Carmelo Anthony

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Obetpaguia (talk | contribs) at 09:28, 3 September 2007 (→‎Awards). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Carmelo Anthony
Denver Nuggets
PositionSmall forward
Personal information
Born (1984-05-29) May 29, 1984 (age 40)
Brooklyn, New York, New York
NationalityUSA
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight[undue weight? – discuss]
Career information
High schoolOak Hill Academy (Virginia)
CollegeSyracuse University
NBA draft2003: 3rd overall
Selected by the Denver Nuggets
Playing career2003–present
Career highlights and awards
NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2003)

2006 FIBA World Championship All-Tournament Team
2006 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year
2005-06 All NBA Third Team
2006-07 All NBA Third Team

2007 NBA All-Star
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born (1984-05-29)May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player at the small forward position for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association and the USA National Team.

Early years

His father, after whom Anthony is named, died of cancer when Anthony was 2 years old. He lived in the Red Hook Projects in Brooklyn, New York, for two more years. When Anthony was 8 his family moved to Baltimore, where he began winning local basketball awards. He has two brothers, Robert and Wilford, a sister, Michelle, and half-sister, Daphne. His mother is African-American, and his father was Puerto Rican.

High school career

Carmelo grew up in the Druid Hill section of West Baltimore, where he commuted to Towson Catholic High School for his first three years of high-school. During the summer of 2000, when he grew five inches, he made a name for himself in the area, being named The Baltimore Sun's metro player of the year in 2001, as well as Baltimore Catholic League player of the year. Anthony transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia for his senior campaign and became a high school All-American.

College career

Anthony played one season at Syracuse University. He averaged 22.1 points (16th in the nation, 4th in the Big East) and 10.0 rebounds (19th in the NCAA, 3rd in Big East), in leading the Orangemen to their first ever NCAA tournament title in 2003. He led the team in scoring, rebounding, minutes played (36.4 minutes per game), field goals made and attempted and free throws made and attempted. In the finals game against University of Kansas, Anthony had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Carmelo also earned the tournament's Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors; his efforts included a 33 point game against Texas in the semi-final. Afterward, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim described Anthony as, "...by far, the best player in college basketball. It wasn't even close. Nobody was even close to him last year in college basketball. That's the bottom line."[1]

Anthony says that he originally planned to stay at Syracuse for at least two seasons, but having already accomplished everything he set out to, he chose to abandon his collegiate career with Boeheim's blessing, and declared himself eligible for the 2003 NBA Draft.

Some of Anthony's highlights in his time with Syracuse were being Named Second-Team All-America by AP as a freshman, leading his team to a 30-5 record, capturing the school's first ever NCAA title and being the consensus pick for national Freshman of the Year. He was named to the All-Big East First team and was also made the consensus selection for Big East Conference Freshman of the Year.

Rookie year

Carmelo's NBA career began on June 26, 2003, when he was chosen in the first round (3rd overall) in the annual draft by the Denver Nuggets behind LeBron James (1st overall, Cleveland Cavaliers) and Darko Milicic (2nd overall, Detroit Pistons). He made his NBA regular season debut on Wednesday October 29, 2003, versus the San Antonio Spurs. He finished the night scoring 12 points, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. In just his sixth career NBA game Anthony scored 30 points (November 7 versus LA Clippers) becoming just the second youngest player in NBA history to mark for most points in a game by a rookie. He also became the second-youngest player (19 years, 305 days) to score at least 40 points in a game in NBA history.

As the season concluded Anthony was a major part in the turnaround of the Nuggets from league laughingstock to playoff contender. In the season before Anthony was drafted by the team, the Denver Nuggets finished with a 17-65 record, which tied them for worst in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They finished the 2003-04 campaign with a 43-39 overall record qualifying them for the post-season. He became the first NBA rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring since David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs did so in the 1989-90 season.

After winning the Rookie of the Month award for April, Anthony became just the fourth player in NBA history to capture all six of the Rookie of the Month awards in a season joining David Robinson, Tim Duncan and fellow rookie LeBron James. Carmelo was also named NBA Player of the Week twice (March 10-March 14, 2004 and April 6-April 10, 2004) and was a unanimous NBA All-Rookie First Team selection. Anthony was first among NBA rookies with a 21.0 PPG mark which also placed him 12th in the entire league. Anthony finished second in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting. He was the runner up to the Cavaliers rookie standout James.

