the ball and try to balance the offense. But I wouldn't want to have to put my playoff hopes in the hands of Steve Blake -or- attempt to totally re-invent the team mid-season...

 

[chiefwahoo]

Wow, I never saw any trouble coming when they signed AI

They are both great talents but who really thought they could co-exist on the same team???

 

[Jon]

In all fairness, I think it's too early to write them off. The Sixers had a devil of a time trying to figure out how to build a team-around AI, so maybe it can't be done ... but I wouldn't expect the Nuggets to suddenly figure it out in a month.

 

[chiefwahoo]

In all fairness, I think it's too early to write them off. The Sixers had a devil of a time trying to figure out how to build a team-around AI, so maybe it can't be done ... but I wouldn't expect the Nuggets to suddenly figure it out in a month.

They will hang on to the 7th or 8th seed and get their doors blown off in the first round by the Mavs or Suns. Then Melo will go back to B-more for the summer, do something stupid, and get into some trouble again. Book it.

 

[Cleveland56]

Ladies and Gentleman, meet the newest version of Glenn Robinson.

 

[TrueCavsFan23]

AI has been fine there.He hasn't been shooting as much and has given the load to Melo.The only thing is they are not winning when they do that.What do you know,last night AI scores more and got to shoot a little more and they won.

 

[chiefwahoo]

AI has been fine there.He hasn't been shooting as much and has given the load to Melo.The only thing is they are not winning when they do that.What do you know,last night AI scores more and got to shoot a little more and they won.

I think separately they are both amazing talents. But together it won't work. They both have the personality where they want/need to be the go-to guy. They can't both be that so therefore it can't work. It will end badly. Melo will probably want out of there as soon as his extension is finished.

 

[James]

But this is how Melo has always been, there is a reason he went to like 5 high schools in 4 years, he is a hot head, who thinks his way is the only way. you got AI on your team, and i believe there record since AI has got there is well below .500.

 

[TrueCavsFan23]

O.J. Mayo everybody will learn is the same way.

 

[blackmagicGTI]

This is why Karl's tenures don't last very long because either he loses the players or the players have to be traded. Take care of it in house. If you can't get your players to listen, it is also your fault George, not just theirs.

 

[TyGuy]

Not a big fan at all of what karls doing. This kinda stuff needs to stay in the locker room. Melo handled this quite well, despite having a history of not doing so well with criticism.

 

[CBBI]

Not a big fan at all of what karls doing. This kinda stuff needs to stay in the locker room. Melo handled this quite well, despite having a history of not doing so well with criticism.

This has been Karl's MO his entire career though. He basically got run out of Milwaukee for doing the same stuff. After a while the players just quit responding to that kind of crap.

Ask Sam Cassell how he feels about George Karl.