Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29,1984) is an
American professional basketball player at the
small forward position for the Denver Nuggets of
the National Basketball Association and the USA National Team.
Early years
His father, after whom Anthony is named, died of cancer when Anthony was 2 years old.[1] He lived in the Red Hook Projects in Brooklyn, New
York, for two more years.[2] When
Anthony was 8 his family moved to Baltimore, where he began winning local basketball
awards. He has two brothers, Robert and Wilford, a sister, Michelle, and half-sister, Daphne.[3] 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 Baltimore Sun's metro player of the year in 2001, 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."[4]
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 school's 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 7 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). It was the fewest amount of games a Denver Nuggets rookie
took to score 30 points in a 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 the team, 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 a season joining David Robinson, Tim Duncan and fellow rookie LeBron James. Carmelo was also named NBA Player of the Week twice (March
10-March 14, 2004 and April
6-April 10, 2004) 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 in the entire league. Anthony
finished second in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting. He was the runner up
to the Cavaliers rookie standout James.
Denver's post-season berth would be shortlived though as Anthony and the rest of his team were eliminated by the
Minnesota Timberwolves in five games.
Following seasons
In Anthony'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 James and 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 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. He also took home Player of the Week honors for the period March
13-March 19, 2006.
The season also saw his coming of age as he finally made it to the All-NBA Third Team alongside Phoenix' Shawn Marion, Houston's Yao Ming, Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Washington's Gilbert Arenas.
Also, for the first time in Anthony's career with the franchise, Denver held home court advantage in the opening round versus
the L.A. 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.
For the 2005-2006 season, he made five game-winning shots in the last five seconds: at Houston on January 8, 2006; at home versus the Phoenix Suns on January 10, 2006; at Minnesota on February
24, 2006; at Indiana on March 15, 2006; at home versus the Los Angeles Lakers on April 6, 2006 - all were jumpers while shot against Minnesota was a three point field goal - also made a shot in the final
seconds to force overtime vs. the Dallas Mavericks on January 6, 2006 and made shots in the final 22 seconds against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January
18, 2006 and the Philadelphia 76ers on March 9,
2006 which gave the Nuggets leads they would never lose.
He has led the Nuggets in the post-season each of his first three seasons. However, they've not gotten past the first round of
the playoffs losing each time to the Timberwolves, Spurs and the Clippers. He has appeared in 14 playoff games with averages of
18.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.5 apg and 0.9 spg.
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.[5] Shortly thereafter, the Nuggets signed up Allen
Iverson in a bid to form a deadly combination with Anthony. However, the two never really got going together as Iverson
started playing with the team at the time when Anthony served his 15-game suspension.
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). He scored 20 points
with 9 rebounds in his All-Star debut.
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.
For the season, Anthony won Player of the Week honors three times (November
20-November 26, 2006; November 27–December 3, 2006; and
February 5-February 11, 2007) and took home Player of the Month honors for April 2007 after leading the Nuggets to a 10-1 record for the
month and into sixth place in the Western Conference where they will be facing Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs for the
second time in three years. He finished the season as the league's second leading scorer behind Bryant with an average of 28.9
PPG while adding 6.0 RPG, 3.8 APG and 1.2 SPG.
For the second time in 3 years, Anthony and the 6th-seeded Nuggets faced the San Antonio Spurs, the 3rd seeds, in the first
round of the playoffs. This time the team was more confident of a good showing as Anthony and Iverson proved that they can
co-exist with each other after leading the team to a 10-1 record in April 2007. However, in a virtual repeat of the 2005 first
round-playoff between these two teams, the Nuggets immediately stole homecourt advantage by winning Game 1, 95-89 only to lose
the next 4 games as they were eliminated in the first round for the 4th straight year. In 5 games, Anthony averaged a team-high
26.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.2 APG and 1.0 SPG.
For his stellar play for the 2006-2007 season, Anthony was amply rewarded with a berth in the All-NBA Third Team for the
second straight year along with Miami's Dwyane Wade, Detroit's Chauncy Billups, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett and Orlando's
Dwight Howard.
