<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Q: Carmelo, a lot has been going on over the last few weeks, come tomorrow, will you be able to take the moment in and actually enjoy it? Anthony: That's something I've been kind of worried about, because I kind of know where I'm going and I think all of you guys know where I'm going. It's kind of different for me and for LeBron to experience what an NBA draft is, because I don't want to be thinking about where I'm going. It's hard for me to enjoy if I know where I'm going. Q: So you're not nervous enough? Anthony: No, I'm not nervous at all. Q: You generated a lot of revenue for the BIG EAST with your fine play, all the way to the NCAA Finals, have you been following the ACC-BIG EAST politics, and do you have any thoughts on it? And should athletes be compensated considering all of the revenue you generate? Anthony: Like you said, we generated a lot of revenue this year for the BIG EAST. I don't understand why they would want -- Syracuse out of all the other teams in the BIG EAST to go at ACC. I think Syracuse is like the heart of the BIG EAST, so without Syracuse, the BIG EAST is nothing, really. Q: And should college athletes be compensated by their schools, beyond scholarship? Anthony: I think that college basketball players should be given at least, I mean, something at the end of the week, a per diem or something, but my opinion doesn't matter in that case. Q: Most of the focus in this draft obviously is on LeBron James. Do the other players in this draft, including yourself, sort of concede that he will ultimately be the best player to come out of this draft or do you say, hey, I have something to prove? Anthony: Well, I would say he's going to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. I wouldn't say that he will be the best player in the draft. This draft has got a lot of good players in the draft, including LeBron, so I wouldn't say that, that he's the best player. That would be an insult to me and to the other players that's in the draft, also. Q: What has it been like, have you been around LeBron the last couple of days? What has the circus been like? Anthony: We've been around each other a couple of times. I try to kind of stay away from him at this time right now because I know that a lot of people are trying to get at him right now. So I just talk to him when I talk to him. Q: First of all, do you think that talent-wise, you deserve to be the No. 1 choice in the NBA Draft? Anthony: Well, yes, I showed all you guys out there that I'm a winner and what I can do. At the beginning of the season, we lost our first game, and everybody was saying that Syracuse wasn't going to be nothing and I still had a lot of things to work on. Throughout the course of the season, I did some things, I worked on my weaknesses, we won the National Championship and I showed everybody everything that I could do. So for me to be, shall I say, underrated about my talents, then, yeah, I think I've been underrated for my skills and my talent. Q: In that sense, do you think LeBron has been somewhat overrated considering the fact that he has not played college ball and has not won a National Championship, yet he's received all of this hype? Anthony: Considering all of the hype with LeBron, I can't do nothing with that. That's going to come -- all of that comes with LeBron James. I can't do nothing about that. I just hope I do real well when I get in and he does real well when he gets there. Q: One of the players in Denver who wears number 15 said that he would sell you the number if you wanted it. Would you think about taking him up on that? Anthony: In Denver? Q: Yeah. Anthony: I already talked to Kiki about that. We already spoke about that. Q: What did he say? Anthony: I can't tell you guys that. (Laughter). Q: Everyone knows your name and they know LeBron, and there's a player supposedly sandwiched between you all, Darko Milicic, have you met him and what do you know about him? Anthony: I have never seen Darko play, never. Not taking anything away from him, but I've never seen him play. I don't know anything about him. Obviously he must be good, they put him in front of me as the No. 2 pick. (Laughter). Q: Just curious, how much attention you pay to what everyone says about you? You see the massive media collection here, I'm curious how much you personally care about people who you've never met analyzing your game and who you are as a person, and if you don't listen to the media, who do you listen to more than anyone else? Anthony: Well, you've got to listen to the media. The media -- if it wasn't for you guys, then I probably wouldn't be -- ain't nobody would know who I am if it wasn't for the media. But, I don't know. (Smiling). Q: Obviously it would take a miracle for it to happen, but would you want to play in this town (New York), if you had some good nights at the Garden, if it worked out to play for the Knicks? Anthony: I would love to play for the