Denver's post-season berth would be shortlived though as Anthony and the rest of his team were eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games.

Following seasons

In Anthony's second season in the NBA he played in 75 of the 82 games for the Denver Nuggets, starting every game. He averaged 20.8 PPG which ranked him 19th in the NBA and placed 16th in the NBA for points per 48 minutes. On December 4, 2004 versus the Miami Heat, Anthony became the third-youngest player in NBA history to reach 2,000 career points. Only James and Bryant were younger when they reached that plateau. Anthony played again in the got milk? Rookie Challenge, this time suiting up for the sophomore squad. In front of his home fans of Denver (who were hosting the 2005 All-Star Game), Anthony scored a game high 31 points to go along with 5 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals en route to becoming the MVP of the game.

With Anthony's help the Nuggets improved by six games and ended the season 49-33 which was good enough for seventh place in the Western Conference (one spot higher than they finished the previous season). The second seeded San Antonio Spurs eliminated the Nuggets in five games in the first round.

As he did in the 2004-05 season, Anthony played and started in 80 games during the 2005-06 NBA campaign, putting up career highs in multiple categories. He averaged 26.5 PPG (8th, NBA), 2.7 APG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.10 SPG. His eighth place finish in NBA scoring was the highest finish by a Denver player since 1990-91 when Nuggets G Michael Adams finished the season sixth in NBA scoring. On November 23, 2005 with the Nuggets facing the two time defending Eastern Conference Champions the Detroit Pistons, Anthony hauled down his 1,000th career rebound.

On March 17, 2006, versus the Memphis Grizzlies, Anthony scored 33 points to push his career points over the 5,000 mark and in doing so became the second youngest player to accomplish that feat (behind James). As the month of March came to a close the Nuggets finished 11-5 and Anthony was named as the NBA Player of the Month for March. He also took home Player of the Week honors for the period March 13-March 19, 2006.

The season also saw his coming of age as he finally made it to the All-NBA Third Team alongside Phoenix' Shawn Marion, Houston's Yao Ming, Philadephia's Allen Iverson and Washington's Gilbert Arenas.

Also, for the first time in Anthony's career with the franchise, Denver held home court advantage in the opening round versus the L.A. Clippers. The Nuggets finished the season in third place with the Clippers ending the year in sixth. Los Angeles won the first two games of the series on the Nuggets' home floor and again the Nuggets were eliminated in the first round.

For the 2005-2006 season, he made five game-winning shots in the last five seconds: at Houston on January 8, 2006; at home versus the Phoenix Suns on January 10, 2006; at Minnesota on February 24, 2006; at Indiana on March 15, 2006; at home versus the Los Angeles Lakers on April 6, 2006 - all were jumpers while shot against Minnesota was a three point field goal - also made a shot in the final seconds to force overtime vs. the Dallas Mavericks on January 6, 2006 and made shots in the final 22 seconds against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 18, 2006 and the Philadelphia 76ers on March 9, 2006 which gave the Nuggets leads they would never lose.

He has led the Nuggets in the post-season each of his first three seasons. However, they've not gotten past the first round of the playoffs losing each time to the Timberwolves, Spurs and the Clippers. He has appeared in 14 playoff games with averages of 18.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.5 apg and 0.9 spg.

Early in the 2006-07 season, in the eighth game of the season, Anthony tied the franchise record of six-straight 30-point games recorded by Alex English in the 1982-83 season, falling short of establishing a new record as he finished with 29 points in his ninth game, a 113-109 victory over the Chicago Bulls on November 21, 2006. After the Chicago victory, Anthony again tied the club record of six-straight 30 point games failing to break it the second time around as he scored 24 points in only his 16th game last December 6, 2006 in a 98-96 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

On December 16, 2006, Anthony was one of many players involved in the Knicks-Nuggets brawl during a game at Madison Square Garden. Footage shows Anthony punched New York's Mardy Collins in the face and then backed up to mid-court. As a result of his actions, Anthony was suspended for 15 games by NBA commissioner David Stern.[2] Shortly thereafter, the Nuggets signed up Allen Iverson in a bid to form a deadly combination with Anthony. However, the two never really got going together as Iverson started playing with the team at the time when Anthony served his 15-game suspension.

