Carmelo Anthony

Melo Magic (Google )

Carmelo Anthony is a Small Forward for the Denver Nuggets (recently traded to the New York Knicks). He was drafted in 2003 from Syracuse University in the first round, third pick. He only played one year at Syracuse, then he was off to be a pro. As a rookie in the NBA he got rookie of the year award. He had many awards and achievements throughout his NBA career as a Nugget.

Carmelo Anthony was born on May 29, 1984, in New York City, New York. He was named after his father, who died of liver failure before Carmelo's third birthday. That meant that his mom, Mary, would be on her own to raise Carmelo and his three older siblings. Carmelo's mom worked long hours as a housekeeper to support Melo and his siblings. Carmelo's brothers and sisters were older than him, so they helped out looking after him. Melo loved basketball, both the college game and the pros. Nothing was better than when spring came along. He would immerse himself into march madness, and then watch the NBA playoffs. When Melo was eight, his siblings were moving out. His mom went to Baltimore and took Melo with her.

As Carmelo was getting older, he was getting better. Carmelo as a junior was doing twice as good and scoring twice as much. Towson Catholic, the high school he played for, did not get the state title. Although they did not win state, Melo was named the Baltimore City and County Player of the Year, All-Metropolitan Player of the Year and Baltimore Catholic League Player of the year. Carmelo has all these awards but now he is walking on thin ice.

All of the attention on Carmelo started to go to his head. He didn't listen to friends, started to ignore his homework. Carmelo as a junior started to miss classes and was suspended several times. Melo's mom was getting worried, because scouts were probably going to be scouting him, and he wouldn't be in physical shape for the NBA.

As coaches were ready to recruit Carmelo, he decided to announce that he would be attending Syracuse. Melo liked the coach's style of play. He also thought that he would get a lot of playing time in the Big East Conference if he went there.

He wasn't guaranteed to go to Syracuse University yet, with his grades dropping under a C average. Carmelo and his mom agreed that Carmelo should look into another school. He looked at Virinia's Hargrave Military Academy. "He then talked to Steve Smith, the head coach at basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, also in the Old Dominion State."

"Carmelo led an AAU Baltimore Select team to the final four Adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas." Melo was against the country's top talent. He wowed the crowd as he was averaging 25.2 points a game. His performance was opening eyes around the NBA. Carmelo was already becoming a future draft choice.

Just so Carmelo could make Syracuse's standards, he spent five weeks on campus in summer school. He soon raised his GPA up to a 2.5 and could suit up for the games. In the summer he weightlifted and got himself in shape. Carmelo had the body that could dominate anywhere on the floor, standing 6'7.

Years later, in 2003, Carmelo was drafted to the Denver Nuggets. As a rookie, Carmelo experienced his ups and his downs, but mostly his ups.