Melo's "Open" letter....

found this on yahoo.com....

DENVER (AP) -- Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony's open letter he released on the eve of his return from a 15-game suspension:

Dear Nuggets Fans, Teammates, Stan Kroenke & the Nuggets Organization,

The day is finally here. It has been a very long wait for my first game back. Before the game tomorrow, I wanted to take the time to thank all of you for your support of our team and your support of me. I greatly appreciate the e-mails and letters from those of you who wrote to me expressing your support. I also wanted to let you know how excited I am to get back on the court and play with my new and old teammates. I have been going crazy for 36 days waiting to return. All my life playing basketball has come easy to me, but not being able to play has been the most difficult thing I have ever experienced as a player.

I've spent this time off working on my game and reflecting on who I am. And who I want to be. I want all of you to know that I plan to be better, stronger and smarter on the court than I've ever been before. I've never been more dedicated to becoming the best player and teammate that I can be. It has been very tough watching the team play without me, knowing that my mistake has made it very difficult for my teammates, the franchise and the fans. I've spent the time working extremely hard, and I plan to come back better than ever.

I've also spent time thinking about the huge responsibilities I have as the captain of the Denver Nuggets, the captain of Team USA, a face of the NBA, and a role model to young people. I'm aware that a great deal is expected of me, and not just as a player. I'm expected to make the right decisions, lead by example and to be a professional.

Once again THANK YOU for your support. I hope to express my appreciation by continuing to develop as a player and as a person. I can't wait to get out there and show everyone what the Denver Nuggets are capable of. I'll see you at the Pepsi Center on Monday night. I'll be the first one there.

Sincerely,

MELO

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Yeah Carmelo, what a champion, I really like this guy. I think he's a great player and he's gonna continue to shoulder a huge chunk of worldwide basketball, go Carmelo go!

what i find funny is, he's shouting out around the place he'll be back "better than ever"

umm.. in what sense carmello? you have iverson, you wont be scoring more
passing perhaps? nah it's not in your repertoire. Rebounding? Offensive maybe..

I just have this feeling he'll sulk a little bit in the not so far distant future about iverson.

move over bitch, it's iversons team now..

Then again, maybe these two can co-exist...

white_chocolate_55 said:

what i find funny is, he's shouting out around the place he'll be back "better than ever"

umm.. in what sense carmello? you have iverson, you wont be scoring more
passing perhaps? nah it's not in your repertoire. Rebounding? Offensive maybe..

I just have this feeling he'll sulk a little bit in the not so far distant future about iverson.

move over bitch, it's iversons team now..

Then again, maybe these two can co-exist...

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i agree with everything you've said, except for "iversons team now". We all know this is Carmelo's team, Iverson is gonna be humble enough to step down as a 1st option and try and gain more of a leadership role.

do you honestly think iverson can/will do that (be humble)? Maybe.. just maybe this season (only), but after that?

I get the impression carmello will not like being out of the limelight, and iverson has that same passion.. will be interesting to see what unfolds.. just like webber/iverson.. i mean carmello also has to take the ball from jr too..

This may work in the short term, but will blow up sooner or later when iverson and Carmelo realise there is only one ball


By the way, I am watching this game live. Sorry to rub it in Nuggets fans

JR Smith just came off the bench and nailed three long range bombs

Nuggets have this won already, mind you the Grizzlies are the worst team I have seen play in a long while

yze_magic said:

This may work in the short term,

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I recall you saying it wouldnt work at all?? Funny how quickly you go back on your word. :shock:

Benny J said:

I recall you saying it wouldnt work at all?? Funny how quickly you go back on your word. :shock:

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Incorrect

I have always said it may possibly work for 10-20 games, but it will only be a matter of time before Iverson/Anthony/Karl clash

No way does it work long term

As if Melo really "wrote" this letter.
More like the work of his PR team...

Melo's real letter:

"Yo! Whats up my people? Sorry for the fight yo"
I'm back and me and my boy AI will cap some asses yo"

"Finals here we come yo"
"Peace Out"

J/Kidding Melo fans!

samtheman said:

As if Melo really "wrote" this letter.
More like the work of his PR team...

