Growing up Melo: Surviving crash course

Lessons learned from year of adversity have helped father-to-be Anthony growup quickly

Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 1, 2006 at midnight

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Still just a kid at heart, Carmelo Anthony is about to cross the threshold between immaturity and manhood as he prepares to become the father he never knew.

His fiancee, LaLa Vazquez, is pregnant with their first child, and Anthony is not taking his responsibility lightly. He has yet to miss a prenatal doctor's appointment and does not hesitate to ask questions about what to expect in the next several months.

"She's carrying my child, so, of course, I'm going to be there," Anthony said. "My father died when I was 2 years old, so I know what I wanted from a father."

Carmelo Iriate, who died of liver cancer in 1986, never had a chance to teach his son how to tie a shoe, the proper technique for shooting a jump shot or how to handle himself when times get tough.

Nevertheless, Anthony still carries a picture of his father on his phone and plans to serve as a good role model for his son or daughter.

"You have to look at your surroundings and everything now because you have to set a goal and a path," Anthony's mother, Mary Anthony said.

"Fatherhood is not a street thing. Whatever you mold and shape that life to be for your child, that's what it will be. They learn from you."

Only 22, Carmelo Anthony will have a warehouse full of life lessons to draw from as he and Vazquez raise their child.

Many of those lessons came in rapid fashion after his first year with the Nuggets.

Anthony can tell his son or daughter about the imperfect storm he weathered in 2004 and how it made him a stronger person, a better leader and a more formidable player.

"This guy, he's matured so much to the point where you kind of forget he was immature," Anthony's older brother, Justice Anthony said. "He's learned the basics of being a young man and how to be independent and approach situations in a very mature way and embrace his wrongdoings."

In other words, he has grown up.

Storm on the horizon

In most other seasons, Anthony would have been the NBA Rookie of the Year. But not in 2003-04.

His 21 points a game led all rookies and he averaged 6.1 rebounds while helping the Nuggets to 43 wins and their first playoff berth in eight years.

"Carmelo was driven to be the best he can be, and he's driven to win," former Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "I have tremendous respect for him because we accomplished in one short year more than anybody would have thought."

The achievements were not enough to sway the majority of the national media, who overwhelmingly crowned Cleveland's LeBron James as the league's top rookie.

Looking back, the vote served as a harbinger of the months ahead for Anthony, who was about to endure the most rigorous stress test of his 20 years.

His competitive drive would be viewed as selfishness.

His loyalty would lead to bad judgment.

His status as a celebrity would make him a target.

His destiny was out of his control.

"I think God planned it that way," Anthony said. "You know, for me to start so high . . . from winning the championship at Syracuse to (being) the third pick in the NBA draft from one of the best classes ever to come out to (sitting) at the top of the mountain.

"Then you just . . . you don't tumble down, you just fall straight down the mountain, and He wanted to see if you was going to get back up. I think that's what He did, and I got back up. Now I can see the light."

Image restoration

Loyalty runs through Anthony's veins and is spelled out in a tattoo that runs down his left arm.

Loyalty to family, friends and country. Yes, country.

Despite being portrayed as a selfish player during the 2004 Olympics, Anthony was eager to represent the American flag again and jumped at the opportunity to be part of the revamped USA Basketball program this summer.

He wanted to help the United States reclaim the gold medal that has been elusive since the 2000 Sydney Games. He wanted to make an impact on the court and in the locker room.

Most of all, he wanted to show people the sullen version of 2004 was not the real Carmelo Anthony.

What better place to do that than at the FIBA World Championship in Japan: Land of the Rising Sun?

After working diligently throughout the summer, Anthony reported to Team USA's training camp and quickly established himself as one of America's go-to players in advance of the tournament.

"I got phone calls after the third practice of the USA team telling me he's the hardest worker, he's going to be the captain of the team," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "And this is after three practices. Four days before that, I had people say he wasn't going to make the team."

Leading the way

Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski understands why people had their doubts about Anthony.

