Denver Nuggets: Nikola Jokic is becoming what Carmelo Anthony couldn’t

Carmelo Anthony set out on his journey to become an NBA champion fresh out of Syracuse, NY in 2003 with a national championship and tournament Most Outstanding Player award in tow. Selected with the third overall pick in that year’s draft by the Denver Nuggets, Anthony had big dreams and big plans in mind.

The ten-time NBA All-Star and six-time All-NBA selection from Brooklyn would begin his NBA career as a Denver Nugget after watching LeBron James and Darko Milicic fly off the board ahead of him to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons, respectively.

Never in his wildest dreams did Anthony think that his NBA career would begin in Denver, CO and that he would have the chance to cement his name as one of the most prominent figures in Colorado sports for years to come.

Anthony has everything but the Larry O’Brien checked off the list of boxes when comparing ranks of NBA royalty. Now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers 18 years later, Anthony has his sights set on accomplishing that evasive achievement with the aforementioned James.

For eight years in Denver, Anthony gave it hell. He became the biggest part of the Nuggets’ ascendance to consistent playoff contention. Denver blossomed into a formidable Western Conference competitor immediately upon Anthony’s arrival, and it took five games from MVP Kevin Garnett in his prime to slow the torrid pace Melo was on in his rookie season in which he averaged 21 points per game.

The Nuggets would go on to make the postseason for the next seven seasons consecutively, with Carmelo Anthony leading the way with his scoring prowess and uncanny knack for the offensive game. Melo’s points per game average would balloon as high as 28.9 in ’06-07 and to 28.2 in ’09-10.

Before Anthony capped off his career in Denver, his scoring numbers rivalled only Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, and Spencer Haywood among the Nuggets’ list of all-time elites.

Anthony could never bring a title to the Mile High city, however. He got the Nuggets as close as the Western Conference Finals in ’08-09 before falling four games to two to Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers on Anthony’s birthday. Anthony also never secured an MVP trophy during his time in Denver, despite being named All-NBA four times during his Nuggets tenure.

Anthony’s wish to be traded to the New York Knicks was granted in 2011 and a new era in Denver began. Anthony’s place among Denver’s top tier of icons is secure, but he left a little to be desired with Nuggets fans and would go on to prove he had some game left in the tank with two more All-NBA nods with the Knicks in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Anthony recently said on an episode of All the Smoke that he never wanted to leave Denver, but he felt he had the best opportunity to win a championship elsewhere:

"“We go to the Western Conference Finals in ’09. What are you supposed to do? You’re supposed to build on that. You’re supposed to add pieces, plug and play, don’t mess the core up.“They got rid of Dahntay Jones. On that team, Dahntay was a key piece on that team. Get rid of Dahntay Jones. They’re like, “We ain’t re-signing Chauncey. We’re about to trade J.R.” K-Mart – contracts is up, and the lockout’s coming?”"

Additionally, Anthony and Nuggets head coach George Karl often clashed, and Karl was recently quoted saying Anthony was “a ball hog and a s—– defender in Denver”.

More recently, Karl points out that Anthony “likes to score more than he likes to play defense”, and infamously tried to bench Anthony in a game against the Indiana Pacers in 2009 when Anthony stayed on the court and refused to leave the game.

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be Denver’s hardest puzzle to crack, and the Nuggets are not alone in that regard. The Lakers are and have been among the NBA’s elite for years and years, since the days of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Guys like Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant carried the torch in LA and now it’s firmly in the grasp of LeBron James, one of the only two players drafted ahead of Anthony in 2003. So it’s fitting that Anthony’s swan song would be joining James in Hollywood to write a fairy-tale ending to his NBA story in 2021.

Anthony is older now, and no doubt knows his role has changed since the days of leading the Nuggets’ onslaught on the offensive end in the mid-2000s, but he is not done.

Anthony helped carve a new mold for the standard in Denver and forever changed the face of Nuggets basketball. His uncanny ability to put the ball in the basket and drag the Nuggets into the playoffs despite questionable talent around him at times will never be forgotten.

