Where Will Carmelo Play?

The Denver Nuggets are one of the teams in the NBA that has been facing questions in regards to their future. First, Head Coach George Karl is coming back after a bout with cancer that caused him to miss part of last season including the postseason where the Nuggets lost to the Utah Jazz.

Second, Carmelo Anthony has not yet (and does not appear to) signed a three-year extension that the Nuggets have put on the table for some time now. The Nuggets do not want to lose Anthony next summer as he has the option of leaving and sources have said that he is looking to join the New York Knicks in order to team up with Amar’e Stoudemire and possibly Chris Paul could join him. Management has also changed recently in Denver with Massai Uriji coming back as the new General Manager, and Owner Stan Kroenke giving full ownership to his son Josh Kroenke, a former University of Missouri college basketball player. Both Kroenke and Uriji have replaced Mark Warkentien and Rex Chapman.

The newly-led Nuggets did come close to trading Anthony and were close to pulling of a four-team trade that would have brought rookie Derrick Favors (drafted by the New Jersey Nets), Andrei Kirilenko (a massive expiring contract), and multiple future first-round draft picks. Anthony would have been moved to New Jersey, and Utah would acquire Boris Diaw from Charlotte, and Quinton Ross from New Jersey with Charlotte receiving Devin Harris from New Jersey. The trade did not go through as there were questions about what Denver wanted from the other teams, and also if Anthony would agree to sign the three-year extension with the Nets, as they did not want to deal their top two assets if he was not going to be there for more than one season.

Third, veteran forward and former number one overall draft pick back in 2000, Kenyon Martin recently came out saying that he is “unhappy” that he has not been offered a contract extension by the team, and that the Nuggets used that money to bring in free agent Al Harrington, the main addition in Denver this offseason. Martin, who is expected to miss the first part of the season after undergoing knee surgery, is in the last year of a seven-year contract, and given his injury history, might never receive a maximum offer ever again.

Fourth, it appears that the Nuggets will be missing their big men for the start of the season as they are rehabbing from injuries. Martin, and Chris Andersen both underwent knee operations, and Nene has also been dealing with an injury that kept him from playing with the Brazilian squad for the 2010 FIBA Tournament. This is not a good sign for this team and Karl.

The Nuggets have a lot of work to do this season, as they have to find a way to resolve the Carmelo Anthony situation. If they do decide that they need to trade him and pick up some assets in case veteran players like Martin, J.R. Smith, and even Chauncey Billups decide to leave at the end of the season. Either way, the Nuggets are expected to be rebuilding in one way or another. They have been scouring the trade market, but other teams are not really looking to make a move right now since training camps have just opened.

I believe that the Nuggets will have to move Carmelo by the trade deadline, and depending on when they move him, may never be able to receive the “right amount” of assets in exchange for a player of his caliber. More so, they will also be looking to move Martin, Smith, Nene, and maybe other players in an effort to reduce their overall salary and start rebuilding. It is a matter of when they decide to do so, and once that is determined, then the moves will happen accordingly.