On January 22, 2007, Anthony returned to the court after his 15-game suspension to play against the Memphis Grizzlies, finishing the game with 28 points.

On February 1, 2007, the reserves for the Western Conference All-Star team were announced, and Anthony was left off of it. However, with Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer out with injury, commissioner David Stern chose Anthony as a replacement (along with Josh Howard). He scored 20 points with 9 rebounds in his All-Star debut.

On February 2, 2007, Anthony and fellow teammate J.R. Smith were involved in a car accident. Neither player was injured in the collision and the only details released by the team at this point was that the car Smith was driving belonged to Anthony.

On February 5, 2007, Anthony recorded his first ever NBA triple-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 113-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

For the season, Anthony won Player of the Week honors three times (November 20-November 26, 2006; November 27–December 3, 2006; and February 5-February 11, 2007) and took home Player of the Month honors for April 2007 after leading the Nuggets to a 10-1 record for the month and into sixth place in the Western Conference where they will be facing Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs for the second time in three years. He finished the season as the league's second leading scorer behind Bryant with an average of 28.9 PPG while adding 6.0 RPG, 3.8 APG and 1.2 SPG.

For the second time in 3 years, Anthony and the 6th-seeded Nuggets faced the San Antonio Spurs, the 3rd seeds, in the first round of the playoffs. This time the team was more confident of a good showing as Anthony and Iverson proved that they can co-exist with each other after leading the team to a 10-1 record in April 2007. However, in a virtual repeat of the 2005 first round-playoff between these two teams, the Nuggets immediately stole homecourt advantage by winning Game 1, 95-89 only to lose the next 4 games as they were eliminated in the first round for the 4th straight year. In 5 games, Anthony averaged a team-high 26.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.2 APG and 1.0 SPG.

For his stellar play for the 2006-2007 season, Anthony was amply rewarded with a berth in the All-NBA Third Team for the second straight year along with Miami's Dwyane Wade, Detroit's Chauncy Billups, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett and Orlando's Dwight Howard.

Controversies

Since he came into the league, Carmelo Anthony has also been the subject of numerous controversies. In 2004, denver airport inspectors found marijuana in his backpack. Charges were later dropped after Anthony’s friend, James Cunningham, of St. Louis, signed an affidavit taking responsibility for the marijuana. In 2006, Anthony’s friend Tyler Brandon Smith was pulled over in Anthony’s 2005 Dodge Magum and cited for marijuana possession and three traffic violations.[3]

In 2004, Anthony also appeared in a video entitled “Stop Snitching,” which warned that residents of Baltimore who collaborate with the police would face violence. Anthony later distanced himself from this video.[4]

In 2007, Anthony was involved in a brawl with New York Knick Mardy Collins. He was criticized equally for throwing a punch at Collins as he was for backing up to midcourt after throwing said punch.[5]

Statistics

SEASON TEAM GP MPG SPG BPG RPG APG PPG Hi 20+ 30+ 40+
'03-04 Denver 82 36.5 1.2 0.5 6.1 2.8 21.0 41 48 10 1
'04-05 Denver 75 34.8 0.9 0.4 5.7 2.6 20.8 36 43 7 0
'05-06 Denver 80 36.8 1.1 0.5 4.9 2.7 26.5 45 67 28 4
'06-07 Denver 65 38.2 1.2 0.4 6.0 3.8 28.9 42 59 34 1
PLAYOFFS TEAM GP MPG SPG BPG RPG APG PPG Hi
'03-04 Denver 4 35.8 1.2 0.0 8.3 2.8 15.0 24
'04-05 Denver 5 36.0 0.6 0.2 5.4 2.0 19.2 28
'05-06 Denver 5 38.6 0.8 0.2 6.6 2.8 21.0 25
'06-07 Denver 5 42.0 1.0 0.0 8.6 1.2 26.8 30

United States National Team

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens United States

Anthony was chosen as a member of the 2004 USA Olympic basketball team that played and won the Bronze Medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics where he averaged 2.4 ppg and 1.6 apg.