Where Anthony left off is where the next superstar in Denver could begin. Nuggets fans were unsure of where they were going to get the type of production that Anthony brought to the court. Little did they know that a foreigner from Serbia was about to step into the frame and take center stage as the greatest athlete to ever slip on not only Anthony’s number 15, but also any number ever worn by a Denver Nuggets player.

Enter Nikola Jokic, the savior for the Denver Nuggets that Carmelo Anthony wasn’t

The 41st overall selection in the 2014 NBA Draft is reinventing the way we think about NBA centers and setting a new standard in Denver when it comes to the best Nuggets athletes of all-time.

Jokic and Anthony are the only Denver Nuggets to nail down back-to-back Western Conference Player of the Week honors and Player of the Month honors all in the same month.

Jokic is leaving Anthony in the dust in all categories but scoring and usage percentage, and is quietly cranking up his own scoring numbers as well. Jokic averaged 26.4 points per game in 2020, the highest scoring average of his career to date.

With three consecutive All-NBA appearances, the 26-year-old Serbian is just getting revved up in Denver after securing the first NBA MVP award in Nuggets history, something Anthony was unable to accomplish.

Unlike Carmelo Anthony, Jokic gets along swimmingly with his head coach. Michael Malone came to Denver from Sacramento in 2015 and has been Jokic’s coach every year since becoming a Nugget. Jokic’s game has flourished under the tutelage of Malone, and his numbers have increased across the board as Denver tries to load up with talent around the Joker.

Malone preaches defense and taking care of the basketball, two things Jokic is mindful of as he continues to be the centerpiece for Denver. Jokic has kept his turnovers per game at 3.1 for three consecutive seasons despite the increased dependence and usage. Also, Jokic’s rebounding numbers dwarf those of Anthony, with a whopping 9.8 rebounds per game average.

Jokic seems to perform the best when the odds are stacked against him. Something Anthony was also familiar with when playing in Denver. The Nuggets will need Jokic to dig deep in order to unlock the all-time great potential we saw Anthony tap into from time to time. Questions sometimes pop up regarding Jokic’s motivation when he gets in a mood, and comparisons can be drawn between Jokic’s raw emotion when he plays the game and Anthony’s antics on the court when he was at his most passionate.

Teammates love playing with Jokic, and he seems to accent everyone else’s game on the court. Anthony’s offensive game in Denver was poetry in motion, and Jokic has added new lyrics to the composition. Jokic’s ability to see the court as if he were Neo in The Matrix opens up a wealth of possibilities for Denver and clearly sets him apart from Anthony when looking at the greatest Nuggets of all time.

An elusive NBA championship stands as the ultimate deciding factor when trying to separate Jokic’s value in Denver from Carmelo Anthony’s. If Jokic can somehow lead a group including young Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, and Monte Morris to a title, he will put a final nail in the coffin when gauging each player’s impact on the franchise.

Jokic’s skills are unmatched, and along with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic, the seventh-year center is kicking in the door when it comes to traditional NBA superstars.

Jokic is adding a new twist to the MVP standard set by players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. With Jokic’s abilities on both ends of the court, he has a clear advantage over Anthony when it comes to stamping his name into the Nuggets’ book of elite all-time athletes. An NBA championship would end the discussion entirely.

The Lakers have been the biggest test for both Anthony and Jokic during their time in Denver. So the fact that Anthony has made his way onto a Los Angeles roster that still includes James and Anthony Davis, the same Lakers stars that knocked Jokic’s Nuggets out of the playoff bubble in 2020, only adds to the juicy storyline as the reigning MVP tries to separate himself as the best Denver Nuggets player ever. In 2021 and beyond, Jokic will have the chance to accomplish what Anthony never could.

Jokic is on his way to accomplishing what Carmelo Anthony could not in Denver and becoming the hero some Nuggets fans thought Anthony could be. What Anthony did to pave the way for superstars like Jokic and Porter Jr. in Denver can’t be ignored, but Jokic is pushing the imaginations, hopes, goals, and dreams of management and fans alike.

Never has Denver, or the world for that matter, seen anything like Nikola Jokic. He is separating himself from all the rest. If Jokic is named All-NBA this year, he will pass Anthony by with four consecutive All-NBA teams and counting. Jokic has been Denver’s good luck charm, and Nuggets fans are giddy about what he can become.