With the NBA trade deadline looming (Feb. 24) and their best hope for a legitimate trading partner (New Jersey Nets) out of the picture, the Denver Nuggets are running out of time and options with Carmelo Anthony.
Barring a lapse in judgment on the part of Knicks GM Donnie Walsh, the Nuggets appear to be on a crash course toward being "Lebron'd" by Melo.
Not familiar with the term "Lebron'd?" If you are from Denver you should become so. You won't find it in Webster's. You can however find it on the keeper of all worthwhile pop-culture knowledge Urbandictionary.com.
LeBron'd ( adj.) ( n.):
1. Meaning to vacate a position or status of locality for one that is more lucrative and full of theatrics; cowardly betrayal; a homegrown disloyalty.
2. Leaving for more money and better scenery; particularly those near the ocean.
Melo has made it clear that he and his busty new bride, "La La" Vasquez, prefer the big city glitz of New York to Denver or most any NBA locale.
This reality has cornered the Nuggets to negotiate almost solely with Gotham's only two basketball franchises--the New Jersey (soon to be Brooklyn) Nets and the New York Knicks.
It appeared for sometime that the New Jersey Nets would snare Melo. However, the Nets owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, got as sick of negotiations with the Nuggets superstar as the city of Denver is of him being in blue and gold.
When negotiations stalled, the Russian Billionaire killed the trade. We are talking Russian dead. Cast naked into Siberia in winter dead. Left to rot in the Gulag dead. Lead waits at the bottom of the Moskova River dead. I don't know about you, but when a Russian says something is dead, I trust them.
Sadly for the Nuggets, I doubt the Knicks are seriously interested either.
In spite of trade rumors to the contrary over the last week, I suspect Knicks GM Donnie Walsh is too smart to mortgage his team's future for two additional months of Melo's service.
He will be able to get him in free agency after the season is over if he wants him and it won't cost him any prospects. In fact, Melo may even be willing to take a pay cut to play home games in Madison Square Garden.
Even though the Knicks stand a good chance of making the playoffs this year, they don't have the horses to run with the top tier Eastern Conferences teams like Miami and Boston. Walsh realizes that.
He will maximize what he has right now, which isn't much, but then again this is the same guy who turned Rik Smits and a wiry shooting guard named Reggie Miller into title contenders with the Indiana Pacers.
It won't be in a drawn out press conference, but that won't make it any less painful. High and dry is something that the city of Denver already is, but the Nuggets are about to be left higher and drier. Melo is leaving and Denver will have nothing to show for it save a few less drunk driving arrests.
Don't buy into the trade rumors. Denver is about to be the new Cleveland minus the dreary weather. Mark it down. Another NBA superstar is leaving for greener pastures and we will all be witnesses... again.