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Carmelo Anthony

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Carmelo Anthony
Denver Nuggets
PositionSmall forward
Personal information
Born (1984-05-29) May 29, 1984 (age 40)
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityUSA
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight230 lb (104 kg)
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)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29 1984, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player at the small forward position for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA and the USA National Team.

Early years

His father, after whom Anthony is named, died of cancer when Anthony was 10 years old. He lived in the Redhook Projects in Brooklyn, New York, for two more years. When Anthony was in third grade his family moved to Baltimore in 1992 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 2001 Baltimore Sun's metro player of the year, 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 schools 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 7th versus LA Clippers) becoming just the second youngest player in NBA history to score 30 points or more (19 years, 151 days) (Kobe Bryant was the youngest). Anthony was 19 years old when he accomplished that goal. It was also the fewest amount of games a Denver Nuggets rookie took to score 30 points in 1 contest since the ABA/NBA merger. On February 9, 2004, against the Memphis Grizzlies, Anthony became the third youngest player to reach the 1,000-point plateau in NBA history with a 20 point effort in an 86-83 win.

On Friday, February 13, 2004, Anthony participated in the got milk? Rookie Challenge at All-Star Weekend. In 30 minutes of playing time Anthony scored 17 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out five assists in a losing effort (142-118). On March 30, 2004 he scored 41 points against the Seattle Supersonics to set a new Denver Nuggets franchise 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 them, 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 the season. Carmelo was also named NBA player of the week twice 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 is the association. Anthony finished second in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting. He was the runner up to the Cavaliers rookie standout LeBron James.

Denver's post-season berth would be short lived though as Anthony and the rest of his team were lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games.

Following seasons

In Carmelo'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 LeBron James and Kobe 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 Lebron 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.

For the first time in Anthony's career with the franchise, Denver held home court advantage in the opening round versus the LA 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.

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]

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).

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.

International career

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. On August 23, 2006, Anthony set the US scoring record in a game with 35 points against Italy in the FIBA tournament. This record was previously held by Kenny Anderson with 34 points in 1990.

On January 16, 2007, Anthony was chosen as USA Basketball's male athlete of the year. Anthony averaged 19.9 points on a team that won a bronze medal in Japan.

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.[3]

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,"[4] 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."[5] The facility will be located on the Syracuse University campus.

Awards


Trivia

  • Anthony was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher's crew members, duped into believing that Anthony's friends trashed a hotel room for $10,000 in damages. After this prank, Anthony said, "You'll pay for this, Ashton!"
  • In the summer of 2005 he made a cameo appearance on singer Ciara's fourth single, off her debut album, Goodies, entitled And I.
  • Anthony became engaged to TV personality and VJ, Alani "La La" Vázquez on Christmas Day, 2004. Their first child, Kiyan, was born on Wednesday, March 7, 2007.[6]
  • Anthony wears the number 15 on his jersey. According to his official site, “My original number was 22 but when I went to Syracuse that was retired for Dave Bing. So I switched to 15 and then that became my number.”
  • Anthony's career high for points in a game is 45 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
  • Anthony co-owned an Indy car racing team, Carmelo-Hemelgarn I. The driver was P.J. Chesson and the car was named Car-Melo.
  • Anthony made four cameo appearances in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide as the owner of a famous NBA shoe, which was a Jordan-Carmelo shoe. His name was shown during the episode.
  • There was a limited time Carmelo Anthony candy bar after he was drafted.
  • Anthony has many tattoos, some of which read Live Now, Die Later, BMORE THE 410, Loyalty, Honesty, Blessed, Dedicated, Delivered, 410 The City Of The Birds and Me Against The World.
  • Controversy erupted when Anthony appeared in the notorious Stop Snitchin' video in late 2004 (see witness intimidation). In subsequent interviews, Anthony claimed that his appearance in the video was a joke, the product of his neighborhood friends making a home movie. Anthony claims the film's message should not be taken seriously.
  • Featured on the cover of EA Sports’ NBA Live 2005 and NCAA March Madness 2004 basketball video games.
  • Anthony played little league on the Mt. Royal Eagles. He teamed up with the HCYP Sharks to win the Maryland AAU state tournament and the Jaguar tournament in his 7th grade

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.suathletics.com/Sports/basketball/mbasket/2003/boeheimmediadayquotes.asp
  2. ^ Suspensions total 47 games from Knicks-Nuggets fight
  3. ^ http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_357230517.html
  4. ^ http://www.btimes.com/News/search/Article_Search.asp?NewsID=74891&sID=4
  5. ^ http://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/anthony_syracuse_donation_110706.html
  6. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2791021

See also

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