What About Carmelo Anthony?

When speaking about the best players in the NBA, often the discussion turns towards three players. Those three players almost often end up being LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade. The now-fourth wheel, Carmelo Anthony, is almost forgotten. Out of all of those players, Anthony is the only one to make it to the postseason for the past seven seasons.

Carmelo Anthony entered the NBA with a lot of hype surrounding him. Many critics willingly referred to him as the second-best player out of the draft, behind LeBron James. However, as their rookie seasons played out, James received the most media attention and Dwyane Wade turned heads when he led an undermanned Miami Heat squad to a six-game standoff with the Indiana Pacers.

What was overlooked was Carmelo Anthony leading his Nuggets team from 17 wins to 43 wins and to their first playoff appearance since the mid-1990s. He turned the Denver Nuggets' franchise all of the way around in only one season. Meanwhile, LeBron James failed to even make the postseason his rookie year. Even into the next season, Anthony was overlooked as Wade led his Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals and James continued to set records. The 2005 season was another solid season for Anthony, as he led his team back to the playoffs.

By 2006, Kobe Bryant had revived his career and scored 81 points in a game. LeBron James not only made the playoffs, but his team won a playoff series and nearly upset the league-leading Pistons. Dwyane Wade set franchise records for the Heat as they did upset the league-leading Pistons and then they upset the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Wade became the NBA Finals MVP, Kobe Bryant regained a lot of fans, and LeBron James continued his run in the spotlight. Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony received no credit for maintaining.

Each year since he has been in the league, he has led his team to the playoffs. Even last season, his Nuggets almost defeated the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. This season, there is so much media attention focused on the losing record of Wade's Heat, Kobe being Kobe, and James' incredible season with the Cavaliers. But, the Denver Nuggets went into Staples Center and beat the Lakers by 13. The Nuggets are right behind the Lakers in the standings, most of this can be credited to the play of Carmelo Anthony. But, it seems like no matter what he does, he will never receive the same type of attention that LeBron James does.

In actuality, Carmelo Anthony has accomplished more than LeBron James because of the fact that he has led his team to the playoffs every year. Also, there is not much separating Anthony from the legend of Dwyane Wade. If Anthony leads the Nuggets to a championship this year, which is highly possible, his legacy is better than Wade's and not far off from the status of Kobe Bryant. The next time, the infamous discussion of Kobe/LeBron/Dwyane, comes up, someone needs to throw Carmelo Anthony's name in there.