He had heard the stories about how his predecessor Larry Brown had criticized Anthony's poor body language on the bench during the Olympics and called him out for "not buying into what we're doing."

Krzyzewski, who has won three national titles at Duke University, also has been around young players long enough to know not to judge people based on their past.

"It's just like with myself, there are people who think the world of you and there are others who don't think anything of you," Krzyzewski said. "Depending on who's saying it, I'd rather experience it with that individual. I knew Carmelo was very talented, but what I found him to be is just a great guy. He was really easy to coach. . . . He just always handled himself really well."

Krzyzewski named Anthony as one of his three captains, along with James and Dwyane Wade, and Anthony went on to lead the team in scoring at 19.9 points a game.

Just as they did at the Olympics two years earlier, the Americans were forced to settle for a bronze medal, but their effort and attitude were not questioned.

Anthony now was a poster boy for progress, a rapidly maturing player determined to take back the gold in the 2008 Beijing Games.

"Hopefully, this experience and how he's represented himself and his family and our country will open the eyes of a lot of people to the type of person he is," Krzyzewski said.

Added Anthony: "This was a big summer for me. I really wanted to go out there and regain my stock back."

Tightening the circle

When a stock rises on Wall Street, you can be sure to find investors trying to hitch a ride to prosperity. It is no different with human commodities.

When Anthony left Syracuse as a national champion and a can't-miss NBA prospect, there was no shortage of people trying to get a piece of the multimillion-dollar pie.

"People were coming out of the wood like roaches. Like when you turn the light on and the roaches scatter," said Vincent Breckenridge, one of Anthony's mentors growing up in Baltimore. "I guess that's natural. People want to be a part of something good."

Anthony handled the crush of new faces well during his rookie season, but his rapidly expanding circle of friends and business acquaintances began to catch up with him before his second year with the Nuggets.

On Oct. 15, 2004, Anthony was cited for carrying a small bag of marijuana in his backpack as the Nuggets boarded their team plane for a preseason game in Los Angeles.

The petty offense charge later was dropped after James "Slim" Cunningham came forward and said he had left the pot in the backpack after borrowing it while staying at Anthony's house in Denver.

Cunningham, who used to organize charity events for Anthony, no longer is a part of the Carmelo Camp.

"If you can't trust nobody, then there's no need to even be affiliated with that person," Anthony said. "Everybody I have in my circle, they know about my loyalty factor, they know about my trust factor. I'm serious about that. I'm more serious about that than probably basketball."

Another test

Anthony, whose friendly nature puts newcomers at ease, has learned to be more cautious about the people with whom he associates, but the trust factor was tested again this summer.

Less than one week before Anthony signed a five-year, $80 million contract extension, his childhood friend Tyler Smith was arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession after being pulled over while driving a 2005 Dodge Magnum registered to Anthony's company, Melo Enterprises.

It was a potential here-we-go- again moment, but Anthony prevented things from blowing out of proportion by answering media questions honestly and sitting down for a long, heart-to-heart talk with Smith.

"We discussed everything. He really was open to hear what I had to say, and he agreed with everything that I had to say," Anthony said. "I'm pretty sure he learned from his mistake, just like I did."

Smith, 22, a junior guard at Colorado State, said he was more worried about dragging Anthony's name through the mud than any legal consequences he might face.

"I was mad because I knew it was going to put his name back in (the news)," said Smith, who was suspended for two games and ordered to take part in a counseling program at CSU. "I was just happy that it ended with his name not getting mentioned too much like I thought it would be. It's over with now, and we can get on with our careers."

Rising again

Two years ago, Anthony probably would have been excoriated by the media for Smith's mistake. Instead, it served to illustrate the progress Anthony had made in the eyes of the public since being pegged as an immature street kid who could not keep himself out of trouble.

"He grew up right in front of our eyes," said Dontaye Draper, another of Anthony's best friends from childhood. "You can only hide for so long. He had to go through it and fight through it, and that's what he did."

