Carmelo Anthony is feeling good where he is, in the crisp, clean Rocky Mountain Air. After reaching the NBA West Finals, do the Nuggets have a chance at the ultimate prize?

Melo is happy to have signed a longer contract. He is the only one of the his high-profile draft brethren to do so as LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are all waiting for 2010 free agency. As Yahoo! Sports reports, it made a lot of sense for Carmelo at the time:

Given Anthony’s poor upbringing in Baltimore, his mother, Mary, told her son she didn’t like the idea of leaving nearly $36 million on the table by opting for a shorter contract. Anthony listened and agreed to a four-year deal with an option for a fifth season that totaled $80 million, allowing him to possibly put off free agency until 2012.

Now you’ve got Melo and a stable situation: a top-tier leader at point guard in Chauncey Billups, a somewhat vindicated George Karl at coach, and successful rehabs/rejuvenations/reincarnations Kenyon Martin, Nene Hilario, and Chris Anderson. Factor in a more mature J.R. Smith (he says jail changed him) and you have a pretty solid staring rotation. Anthony must also know that success begets success. Getting to the Western Conference Finals should add confidence to this crew.

So is the sun shining in Denver?

Maybe, but some of the best of the West have gotten stronger (Lakers, Spurs, Mavs), while you could argue that the bench of the Nuggets is one of the worst in the NBA. Linas Kleiza is not often found in many sports columns, but he is a good NBA player. His exodus to Europe leaves a big gap given the swiss-army array of skills he had.

For the Nuggets to be successful, Carmelo has to better develop his overall game. He showed great leaps in the playoffs by playing much better defense. We all know he can score so the deciding factor will be how he gets the other guys involved. This team is run by Billups, but it will win and lose by the play of Carmelo.

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Tagged with: basketball • Bosh • Carmelo Anthony • Chauncey Billups • Chris Anderson • Denver Nuggets • George Karl • JR Smith • Kenyon Martin • LeBron • Linas Kleiza • NBA • Nene Hilario • Wade

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