Carmelo Anthony: Why New Show Means He's a Lock To Land in Los Angeles
Carmelo Anthony and his wife La La premiered their new reality show "La La's Full Court Wedding" last night and we learned how glamorous a life the couple really has.
We also learned some things about the power dynamic within the couple, and how that will impact Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets' future on the basketball court.
The show itself fulfills its title, it is mostly about his wife, La La. But Anthony is definitely a co-star and his actions speak louder than most of what his lovely better half is saying.
Here are some of the reasons why it seems like a guarantee that Anthony is leaving Denver, and will most likely to come to Los Angeles.
10. Credible Sources
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Within hours of "La La's full Court Wedding" airing on VH1 last night, both AOLFanhouse and ESPN.com reported that the Nuggets were softening their stance on trading Carmelo Anthony.
They also laid out what it would take to pry the superstar from them.
Basically they let it be known that if you want 'Melo, it ain't going to be cheap.
9 Kevin Garnett
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KG plays a big part of the deal, here. Why? Because when he was traded from Minnesota to the Boston Celtics, before any trade could go through, Boston made sure that he signed a contract extension.
No team wants to trade major assets, and a big part of its future without having the set piece that they are trading for locked down under contract for several years.
'Melo is a lot younger than Garnett was when he moved to the Celtics, so it is even more imperative that his future team lock him under contract for many years to come.
This means that Anthony has some input on where he will be traded, because if he doesn't sign an extension, the team will not go through with the trade.
8. Chris Bosh and LeBron James
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What do these two fellow members of the NBA Draft Class of 2003 have to to with Anthony and Denver?
Well, because of how LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Chris Bosh left the Toronto Raptors, the Nuggets refuse to be left high and dry holding the (empty) bag if Carmelo does leave.
And even though both Cleveland and Toronto ended up with draft picks as the deals eventually became sign-and trade situations, neither the teams nor their respective fan bases felt they were adequately compensated for losing their franchise players.
7. Masai Ujiri
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According to CBSsports.com it's pronounced "Ma-SIGH u-JEER-e," and he will have a lot to say with where Carmelo Anthony plays after this season.
First of all he is the new Denver Nuggets general manager, so he'll be the guy who everyone looks at if Carmelo leaves.
Secondly, he is back with the Nuggets for a second go around. He worked for the club in a different capacity in the past (beginning as a scout for Denver from 2003, coinciding with Anthony's arrival). The word is that he has a good relationship with Anthony.
And lastly, Ujiri is fresh off a stint in Toronto, where he watched as Chris Bosh talked openly his final season of leaving the Raptors, then actually did it.
Ujiri had a front row seat to that drama, and it's certain he doesn't want to see it again.
6. Top-Tier Young Players
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According the the anonymous sources that spoke to AOL and ESPN, one of the parts of Anthony's asking price is "top tier young talent." What this means is that Denver is willing to rebuild and start over if they lose Anthony, but they aren't willing to go the Timberwolves route, and pretty much start over from scratch. (No offense intended, Minnesota).
5. Future First-Round Draft Picks
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Another part of the deal has to be a team with future first-round picks. This means that Denver is looking to be set for years to come. If they lose Carmelo Anthony, one of the best players to ever play for them, they want to be able to some day challenge for a title off of the draft picks that they got for him.
Sort of like Dallas Cowboys and Herschel Walker if they are lucky.
4. Young Assets
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This is one of those basketball terms that is hard to define, but basically young assets are like pots of gold and Unicorns; hard to come by.
Young assets are what most of the OKC Thunder team is (or was before the Durant deal).
Every team wants high-upside players with relatively-affordable contracts. If you have a bunch of them, and they win, you have a happy organization.
You are not going to get OKC to part with its young assets. And every fanbase other than the Heat, Celtics, and Lakers, want to believe that their team has enough young assets to meet the Nuggets asking price.
However, if you check the roster for the Los Angeles Clippers you will see no team has more "young assets" in the league than they do.
3. Eric Gordon
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If anyone watched the World Championships this past month you came away with two things:
A) Kevin Durant is going to headline on a lot of Bleacher Report topics next season.
B) Eric Gordon is a lights out shooter and a hidden gem as a talent.
As one of those "young assets" that the Clippers have, he would be a piece that they would refuse to trade in order for Carmelo Anthony to play for Los Angeles.
Combining him with Anthony and Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman, Baron Davis, and their two high-end draft picks, and you have the makings of a very talented team for years.
They would be able to put that team on the court, and still have the draft picks and other assets that Denver would need to make the deal.
2. Denver Nuggets Payroll
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Denver has a payroll for the coming season of somewhere around $83 million.
The salary cap is around $58 million.
And the league's luxury tax just above $70 million.
This means not only can they not sign new talent to keep Anthony thinking they are chasing championships, they can't even keep the team together that they have.
And to top it off, they don't know what they want to do with team leader Chauncey Billups, who is nearing the end of his career but probably wants to bank one last big contract.
It seems more and more likely that if you toss in all of that and not knowing how much longer George Karl wants to coach, the Nuggets might have to break it up and start all over.
1. La La Vazquez
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Though this might not come to a shock to anyone but the thing that you get most out of watching the "La La's Full Court Wedding" reality show is that Carmelo lives up to his name.
He is melloooooow. The man slouches around so much you wonder where he gets the energy to play ball.
The other thing you get from the show is that La La wants her career in entertainment to continue. She is totally LA, and seems to feel at home visiting with her Hollywood celebrity friends in high end restaurants and boutiques.
Anthony wants to make his wife and family happy, similar to the way Hedo left Orlando for Toronto to make his wife happy (uh, no comment on how that worked out).
If La La has anything to do with it, and we know she does, 'Melo is westward bound.
