Move over, 'Melo [Forum Archive]

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In Denver, it's the A.I. show

For three seasons and right up until he threw a punch and then ran away scared down the Garden floor, Carmelo Anthony had been the face of the Denver Nuggets. He wasn't as big in Denver as John Elway, because no one can ever be. But the Nuggets were Anthony's team.
Then that all changed when Anthony began his 15-game suspension and the Nuggets made their play for Allen Iverson.
Denver is Iverson's team now, and if you don't believe that, you probably also think the Answer didn't ask out of Philly. He's not the first superstar to force his way out of town and he won't be the last.
The Sixers didn't get enough for Iverson, but very few teams do when they go public with their intentions to move a radioactive superstar. It worked the same way in Indiana with Ron Artest, who will never be Iverson on the court, but who is getting to be as much trouble in Sacramento as he ever was for Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle in Indiana.
Artest has found that the Kings aren't his team, not as long as Mike Bibby is controlling the offense. So now, a month shy of his one-year anniversary in Sacramento, Artest has come down with a mysterious knee problem, which follows a mysterious back problem that forced him to sit out four games earlier this season.
The difference between Iverson and Artest, of course, is that while they both arrived in their new cities toting more baggage than just about anyone else in the sport, Iverson is a genuine superstar, with all the trappings.
Iverson might have been in the mood to defer during summer months when he played for the U.S. Olympic team. But during the only season that really counts for guys such as A.I., he requires the ball to be in his hands only. He had that power for parts of 11 seasons in Philly and he's not going to give it up in Denver to some kid who hasn't even gotten out of the first round of the playoffs.
"He said, 'We're going to make it work,' " Anthony told the Denver media of his initial call to Iverson after the trade went down. "People are saying that we can't play together. He was saying he's tired of doing everything himself."
But when Iverson had his greatest success as a pro, he was the only superstar on his team. There wasn't anyone who even remotely resembled a second star on the 2001 Sixers team that went to the Finals. The second star was the coach, Larry Brown.
It was Iverson, at his MVP best, and a supporting cast of old-school pros, "big character guys," as Brown used to call them, who were assembled to keep Iverson in line. Now, with his new team, Iverson isn't taking a back seat to anyone, even if it's a rising star whom the league foolishly tries to put on equal footing with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. "Most people have not enjoyed playing with Iverson, and that goes back to his Georgetown days," said one Western Conference GM. "So you're asking a guy who has played one way as a pro, and alienated a lot of teammates, to make a radical change in his approach. Initially, you might see that. But over the long haul, he's still going to be Allen Iverson." The new face of the Denver Nuggets