Melo has Arrived

In 2003, the basketball world was anticipating the arrival of two young stars-to-be in the NBA. Some even dubbed this duo as the next Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry. A high school phenom that has a more NBA ready body than half of the league, and a college freshman that carried his team to the National Championship. Their names are LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. But after a year of pitting these two against each other, Melo disappeared. LeBron James continued to wow the basketball world. He would be included in MVP talks with Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, while Melo would fail to make the All-Star team every season. The rivalry was dead.

The NBA wants to see a Kobe-LeBron finals. But after seeing how Denver is playing this post-season, I think it is better for the NBA to see a Melo-Bron showdown. This is what they were dreaming of in 2003. And it is not like Carmelo is just chillin' like he did the past post-seasons. He is dominating the playoffs...especially the Lakers. If not for 2 bad plays by Denver in the end game of Game 1, the Nuggets might have been up 2-0 right now. Chauncey Billups has been a big reason for Denver's success, but in my opinion, its Carmelo's decision to be a "Superstar" that changed Denver's attitude. Now, the series is tied at 1 apiece. The series shifts back to Denver where Carmelo will announce to the people that he has arrived.

Did Detroit Get The Raw End Of The Deal?

Many reactions to the Chauncy Billups-Allen Iverson trade had the Pistons getting the upper hand in the deal. Some say that inserting an elite scorer in the Pistons' sound defensive system can win the Pistons a championship. Some say Billups has lost his touch to win games for the Pistons. But from the start, my reaction to this trade was this: The Nuggets had traded a big time scorer for a WINNER!

Yes, Allen Iverson can score 30 points a night for you, but that doesn't guarantee you a win. Iverson carried the Philadelphia 76ers to an NBA Finals appearance, and that was about it when it comes to team achievements that AI had been involved in. But Billups had been in six straight Conference Finals appearances, and two stints in the NBA Finals. You can say that Detroit has other players to support Billups. Denver has the same quality of players talent wise.

One reaction I got to this trade is "Iverson wasn't winning in Denver because they were badly-managed and badly-coached." Well, here is my answer. If the Nuggets' being badly-coached is the reason for their losing, how can they have a 9-3 record, which included a win over Boston, after the Billups-Iverson trade? The Pistons are at 5-5.

And now, what everyone in Detroit feared already happened - The Answer missed practice. Iverson chose to be with his family while the whole team was sweating their butts off in the gym. Coach Michael Curry said that Iverson will definitely be fined and won't start in their next game.

The way I see it is that this trade will have mixed reactions or grades until we reach 2010. The Pistons claim that they did the trade to net LeBron James in free agency. So if that doesn't happen, or the Pistons don't win a championship from now until that time, I think they wasted a high value player, a leader, and a WINNER in this trade.