Written by Thomas | Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

“This article was written by our friends at SportsBettingLines.org, where you can find the latest NBA betting lines and some of the best tips and advice in the sports world today.”

As everyone knows, Carmelo Anthony wants out of Denver. With his current contract with the Denver Nuggets expiring at the end of the 2010 – 2011 season, the Nuggets would be smart to make the trade as soon as possible and get some young talent out of the deal.

Arguably the best pro athlete in Denver, the question is, why don’t the fans care?

To understand why the fans think the way they do, you have to get into their heads. As a Denver resident myself, I can tell you what we think of him, and why he isn’t loved like guys named Tulowitski, Helton, or Elway.

Don’t get me wrong, Anthony has his hard core fans here. But, he doesn’t receive the wide spread love that others have enjoyed. As a town, he isn’t cherished as the superstar he could’ve, or should’ve become.

In 2004, just one year after being drafted #3 by the Nuggets in the 2003 NBA draft, Anthony was cited for marijuana possession at Denver International Airport. Although the charges were dropped when Anthony’s friend took responsibility for the marijuana, the drugs were STILL  found in Anthony’s backpack. The courts might be this stupid, but we aren’t. So, he started his career here looking like a spoiled brat who was getting special treatment the rest of us wouldn’t receive.

In 2006, a friend of Anthony’s was cited for marijuana possession while driving Anthony’s car. In 2008 Carmelo was arrested for DUI in Denver after failing a series of sobriety tests.

In Lodo (lower downtown, Denver) bars and restaurants, Anthony has a reputation for stiffing waiters and waitresses.

Several years ago, a friend of mine owned a company that cleaned Carmelo’s house.  Although she owned the company and had several employees, she never let her employees clean his house. She claimed that Anthony left thousands and thousands in cash, along with bags of marijuana laying all over his house. As a result, she didn’t feel she could trust her employees, so she cleaned his house herself. I didn’t see this for myself, so I cannot say her story is true, but I know this girl and personally believe her. Her and her husband are good, honest people with 2 young children. She had no reason to lie to me.

While stories like this aren’t always true, when enough stories like these get out it’s difficult not to believe them. While his reputation may or may not be justified, people tend to believe rumors about high profile names, especially when they correspond with a persons previous actions.

For his first several years in Denver, Anthony’s apologies never seemed genuine. They came with a snarky smile that appeared to be saying “I’m saying this because I have to, not because I actually care”. That’s the impression we got from him.

Until recently, Anthony failed to bring the Nuggets into the upper-echelon of NBA teams. From his rookie season in ’03 – ’04 through the ’07 – ’08 season, the Nuggets put up a 231-179 record. Not bad, but not nearly up to the expectations. During that time, the Nuggets never made it out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Again, underwhelming.

In the last couple of years, Carmelo had done a lot to change our impression of him. We’ve seen him on tv talking about how his mentality to winning has changed. We believed him when he said that the killer instinct of close friend Kobe Bryant was rubbing off on him. We believed him when he told us he was going to bring an NBA championship home. We were finally starting to embrace this guy.

After a nice playoff run in ’08 – ’09 and a decent ’09-’10 season, Mello was finally getting the city on his side. Just when we started to believe in Anthony, reports on ESPN were telling us ‘Mello wants out of Denver’. What? What happened to all that passion and dedication? What happened to the promises?

We were duped. That’s what happened…

Anthony claims he wants to win an NBA Championship by going to a team that will contend with him in the lineup. Does he really think the Bulls or the Knicks will be able compete with the Lakers or Heat with him in the lineup? I doubt it. Don’t let him fool you, this is about Mello wanting to become a bigger name in the NBA.

Mello wants the notoriety of the top names in the NBA, the notoriety he see’s close friends like Kobe Bryant receives in Los Angeles. More publicity, more time on ESPN, more endorsement money.

So, what do Nuggets fans think of him now? People are pissed off and demanding that the Nuggets find a way to keep him right?

Not so much.

Go anywhere on a Sunday during football season and you’ll see Broncos jerseys everywhere you go. Rockies t-shirts with ‘Tulowitski’ written across the back can be seen all year long. Go out in search of someone wearing a Carmelo Anthony jersey however, you might be looking for a while.

Denver area residents don’t have Anthony in their hearts like they do with other sports stars. This isn’t because we haven’t wanted to embrace him more, it’s because he hasn’t earned it.

There is still more.

Denver isn’t a city that buys it’s athletes. The Colorado Rockies average player salary for 2010 was $2.9 million. In comparison, the Yankees average player salary was $8.25 million, and the Red Sox paid $5.6 million per player. For most of the 2010 season, the Rockies started between 7-9 players that came up through the Rockies minor league system. These players are ‘our’ players. That’s part of why it hurt so much when Matt Holliday left, and why it would crush the town if Tulowitski ever leaves.

Carmelo Anthony came into the NBA as a Denver Nugget, but it’s his fault that he’s never been embraced like other sports stars.

Aside from the ’08-’09 NBA playoffs, Carmelo’s Nuggets have never had their version of Rocktober, and they’ve never compelled us to become as passionate as we are about the Broncos and Rockies. The Colorado Avalanche probably have more hard core fans than the Nuggets, but they’ve earned it with Stanley Cup wins 1996 and 2001.

What has Anthony and all his hype done for Denver? Not much really. He was the main contributor to one nice playoff run. Aside from that, Anthony and the Nuggets have only let us down.

When you consider all of this, it’s not difficult to understand why Denver sports fans are ready to get rid of this guy. I’m sure the Knicks fans will be much more forgiving.

Sorry comments are closed on this article.