The Boston Herald has the details of West’s pending return to Beantown.
From a pure basketball standpoint, West is a great player to get for the league minimum, but the reason that his market value is so low is because he’s a little crazy and he may or may not have caused the Cavs’ playoff implosion earlier this summer. The signing would definitely add a little extra umph to a potential Heat/Celtics playoff series.
Nevertheless, he’ll bring shooting, defense and versatility off the C’s bench.
At a press conference to introduce his new GM, Masai Ujiri, the Nuggets’ soon-to-be owner Josh Kroenke said that the recent meeting with Carmelo Anthony went rather well.
Ujiri and Josh Kroenke, recently elevated to team president and awaiting the “owner” title, have good relationships with Anthony. They both spoke Tuesday at a news conference at the Pepsi Center to officially announce Ujiri’s hiring.
Kroenke took aim at a recent column on Yahoo.com that cited sources who detailed a deteriorating relationship between team executives and Anthony’s representation, headed by agent Leon Rose.
“Anything that has been said is either someone trying to manipulate the situation behind the scenes or other motives that are unknown at this point,” Kroenke said. “But Melo and his representation have been great to us.
“I think he knows he can come to me as an individual. We have that amount of respect that we can talk about things openly in a noncombative way. So anything that has been stated from sources behind sources . . . All of our talks have been extremely cordial. I haven’t had a negative conversation with Carmelo Anthony since I’ve known him, and that goes back to my time as a college basketball player. I don’t have a bad word to say about Melo as a person.”
The aforementioned column was written by Adrian Wojnarowski and he paints a very different picture of how the meeting went:
Denver was furnished with a short list of teams and told to get to work. Yes, this is how William Wesley and Leon Rose of CAA work now, thick with threats and ultimatums and a swagger suggesting that the sport belongs to them. After Anthony told owner-in-waiting Josh Kroenke that he still wanted out of Denver during a Sunday meeting, the Nuggets appear done trying to sell their All-Star forward on a contract extension.
This wasn’t a productive, nor particularly pleasant, meeting and multiple sources said it could turn out to be the point of no return for Anthony and the organization. Sources insist it’s no longer a matter of if the Nuggets trade Anthony, but when, where and for whom he’s traded for.
So what’s the disconnect? Well, one of four things may be happening: 1) Wojnarowski is getting bad information from his sources, 2) Wojnarowski has an axe to grind and is fabricating the story, 3) the Nuggets are spinning the situation, or 4) the Nuggets are clueless.
Wojnarowski is a pro, so I think we can cross #2 off of his list, despite the fact that he infuses some commentary into his stories. The Nuggets insist there are sources that are trying to manipulate the situation, though Wojnarowski cites ‘multiple sources’ in his story. At least two people told him that the meeting could represent the ‘point of no return’ for the two parties.
The Nuggets would benefit if they paint a pretty picture of their relationship with Carmelo, as it would help them get a better deal if other teams aren’t sure if Anthony is trying to force his way out of Denver. I suspect that the real issue here is some combination of #1, #3 and #4. It’s entirely possible that Wojnarowski has sources that are trying to create a media dialogue, and that the Nuggets didn’t think the meeting went all that poorly, and are just trying to put lipstick on a pig.
But the crux of Wojnarowski’s story is that the Nuggets were given a list of teams that he’d like to be traded to — did that actually happen? If so, I don’t see how Denver can’t see the writing on the wall, or feel like they have a good chance of keeping Anthony in town. There’s a reason that he hasn’t signed the extension yet, even with a lockout looming next summer.
In many ways, today’s USA/Brazil game was a typical Team USA game. The Americans overcame sloppy play (22 turnovers) and poor outside shooting (2-of-11) from all players not named Kevin Durant, and survived against the Brazilians, who had every chance to steal a win against the superior talent of Team USA. But Leandro Barbosa went cold in the second half, finishing 3-of-13 from 3PT after a hot start, and Brazil came up short.
Outside of Durant (27 points, 10 rebounds) and maybe Chauncey Billups (15 points) and Derrick Rose (11 points), this team is a mess. The bench managed a paltry six points, but Coach K leaned heavily on his starters, playing each guy a minimum of 29 minutes. (Durant played 39 minutes.) There was little or no offensive movement, leaving Durant, Billups and Rose to create on their own. How a team with this much talent can turn the ball over 22 times in 40 minutes is mind-boggling.
Moreover, there was little to no enthusiasm from the U.S. bench, while the Brazilians were standing and cheering their teammates throughout the game. At one point, I think Danny Granger (zero minutes) fell asleep. (Kidding. Not really.) They played hard enough defensively, and even though they gave up a ton of open shots, they eventually wore the Brazilians down.
One reason I tuned in was to see the Spurs new center, Tiago Splitter, who Fran Fraschilla called the best center in Europe. He’s 25, moves well for his size, and has a pretty nice jump hook with both the right and the left hands. I suspect he’ll be in foul trouble for the entire month of November as he figures out how NBA officials are going to call the game, but he has the potential to be as good as any center Tim Duncan has played with since David Robinson. (I realize that’s not saying a whole lot.)
ESPN has disabled embedding for this video, so you’ll have to check it out on YouTube. Pretty funny stuff.
Shaq hit the Harvard Yard yesterday, which must have been quite the scene, and said that he wasn’t going to be a distraction for his new team.
“I’m much older now,’’ he said. “This team is good with or without me. Sometimes, in order to win, you have to sacrifice. I don’t mind sacrificing. At the end of the day, it’s all about winning.’’
“I’m going to do what I’m told to do. Whatever they need me to do. I’m not in a position to cause trouble or cause a ruckus. The reason why younger in my career I acted a fool is because they made me the CEO. If I’m the CEO and I’m getting all the blame, we’re going to start doing it my way.’’
Love the part about being the CEO.
All things considered, Shaq was a good teammate during his stint in Cleveland. The problem with the fit is that Shaq thrives in the half court, while LeBron and the rest of the Cavs did far better in an up tempo attack. He now joins a Boston team that tends to slow the game down, and he should be able to help with his ability to score in the post.
He doesn’t have much left, but he has enough to help the C’s.
© 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