New York Knicks, but everyone says I'm going to Denver and it looks like Denver is going to pick me, so I'm going to love to play for Denver. Q: Have you had a chance to be in town long? Has it been all business this week or have you had a chance to enjoy this some of this week? Anthony: This week has been all business. I've been to New York a lot of times to just come up here and enjoy it. This week is strictly business. Q: What was your first thought had you heard about Jay Williams and is that going to affect the way you live your life? Anthony: What I heard about Jay Williams, he's one of the clients of the company that I'm under, BEA. So when I heard about that, it shocked me to see that he was on a motorcycle doing that. I would never get on a motorcycle with different people. It just hurt me to see him in that situation, to hear that he might not never play basketball again. Q: Is that going to change the way you live your post-Draft life? Anthony: Well, he made a mistake. He rode a motorcycle. I would never get on a motorcycle, so I would not say that that would change my life. Q: How much have you been to Denver? What do you know about Denver, the city and all? Anthony: Well, I took a visit out there. I went out there to work out for them. I was only out there for a day and a half. I could not really get out to the city and see everything. I was just out there on a business trip but hopefully when they pick me or if they pick me, then I'll be able to go out there and see the city. Q: Obviously you want to be the No. 1 pick, you're not going to be the No. 1 pick, but the pressure that's on you as No. 3 is significantly less than the pressure that's on LeBron James as No. 1, and he obviously has a lot more pressure for a whole host of other reasons. Would you want that pressure, and can you look at what he has on him now and understand it in any way? Anthony: No, I wouldn't want none of that pressure. I'm happy where I'm at right now. If I'm going to be the No. 1 pick with less pressure, that would make me even more happier than being the No. 1 pick with all of the pressure that he has. Q: Do you think that's something that he will be able to handle? Obviously he's prepared for it probably better than any high school player in history, but no one has experienced what he has. Anthony: Well, he's been through a lot this year. If he got through all of them things, that's just a little test of what he's going to go through in life. When he got through all of that fairly well, so hopefully he's strong enough and his mind is strong enough that he can keep his head up through adversity. Q: You mentioned about representation from BEA, could you tell us how you chose your agent, and how involved are you with investment strategy at this point? Have you had a crash course in finances and a accounting? Anthony: Well, first of all, I picked Bill Duffy. I had a lot of agents come and sit down with me. All of the agents told me what I wanted to hear and Bill Duffy, he said to me, "look, there's this, this, and this, but you have to perform on the court, also." When he told me that, like a light bulb went off in my head and everybody else was selling me dreams and you can do this and could do that. When you hear that you have no choice but to go with that guy because you know he has only the best interests in you. Yes, my company is -- I've got my own company, Melo Enterprises, I've got my accountant and everything right now. Q: Did you see Denver play at all last year on television and what were your impressions of the team? Anthony: Well, I was in college last year. I had a curfew. I couldn't sit up that late and watch Denver play, man. (Laughter). Q: What was it like at the stock market this morning, seeing all of the guys in red suits, did you push the button in? How did that go? Anthony: Actually, this is my second time. I did not push the button. LeBron pushed the button. I was happy to be there and meet all of the people and just be at the Stock Exchange early in the morning. Q: Do you have a sponsorship deal, we were all reading about LeBron's Nike deal, do you have that all wired up and who are you with? Anthony: I renegotiated with Nike. Actually, I moved over to the Jordan Brand so I'll be representing the brand Jordan this year and a couple more years. My deal ain't nowhere near what LeBron's deal was. Q: Can you give us an idea about what range you are in there? Anthony: Around 18 to 20, 20 million for five years. Q: How much thought did you put into what you're going to wear tomorrow night? Anthony: Oh, I put a lot of thought. I can't tell you exactly what I'm going to wear, hopefully I won't laugh at it. (Laughter). Q: You mentioned about Melo Enterprises, is that a personal holding company or a side business? What kind of ventures will you be involved with? Anthony: Well, I came up with that because I wanted to always own my own business and now I've got a chance to invest some money in my own company