The Denver Nuggets boast one of the best players in league history — and the best player on the planet — on their roster right now.
It’s been rare that Denver has been able to make such a claim, but that is indeed the case with three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic, an offensive superstar whose individual dominance has only been occasionally stunted by some questionable roster-building around him.
But Denver has remedied that this summer, bringing in a legitimate backup center in Jonas Valanciunas and adding wing depth in veteran guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown, while also trading pricey starting small forward Michael Porter Jr. for the more cost-effective Cameron Johnson — a better two-way player.
A Denver great deserves more love from his first franchise
Now, a retired Nuggets alum is headed to the Hall of Fame this weekend. But, thanks to an acrimonious divorce, relations between the Denver great and his first team have been icy, and he hasn’t been quite as appreciated in Ball Arena as he should be.
During a new conversation with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Hall of Fame former Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups advocated for the club to retire the No. 15 jersey of a more recent Naismith inductee.
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Combo forward Carmelo Anthony emerged as an All-Star-caliber superstar almost from the jump, instantly guiding Denver to the playoffs as a rookie in 2003-04.
“They should have retired Melo’s jersey the year after he retired,” Billups told Spears. “Once he retired, I said, ‘All right, cool. He’s done now. He won’t play another game. It is time.’ And so, to me, it is already too late. That should have been the first order of business in terms of retiring Melo’s jersey just because I know exactly what he meant to the organization.”
Kiki Vandeweghe, the former Denver general manager who selected Anthony with the No. 3 pick out of Syracuse in a stacked 2003 NBA Draft, is also rooting for such an outcome.
“I absolutely believe he should have his jersey retired in Denver. He is part of Nuggets history. And for a good period of time, he was the best player on the team, led a rebuild and represented the team in a great way. I’m a big Carmelo fan. I was when he was a player and I still am.”
Across parts of eight seasons in Denver, the 10-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA honoree averaged 24.8 points on .459/.311/.803 shooting splits, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.5 blocks a night.
There is one big problem with that Anthony jersey retirement, however: Jokic also wears No. 15, and there’s no question his threads are going into the rafters once the 30-year-old calls it a career — hopefully after another couple titles.
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