Controversies
Since he came into the league, Carmelo Anthony has also been the subject of numerous controversies. In 2004, Denver airport
inspectors found marijuana in his backpack. Charges were later dropped after Anthony’s friend, James Cunningham, of St. Louis,
signed an affidavit taking responsibility for the marijuana. In 2006, Anthony’s friend Tyler Brandon Smith was pulled over in
Anthony’s 2005 Dodge Magum and cited for marijuana possession and three traffic violations.[6]
In 2004, Anthony also appeared in a video entitled “Stop Snitching,” which warned that residents of Baltimore who collaborate
with the police would face violence. Anthony later distanced himself from this video.[7]
In 2007, Anthony was involved in a brawl with New York Knick Mardy Collins. He was criticized equally for throwing a punch at
Collins as he was for backing up to mid court after throwing the said punch.[8]
Statistics
| SEASON |
TEAM |
GP |
MPG |
SPG |
BPG |
RPG |
APG |
PPG |
Hi |
20+ |
30+ |
40+ |
| '03-04 |
Denver |
82 |
36.5 |
1.2 |
0.5 |
6.1 |
2.8 |
21.0 |
41 |
48 |
10 |
1 |
| '04-05 |
Denver |
75 |
34.8 |
0.9 |
0.4 |
5.7 |
2.6 |
20.8 |
36 |
43 |
7 |
0 |
| '05-06 |
Denver |
80 |
36.8 |
1.1 |
0.5 |
4.9 |
2.7 |
26.5 |
45 |
67 |
28 |
4 |
| '06-07 |
Denver |
65 |
38.2 |
1.2 |
0.4 |
6.0 |
3.8 |
28.9 |
42 |
59 |
34 |
1 |
| PLAYOFFS |
TEAM |
GP |
MPG |
SPG |
BPG |
RPG |
APG |
PPG |
Hi |
| '03-04 |
Denver |
4 |
35.8 |
1.2 |
0.0 |
8.3 |
2.8 |
15.0 |
24 |
| '04-05 |
Denver |
5 |
36.0 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
5.4 |
2.0 |
19.2 |
28 |
| '05-06 |
Denver |
5 |
38.6 |
0.8 |
0.2 |
6.6 |
2.8 |
21.0 |
25 |
| '06-07 |
Denver |
5 |
42.0 |
1.0 |
0.0 |
8.6 |
1.2 |
26.8 |
30 |
United States National Team
Anthony was chosen as a member of the 2004 USA Olympic basketball
team that played and won the Bronze Medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics where he averaged 2.4 ppg and 1.6 apg.[9]
He was also named as co-captain (along with fellow 2003 draftees LeBron James and
Dwayne Wade) of the team that competed at the 2006 FIBA World Championship where the team also won the bronze medal. On August 23, 2006, Anthony set the US scoring record in a game with 35 points
against Italy in the said FIBA tournament. This record was previously held by Kenny
Anderson with 34 points in 1990.[10] Anthony was
named to the FIBA World Championship All-Tournament Team posting averages of 19.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 1.6 apg.[9]
On January 16, 2006, Anthony was chosen as USA Basketball's
Male Athlete of the Year after his showing in the FIBA World Championship.[9]
He was also a member of Team USA that participated in the 2007 FIBA Americas
Championship which the team won undefeated going 10-0. Anthony ended up as the tournament's second-leading scorer with a
21.2 ppg average (191 points in 9 games) behind Leandro Barbosa of Brazil while adding
5.2 rpg and 1.4 apg. He also equalled the previous record of 28 points set by teammate Allen
Iverson in a qualifying tournament which was broken by James who scored 31 points the in the title-clinching win against
Argentina.[11]
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.[12]
Anthony opened the Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center in Baltimore on December 14,
2006. Anthony contributed $1.5 million to Living Classroom Foundation, a nonprofit organization
that "provides innovative hands-on-education, job-training and community service programs for over 35,000 children, youth and
young adults in the east Baltimore community."[13]
Anthony has also 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."[14] The facility will be located on the Syracuse
University campus.
Personal life
Anthony became engaged to MTV VJ LaLa
Vasquez on Christmas Day 2004. They have a son, Kiyan
Carmelo Anthony, born on March 7, 2007.[15]
Awards and Honors
- Gold Medal with Team USA, 2007 FIBA Americas
- 2006-07 All NBA Third Team.
- 2007 NBA All Star
- 2006 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year
- 2006 FIBA World Championship All-tournament team
- 2005-06 All NBA Third Team.
- 2005-06 All U.S Team
- 2005 NBA Rookie Challenge Game MVP
- 2004 MTV Zeichner Challenge Slam Dunk Champion
- 2003-2004 All-Rookie First Team Selection
- 2003 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player
- 2003 NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player
- 2003 Consensus National Freshman of the Year
- 2003 All-America Second Team (as a freshman)
- 2003 Unanimous Choice as Big East Freshman of the Year
- 2003 All-Big East First Team Selection
Trivia
- In the "Lost and Found" episode of Ned's Declassified School
Survival Guide, Ned finds a pair of sneakers autographed by Anthony in the school's lost and found and attempts to
claim the shoes for his own. He was a guest star in the episode.[16]
- Carmelo Anthony was in the music video for Common's song Be from the album Be in 2005.[17]
Notes
See also
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Anthony, Carmelo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Anthony, Carmelo Kiyan |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
National Basketball Association player. |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
May 29, 1984 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Brooklyn, New York |
| DATE OF DEATH |
|
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
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