Melo's real letter:

"Yo! Whats up my people? Sorry for the fight yo"
I'm back and me and my boy AI will cap some asses yo"

"Finals here we come yo"
"Peace Out"

J/Kidding Melo fans!

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That letter sounds better anyway!! haha

Hope we see more plays like this in the future....love the plays at 6:52 & 6:39...

white_chocolate_55 said:

do you honestly think iverson can/will do that (be humble)? Maybe.. just maybe this season (only), but after that?

I get the impression carmello will not like being out of the limelight, and iverson has that same passion.. will be interesting to see what unfolds.. just like webber/iverson.. i mean carmello also has to take the ball from jr too..

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Didn't Iverson come to the team and already say he's here to win and play alongside, not in front of Carmelo?

Samtheman: Since when did 'Melo join Ron Artest's crappy rap posse?? haha.

Sure this could all change after a season or some hard losses on the road, but we can only take what the people say for truth, so here it is:

"A delighted Iverson could hardly contain his excitement over Melo's return during the afternoon shootaround: "It's like Christmas morning,'' he said. "Opening up that present that you asked for.''

Iverson swears he's had his fill of carrying the load during his 11 NBA seasons and is eager to serve as wingman to the 22-year-old Anthony - and he showed it the first chance he got.

With 7:30 left in the first quarter, Iverson had a breakaway for an easy basket but flipped the ball instead to Anthony running alongside him for a finger-roll that rocked the Pepsi Center.

Iverson floated an alley-oop lob that Anthony shoved one-handed through the hoop to make it 103-82 with 6:39 left, and they did it again two minutes later. "

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yes yes.. iverson also loved webber day 1 and vice versa.. lets watch it all unfold.. i mean they beat a lowly grizzlies team with ease, while both scoring...

top 5 q's to be answered

1) how long will they remain on this (friendship/lovey dovey)level?
2) who would take the last shot in crunch time?
3) whos team is it/whos will it be?
4) whos the no. 1 scoring option?
5) when will anthony demand a trade?

white_chocolate_55 said:

yes yes.. iverson also loved webber day 1 and vice versa.. lets watch it all unfold.. i mean they beat a lowly grizzlies team with ease, while both scoring...

top 5 q's to be answered

1) how long will they remain on this (friendship/lovey dovey)level?
2) who would take the last shot in crunch time?
3) whos team is it/whos will it be?
4) whos the no. 1 scoring option?
5) when will anthony demand a trade?

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These are just my opinions.....

1) everyone has there opinion, but from what i am reading from AI, all he cares about now is a ring, so as long as that eludes him i honestly think they can and will work together.
2) whoever isn't double or triple teamed?? who's to say JR doesn't take an open shot to win the game.
3) it is Melos team and it always will be until he leaves.
4) again, whoever has the open shots. today i think Melo took 25 shots and AI 16. JR jacked up 18 shots including 14 three pointers. with Camby and Blake taking most of the remaining shots. Apart from JR's 18 i think this will be about the norm. unless of course one player is hot, then you would obviously go to them as first option. Then you also have to look at the opposing team. Depending on their defense AI make take alot of drives to the basket whereas with a different opposition, Melo might take plenty of outside j's?? (mind you i believe his missed 8 of his 8 'outside' jumpshot attempts today #-o )
5) i cant see that happening. definitely not in the near future!!

white_chocolate_55 said:

yes yes.. iverson also loved webber day 1 and vice versa.. lets watch it all unfold.. i mean they beat a lowly grizzlies team with ease, while both scoring...

top 5 q's to be answered

1) how long will they remain on this (friendship/lovey dovey)level?
2) who would take the last shot in crunch time?
3) whos team is it/whos will it be?
4) whos the no. 1 scoring option?
5) when will anthony demand a trade?

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all good questions. im still undecided as i think short term its good (and todays game showed what can happen when it all clicks into place, although it was against the worst team in the league), but long term many things can go wrong.

