From the looks of things, Isiah Thomas’ unofficial attempts to nudge Carmelo Anthony in the direction of The World’s Most Dysfunctional Arena seem to be working out just as well as his courtship of LeBron James. Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears reported last night talks between Denver and Chicago centering around a proposed exchange of ‘Melo and Joakim Noah (above) were progressing, though the Denver Post’s Chris Dempsey reports there’s yet to be a bonafide sitdown between Anthony and newly-hired Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri.
The Nuggets want to get a firm, final answer from Anthony on whether he wants to remain in Denver. The team offered a three-year, $65 million contract extension early this summer and Anthony has not responded.
Ujiri said at his introductory news conference last week that he wanted to sit down with Melo as soon as possible in order to lay out the team’s vision and try to convince him to sign the contract extension. That meeting has not yet happened.
All things considered, Noah wouldn’t be the worst return given that Denver’s leverage is pretty questionable at this point. Certainly there are worse things than starting the ’09-10 season with a player as accomplished as Anthony, but it’s pretty hard to imagine conjecture over his summer 2011 status (are you ready for “The Decision II”?) overshadowing all other activity.