Nuggets not trading Anthony (?)

I don't know whether to be excited or horrified.

Calvin Andrews, the agent for Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, said today that the team has assured him that they will not trade Anthony.

Anthony has been the subject of trade rumors since the Nuggets' season ended with a quick first-round playoff exit. In his five seasons with Denver, the team has never made it past the first round of the playoffs.

To put that in perspective, the team didn't even make the playoffs for eight years before Anthony arrived, part of a span in which the team reached the postseason only twice in thirteen seasons.

That's why I'm only slightly disappointed the Nuggets haven't done better, even with the addition of future Hall of Fame guard Allen Iverson. The scars of an 11-71 season (1997-98) run deep.

The reason I'm scared, though, is this sentence from the article:

Anthony, who does not want to be traded, is bothered by his name being mentioned in rumors and upset because the Nuggets have not come out publicly and denounced a possible trade, the sources said.

Makes sense to me. And now that I think about it, the Nuggets still haven't come out publicly and denounced a possible trade. I can't help but wonder if the team is trying to keep its options open. (After all, if they do trade him but only lied to 'Melo and his agent, who's really going to care?)

I absolutely do not want the Nuggets to trade Anthony. He's 24, scores in bunches, and is improving his all-around game, particularly his rebounding. Because of age (he's almost nine years younger than Iverson), he's the most valuable/important player on the Nuggets' roster. Think about it: he'll be the age Iverson is now in 2017. There's no way the Nuggets can get fair value for that many (potentially) prime years.

Furthermore, though Iverson recently decided not to opt out of his contract, it runs for just one more year. If the Nuggets trade Carmelo and don't get better, would Iverson even consider re-signing with Denver?

The Nuggets of the nineties were as bad as they were in large part because of the terrific players they let get away. Please don't take us back to the way we were.

I close with two quotes about Carmelo. First, the remarkably-optimistic words of Bill Simmons, who wrote recently:

Before the Nuggets trade Carmelo Anthony this summer -- and it sure seems like we're headed that way -- they better take a long look at the way Pierce performed in these playoffs. Then they should remember how many ups and downs Pierce had over the past few years, how many times Boston fans wondered if he'd ever "get it," how many times he acted like a kook or a head case and how many times they discussed trading him. (During the summer of '05, they had a deal in place with Portland for the No. 3 pick and Nick Van Exel's contract that Pierce squashed after the trade was leaked to the media. The guy Boston would have taken with that pick? Chris Paul. A fascinating "What if?") In my humble opinion, if 'Melo ever matures as a person and a player -- and that seems like a fair bet -- he could have the same all-around impact on a contender that Pierce had on these 2008 Celtics.

Or, as Pierce himself told the Denver Post:

"Well, I never have gotten a DUI," Pierce said Saturday with a smile, "but I guess you can say there were similarities. A 6-8 forward who can go inside and outside. Still learning the game. He's still a young player and has a lot more room for improvement. The way he's looking, the way he started his career, he can be a lot better than me when he's all said and done."