Melo Deals with Negatives

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Often guarded with his comments during the NBA season, Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony talked openly Friday about the extent of his sorrow after a chain of negative events that plagued him early last season.

Appearing as a guest on ESPN2's Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Anthony said he was "in a shell," "depressed" and "messed up" and hired a professional therapist for a short time. He also met with Nuggets general manager Kiki Vande- weghe.

"I even went to Kiki and said 'I'm lost, I don't know what to do,' " Anthony said.

Vandeweghe offered Anthony two weeks off to collect his thoughts, but Anthony didn't accept. "It would have been the biggest story since Ricky Williams disappearing and smoking marijuana," Anthony said.

In October, Anthony was charged with having a small amount of marijuana in his backpack at Denver International Airport, a charge that was later dropped.

In November, three men tried to extort $3 million from Anthony for a tape they had obtained that showed Anthony in a bar fight. Then, in December, Anthony surfaced in an underground DVD, Stop Snitching, which threatened harm against those who turned in drug dealers.

Anthony, who said he received support via fan mail, said he has learned from his mistakes. He said he intervened in the bar fight because his fiancee, MTV veejay La La Vazquez, had been spit on by her ex-fianc?e.

He reiterated that when he was being filmed by a camcorder while with a buddy on a street corner in his hometown of Baltimore, he was unaware the footage would be used in the DVD.

"It's an underground DVD, but it just happens to be the hottest- selling DVD on eBay," said Anthony, who does not speak in the segment. "The T-shirts are selling like pancakes. Stop Snitching T-shirts are everywhere."

Other topics discussed included Anthony's experience at the 2004 Olympics, thoughts on his constant comparisons with Le- Bron James and the Nuggets' renaissance under coach George Karl.

Smith immediately noticed Anthony appeared slim, and the forward responded by saying he had lost 20 pounds since the All-Star break and that Karl was constantly reminding him to stay in shape.

"Coach Karl is on you about being in the gym?" Smith quipped. "Well, I've got to get on him for the belly."

Anthony, who wore all black, including a crooked ball cap and donned a sizable gold necklace, was upbeat about his future and that of his team. </div>

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