right now. I've got my family involved with it and I'm basically -- I'm building a center in Baltimore and the building is going to be going under that. Q: Is it a real estate company? Anthony: Not quite yet. It's not really official yet. It's not really signed, sealed and delivered yet, but we're working on it. Q: You played against a bunch of Big 5 teams this year in your run to the NCAA Championship. Can you talk about some of the players that impressed you that we're going to see taken tomorrow night in the draft? Anthony: Well, Nick Collison is probably the most skilled player we played all year. He's big and he has good foot movement and he's got a soft touch around the basket. Kirk Hinrich, he played really well against us. T.J. Ford, he couldn't do too much against us but I know pretty much what he can do out on the court. Q: Does it strike you that although you are the more accomplished player, you've won a National Championship but you're not the No. 1 guy; is there an unfairness maybe to that or just something wrong about that that strikes you that way? Anthony: No. I mean, it's nothing I don't feel about that. You guys know what I accomplished, so for me to go around moping around with my head down saying, "I should be No. 1, I should be No. 1," That doesn't impress me. Right now they say I'm going No. 3 and I'm happy with the No. 3 pick and being in Denver. Q: You spoke about Baltimore before. You described your neighborhood growing up there as a pharmacy; why is that, and what experiences are you going to draw on that in the NBA? Anthony: Well, when I grew up, I was in a rec center. They shut it down, everybody, they always were doing their own thing out there. Now I'm trying to get back in that community and get a center open for all of the little kids to come back and play basketball whenever they want to. I have a school program, a tutoring session. It's basically on a three-year plan right now. I just want to give back to the community early. Q: Is this rec center part of Melo Enterprises? Anthony: Yeah. Q: With all of these younger players coming into the NBA, you guys seem to represent a hip-hop nation and hip-hop seems to be about much more than just music, perhaps you could comment on if you feel that you're a citizen of the hip-hop nation and what it means? Anthony: You said I'm a citizen, so I guess I'm a citizen of it, the young and up-and-coming hip-hop nation. Like you said, hip-hop is not just music right now. It's the young that's up-and-coming right now, so, yeah, I affiliate myself with that category. </div>[/b]
i'm thinking he'll have more of an immediate impact than lebron will. at least, that's more likely. scouts seem to think that LeBron is very NBA ready though/
All the pressure is on james...darko on the other hand has zero pressure..he will be put on a winning team right from the start..melo will still have pressure to improve hid team...he will be expected to do really well..not as much as lebron but still quite alot
ye there will be a hell of a lot of pressure onlbj to perform,and its hard for rookies tomake a difference.....main ones this year is probably just gooden and amare and thats late in the year.lbj will be critised and watched closely every game and he knows that
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "allnet":</div><div class="quote_post">All the pressure is on james...darko on the other hand has zero pressure..he will be put on a winning team right from the start..melo will still have pressure to improve hid team...he will be expected to do really well..not as much as lebron but still quite alot</div> sounds like Larry Brown will have more pressure on him than Darko.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "HighHeat":</div><div class="quote_post">I love this kid, he?s smart and respectful to other players I guess he will be much better as LeBron</div> yes, he's a great person... not selfish, and cares for others.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "slamduncan21":</div><div class="quote_post"><div class="quote_poster">Quoting "allnet":</div><div class="quote_post">All the pressure is on james...darko on the other hand has zero pressure..he will be put on a winning team right from the start..melo will still have pressure to improve hid team...he will be expected to do really well..not as much as lebron but still quite alot</div> sounds like Larry Brown will have more pressure on him than Darko.</div> Every coach has pressure on him to be a success...so it won't be anymore than the other top coaches...but yes he is expected to do really well....
if i was melo i would say ask me another question about lebron and i'm outta here. this interviewer was garbage. i'm surprised he didn't ask melo what lebron eats for breakfast. melo is going to be a superstar. he has a great attitude and he believes in his talent. hopefully denver can build the right team around him. i'm looking forward to watching nene & melo play together.
