Marc Spears

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Friday, July 18
Updated: July 21, 9:24 AM ET
 
Anthony's pro debut a little more Melo

By Marc J. Spears
Special to ESPN.com

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The other arena called The Pyramid had a better than usual crowd, but it was far from sold out. It wasn't even as full as when the Los Angeles Lakers' summer league team plays.

There were some media, but just some media and not a national horde. In the stands, there was one guy wearing a No. 15 Nuggets jersey. And later on SportsCenter, they mentioned that the rookie sensation had signed his contract, but there was no mention of him making his professional debut.

Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony was a hit at the ESPYs the night before tipping off his pro career with Denver.

Nuggets heralded rookie Carmelo Anthony quietly made his summer league debut on Thursday night, scoring 12 points in a 112-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. (His teammate Nikoloz Tskitishvili -- last year's first-round pick -- stole the show by scoring 25). But despite the lack of fanfare or a big scoring night, onlookers were left with the impression that they had just saw a pro superstar in the making.

"For not playing since the national championship game, I think I did pretty OK for the first time under the whistle," Anthony said. "I know I could've done better, but we still have a whole lot of games left."

Anthony signed a three-year guaranteed deal worth $10.4 million with options for two more seasons. The former Syracuse star forward postponed the signing of his contract in order to temporarily give the Nuggets $538,200 extra to use toward possibly signing a free agent.

Prior to Thursday, Anthony hadn't been in a lengthy practice since the previous Saturday. His contract situation caused him to miss the Nuggets' first two games at the Summer Pro League and his attendance at the ESPY Awards in nearby Hollywood to receive an award for best male college athlete caused him to miss a third.

So, by the time he arrived to Long Beach State for his first pro game, he was coming off a long break from basketball, not to mention the fatigue that came from the fruits of the ESPY Awards where he met the likes of such star athletes as Barry Bonds, Emmitt Smith and Serena Williams. Melo also pointed out that he met the aptly named actress, Vivica A. Fox, too.

"Any great athlete you can name was in there," Anthony said. "To be able to walk out there in front of all of them, I was honored by that."

Thursday night, however, was supposed to be all about Anthony, as he sweated in Nuggets digs in the public eye for the first time. Even so, his buddy and rival LeBron James still stole some of the spotlight.

In Thursday's edition of the Los Angeles Times, there was a short mention of Anthony getting an award and a story on the hype of the award-less James. There also was no mention of Anthony making his pro debut in the Los Angeles area.

There were over 15,000 fans in attendance to see James' recent summer league debut in Orlando. No attendance was given at The Pyramid, but about 2,000 could be a good guess. While there were over 150 media members to see James, there were three newspapers and couple photographers and cameraman for Anthony.

But while it wasn't a King James-type welcome to the NBA, there was a buzz that surrounded the venue.

A lot of intrigued basketball fans and players tried to hang around the Nuggets' locker room to get the first glimpse. When Anthony came out for a pre-game interview, several kids without access to get close yelled for his autograph. Before Denver took the floor, the public-address announcer proclaimed the team, "Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets." As Phoenix Suns forward Bo Outlaw was honored as the first member of the SPL Hall of Fame, he went out of his way to give Anthony a shot-out and pointed at him. And even though the Nuggets were playing the nearby Clippers, the 19-year-old got the loudest applause during introductions.

Not long after missing a tip-in, Anthony scored his first basket on a jumper with 9:49 left in the first quarter. Soon after, he got a textbook two-handed dunk on a fast break and threw a pretty behind the back pass to Charlie Bell for a layup. But at about the 5:10 mark, the fatigued teen asked for a break. Anthony finished the first half with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and two made free throws along with three assists in 11 minutes.

While Anthony was a little fatigued and just playing in his first game, Clippers assistant and summer league coach Rex Kalamian tried his best to stymie the notable newcomer by double-teaming him in the second half.

"I was impressed," Kalamian said. "I know he's out of shape right now, but the thing that impressed me was his patience. When he caught the ball on the wing, he didn't rush anything. He had a really good jab step. He can really shoot the ball. I thought his body control was really good, especially on the inside.

"He hooks guys, and I complained about it a few times. But I thought he used his elbows really well to hook a guy a little bit to get open for a jumpshot."

Another wrinkle that Kalamian tried was putting former high school phenom Schea Cotton on Anthony.

Cotton was supposed to be LeBron James before LeBron James. He was a California high school basketball star who was featured in Sports Illustrated. He was supposed to be UCLA's prized recruit along with Baron Davis in 1997. But injuries and bad basketball moves sent him to Long Beach City College and Alabama before he left school early after his junior year and failed to make it to the NBA.

Once Cotton got his turn to guard Anthony in the second half, he immediately began trash talking and tried to become physical. Anthony retaliated with a jumper, his lone second-half field goal, and some trash talking of his own.

"I've known him from his high school days," Anthony said. "As soon as he came in the game, he said, 'I got you young buck.' I knew who he was. But he came in and started bothering me. I don't know that kid like that. He was talking when he came in the game. I told him that he was a 'has-been.'"

With the Nuggets needing some baskets badly to get back into the game with time winding down, Anthony was open several times and called for the ball. Tskitishvili took shots. Bell took shots. Rodney White took shots. And new Nuggets point guard Andre Miller wasn't in uniform yet to take control and get Anthony shots.

So Anthony only got one shot down the stretch to the ire of a fan that yelled, "Give it to Melo!" The Nuggets will have six more games to give the ball to Melo as they begin play in the Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City on Saturday.

"We didn't have enough time to play with each other," said Anthony, about his team. "I don't know if they felt uncomfortable or not (playing with me). I guess the chemistry just wasn't there right now. That's just a part of me not being out there with them the first couple of games. We still have a whole other league to play in."

Anthony finished with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, three assists and three steals in 27 minutes. Not a great debut. Not a bad debut. But during that near half hour of play for the corn-rowed, headband wearing future star, the small crowd of onlookers left feeling like they got the first glimpse of something special.

"Obviously, you can see he can play," Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. "Once he gets his legs, he's going to be everything we'd expect him to be."

Marc J. Spears, who covers the NBA and Denver Nuggets for The Denver Post, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.





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