He was also named as co-captain (along with fellow 2003 draftees LeBron James and Dwayne Wade) of the team that competed at the 2006 FIBA World Championship where the team also won the bronze medal. On August 23, 2006, Anthony set the US scoring record in a game with 35 points against Italy in the said FIBA tournament. This record was previously held by Kenny Anderson with 34 points in 1990. Anthony was named to the All-Tournament (Mythical) Team posting averages of 19.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 1.6 apg.

On January 16, 2006, Anthony was chosen as USA Basketball's Male Athlete of the Year after his splendid showing in the FIBA World Championship.

He was also a member of Team USA that participated in the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship which the team won undefeated going 10-0. Anthony ended up as the tournament's second-leading scorer with a 21.2 ppg average (191 points in 9 games) behind Leandro Barbosa of Brazil while adding 5.2 rpg and 1.4 apg. He also equalled the previous record of 28 points set by teammate Allen Iverson in a qualifying tournament which was broken by James who scored 31 points the in the title-clinching win against Argentina.

Charity work

Off the court, Anthony donates time and money to causes in Denver and Baltimore. In Denver, Anthony is a spokesman for Family Resource Centers and hosts an annual Christmas party for underprivileged children, "A Very Melo Christmas." In Baltimore, Anthony hosts an annual 3-on-3 tournament, oversees "HOOD Movement" and is helping fund the revitalization of a local community center for local youth.[6]

Personal life

Anthony became engaged to MTV VJ LaLa Vasquez on Christmas Day 2004. They have a son, Kiyan Anthony, born on March 7, 2007.[7]

Anthony opened a youth development center that carries his name in Baltimore on December 14, 2006. "His $1.5 million contribution over the next five years to Living Classroom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves 40,000 students with 35 education and workforce development programs, revitalized a youth center after being closed for almost one year,"[citation needed] according to a Baltimore Times report. Anthony has committed $3 million toward the construction of a newly planned basketball practice facility at his alma mater, Syracuse University. According to www.NBA.com, "Anthony's gift represents one of the largest individual donations to Syracuse University Athletics and is also believed to be one of largest by a current professional athlete to the school they attended."[8] The facility will be located on the Syracuse University campus.

Awards

  • Leading Scorer of Team USA at the 2006 FIBA World Championship (19.9 ppg)
  • Leading Scorer of Team USA at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship (21.2 ppg)
  • 2006-07 All NBA Third Team.
  • 2007 NBA All Star
  • 2006 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year
  • 2006 FIBA World Championship All-tournament team
  • 2005-06 All NBA Third Team.
  • 2005-06 All U.S Team
  • 2005 NBA Rookie Challenge Game MVP
  • 2004 MTV Zeichner Challenge Slam Dunk Champion
  • 2003-2004 All-Rookie First Team Selection
  • 2003 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player
  • 2003 NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player
  • 2003 Consensus National Freshman of the Year
  • 2003 All-America Second Team (as a freshman)
  • 2003 Unanimous Choice as Big East Freshman of the Year
  • 2003 All-Big East First Team Selection

Trivia

  • In the "Lost and Found" episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Ned finds a pair of sneakers autographed by Anthony in the school's lost and found and attempts to claim the shoes for his own. He was a guest star in the episode.[citation needed]
  • Carmelo anthony was in the music video for common's song be from the album Be in 2005.

Notes

  1. ^ "Coach Boeheim Quotes - Media Day 2003-04".
  2. ^ AP (2006-12-20). "Suspensions total 47 games from Knicks-Nuggets fight". ESPN. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ AP (2004-10-21). "Friend to claim marijuana was his". ESPN. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Farrey, Tom (2006-01-18). "'Snitching' controversy goes well beyond 'Melo". ESPN. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ AP (2006-12-17). "Ugly brawl erupts in Nuggets-Knicks game". MSNBC. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ CBS (2006-12-23). "It's 'A Very Melo Christmas' In Baltimore". CBS. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ People
  8. ^ "Anthony Presents Donation for Syracuse Basketball Practice Facility". NBA.com. 2006-11-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

External links

Preceded by NCAA Basketball Tournament
Most Outstanding Player (men's)
2003 		Succeeded by


Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carmelo_Anthony&oldid=155381618"