The first question, well i think ego's are a tough thing to balance, especially when two players of almost equal stardom are trying to co-exist on the one team. the clashing of egos (and its inevitable, as all the best players possess a huge ego) can be controlled eg. phoenix where amare, marion and nash all gel cohesively (it definitely helps when you have the most selfless player in the league in nash, not to mention a guy like matrix who would be the man on nearly any other team, but who is unselfish enough to accept his diminished role this season), but also can be a real bad thing for a team (ie. kobe vs shaq) although despite their massive battle of egos they won 3 rings so its possible to have success despite animosity between team mates.

question 2 i dont think will be a problem, either guy can take it and make it, and while both would want the ball in their hands in crunch time, neither is egotistical enough to demand that last shot, whatever play is called by the coach will decide that.

3: its melo's/it will be melo's and iverson's. i think neither is stupid enough to try and a gain a clear dominance in the pecking order over the other guy. they will try and co-exist, and definitely AI will drop in points closer to 20ppg and maybe raise assists to 8 or 9. for how long he will be happy in that role only time will tell, as its so contrary to his normal playing style.

4: melo will be the higher scorer but only 5 or so points more per game, AI will be closer to 20ppg, whereas melo will drop slightly to be about 26-27ppg i reckon.

5: it all depends, short term i think it will work, and maybe cause a scare in the playoffs this year. 3 years time, when AI is slowing down, then maybe they will trade him, i dont think anthony is going anywhere soon. maybe AI will be happy to ride out his career on a playoff contender like denver.

JZA said:

3: its melo's/it will be melo's and iverson's. i think neither is stupid enough to try and a gain a clear dominance in the pecking order over the other guy. they will try and co-exist, and definitely AI will drop in points closer to 20ppg and maybe raise assists to 8 or 9. for how long he will be happy in that role only time will tell, as its so contrary to his normal playing style.

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nvd001 said:

3) it is Melos team and it always will be until he leaves.

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i agree with you there Jez. i didn't mean to sound so egotistical myself by saying that it 'always will be melos'. i think what i was meaning is that i can see AI around for only a few more years and if Melo stays in Denver it will always be his. While they are both around it will be Melos and AI's....in that order

white_chocolate_55 said:

yes yes.. iverson also loved webber day 1 and vice versa.. lets watch it all unfold.. i mean they beat a lowly grizzlies team with ease, while both scoring...

top 5 q's to be answered

1) how long will they remain on this (friendship/lovey dovey)level?
2) who would take the last shot in crunch time?
3) whos team is it/whos will it be?
4) whos the no. 1 scoring option?
5) when will anthony demand a trade?

Click to expand...

1) They will remain on this friendship as long as it will last. Obviously Allen Iverson wants a ring, if he can get that he'll do whatever needs to be done. If it all goes down in smoke and they bicker for shots and become not very nice to each other, it'll be like the situation in LA before Shaq got traded, but all in all, Allen is no KOBE BRYANT and he wants a ring more than points or court time or shots.

2) The shot in crunch time will be whichever player is best suited, if Iverson has scored 45 then he'll take the shot, if Melo has been on fire he'll take the shot. Hell who knows, even JR Smith could take a 3 for the game if he has been playing well and the Coach draws it up for him. Ultimately unless we're talking about the NBA Finals (where guys like Steve Kerr & Gary Payton have taken deciding shots when they aren't even stars!), the player who takes the last shot really doesn't carry that over or before the game, it doesn't give them any more rights, authority or possession of the team than anyone else.

3) Right now it's Carmelo's team, he's leading the league in scoring, he's wanting an all-star berth, he's a great player, captain of the Nuggets, captain of team USA and he's up and coming. He'll only get better and better while Iverson will stay the same and then slowly decline. As far as the Nuggets are concerned it is Carmelo's team and will definately stay that way.

4) Carmelo is the #1 scoring option. It's kind of like in Seattle, Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen. Ray Ray is ultimately the #1 option but if Lewis is hot, then he'll see 30 points while Ray will only get 20 something. However look for Melo to get near his 30 while Iverson is near the 26 mark. Obviously Carmelo is the go to guy, but he'll get his team involved and Iverson will take the shots that are rightfully his.

5) Who knows..

hmm, nice responses.. though i just do not see melo as a better player than iverson.. and yes you may say he doesnt have to be, but i feel melo will eventually feel left out of things.. he gives me the impression he's a bit of a sulk.. not that he's done much to prove that, but there's hints of it..