Casting a vote for Carmelo

NBA teams should look at Syracuse frosh as a sure thing

Now comes the news that 7-foot-5, 303-pound center Pavel Podkolzine will not make himself available for the NBA draft after all, which means that the Denver Nuggets no longer have the option of taking him with the third overall pick. Thus they might be stuck with Carmelo Anthony, the one-and-done Syracuse forward who carried the Orangemen to the national title in his only season beneath the roof of the Carrier Dome. For this, the Nuggets should be thanking Podkolzine, and maybe thanking the Cavs and Pistons, the two teams picking above them.

Cleveland, of course, is doing the obvious and taking LeBron James, a local high schooler who may or may not be the next Magic/Michael/Kobe/Dr. J, but whom the Cavs have to draft rather than risk a p.r. backlash from which the franchise might never recover. Detroit is smitten with 18-year-old Serbian Darko Milicic, a 7-1, 250-pound forward who may or may not be the next Pau Gasol.

Anthony has sat back and watched this draft scenario unfold with the same calmness that he brings to the basketball court. First pick? Second pick? Third pick? It doesn't seem to bother 'Melo, because he knows it all will work out in the end.

I met Anthony back in mid-December, when he was only a few games into his freshman year at Syracuse. I first talked with Orangemen coach Jim Boeheim, who -- after raving about another true freshman, guard Gerry McNamara -- launched into a good-hearted Boeheimian rant about his frustration that two recruits he'd signed for the 2003-04 season might never get a chance to play with Anthony. About Carmelo himself, the coach said little. "Talk to him," Boeheim said. "Then watch him play."

So I talked to him. Here's what I noticed: Anthony wasn't thrilled that a Sports Illustrated writer was in his presence, but not because he thought he was greatness in the flesh. It was because he seemed to find the whole star-making thing a little funny. Which it is, come to think. Anthony behaved thoroughly like a kid just out of high school, right down to the incessantly jangling cell phone. He told me he got a kick out of watching LeBron-mania from a distance, which is his prerogative, because he played James to a stalemate the previous winter when their high school teams faced off. They're buddies, talking almost every day about things only the two of them would understand. Anthony was polite and attentive and didn't spout clichés just for my benefit. He tried to answer questions and he smiled constantly.

Then I watched him play. Against a hopelessly mismatched early-season, gimme opponent, Anthony checked in and out of the game without leaving the floor, making several transcendent plays and occasionally getting bored. He craved better competition. After it was over, Boeheim leaned against a locker in the empty Syracuse locker room: "Whaddya think?" he said. Then he smiled that closed-mouthed Boeheim smile.

I don't think Boeheim imagined that night that Anthony would lead Syracuse to a national title. He couldn't have imagined that McNamara and Hakim Warrick and Billy Edelin would progress as they did and play so well down the stretch. But I think he knew, better than most, how good and how mature and how unique Anthony was. And that he could take a team a very long way.

I don't own an NBA franchise and I don't have a pick in the NBA draft. If I did, and if I didn't have the entire city of Cleveland demanding that I take James, here's what I'd be thinking:

*LeBron might turn out to be the next incarnation of Jordan. But here's a kid who already has an entourage, already has the notorious Hummer, already has a $90 million contract with Nike. Every one of these things is a red flag to me. Sure, he could be Kobe. But Kobe didn't have the entourage. He was a mature, well-adjusted kid whose father played in the NBA. Iverson had the posse, but he also had two years at Georgetown ... and are we ready to say that Iverson's career is an unqualified success?

*Darko Milicic? Granted, Euros have annexed huge chunks of the NBA for their own. Any maybe the Pistons view Milicic as simply the final piece of the puzzle. Fair enough.

*But why not Anthony? Why not a guy who was patient enough to realize at age 18 that the millions could wait, and once that decision was made, worked hard to carry an otherwise only decent cast of Orangemen all the way to the national title.

You draft Anthony, you make him your small forward for a decade and you build around him. Guaranteed. A sure thing. Hard to pass up.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

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