The harshest criticism had come after Anthony made an unwitting cameo in an underground DVD that glorified drug dealers and threatened to kill informants who cooperated with police.

The DVD, which surfaced publicly in November 2004, was made while Anthony visited his west Baltimore neighborhood after the Olympics.

Though he did not condone the content of the DVD, Anthony was not going to apologize for being loyal to his roots, and he later would use the backlash as more motivation to succeed.

"The fact he grew up in that environment, it helped make his mind- set even stronger. 'Now I've got a point to prove that I am a good person. I'm not a bad kid,' " close friend Kenny Minor said. "I think that helped him to blossom into what he's becoming now."

Carmelo Anthony based his recipe for redemption on actions, not words, committing himself to spending more time on the practice court and in the community.

"I was going to take on any challenge that came in front of me," he said. "I wasn't going run around adversity. I was going to try to run through it."

The self-improvement plan included putting in overtime at the gym, shooting jumpers and watching video with Nuggets assistant Tim Grgurich.

The results spoke volumes. Anthony finished eighth in the NBA with a 26.5 scoring average and established himself as one of the game's best clutch players with five winning shots in the final 10 seconds.

He likely will be named a team captain for the Nuggets this season, and few doubt he will make his first All-Star Game appearance when it is played in Las Vegas on Feb. 18.

"All I can say is no one - no one, including me - could expect what he has done," Karl said. "There were more probably pessimists than optimists, and he has made us all . . . whatever word you want to use.

We've got to eat crow or shut up. He's gone beyond and above what anyone could have expected."

Domestic bliss

Much of Anthony's rise to prominence can be attributed to Vazquez, an MTV personality who also has experienced the perks and hang-ups of celebrity.

Vazquez, 27, stood by her man during the darkest moments of 2004, when the compounding negative publicity forced Anthony to uncharacteristically draw inward.

"I think that's what made our friendship tighter," Anthony said. "That was like the lowest of any low point. For her to be there through the bad times, through the hard times like that, I needed someone like that."

The devotion led Anthony to propose on Christmas 2004, and he and Vazquez plan to marry sometime after their child's arrival in March.

"I'm going to be around. I'm not just going to come around when the sun is shining," Vazquez said. "I always tell him that."

Engaged and expecting a child. Those usually are the telltale signs of a young man beginning to mature and settle down, and Anthony is no exception.

He and Vazquez enjoy going out to a club or restaurant, but they also are just as apt to stay home and enjoy the calm that has followed the storm.

"For the five days I was in Denver, he bored the hell out of me," said Breckenridge, who now runs Anthony's AAU team in Baltimore. "We literally didn't go out of the house except to go get something to eat.

"We were in the house playing video games, watching Law & Order and playing on the basketball court in the house. That's pretty much his life."

Mentoring others

Just as Breckenridge, Robert "Bay" Frazier and his older brothers served as mentors to Anthony in west Baltimore, Anthony is doing his part to pay it forward.

He started the HOOD Movement, a community outreach program in Baltimore, and recently bought a Boys & Girls Club near his old neighborhood. The building will be renovated and renamed the Carmelo Anthony Youth Center.

In Colorado, Anthony is a spokesman for Family Resource Centers, which provide support services to families and children.

"Recognition? I can't even describe it," director Bill Michaels said. "He's provided a lot of exposure in the community that we had not had. He's a great identity for us."

Closer to his profession, Anthony has taken 20-year-old teammate J.R. Smith under his wing. Smith is starting fresh in Denver after a difficult first two seasons in the NBA.

"Melo's a great person and has got a great heart. He takes care of as much people as he can, however he can," Smith said. "He's just an overall inspiration in my life.

"On a scale of one to 10, he's on 10. I'm still on 5, so he's definitely teaching me a lot of things."

Anthony also dispenses advice to his best friends from west Baltimore: Draper, Minor, Tyler Smith and Tynell Dunkley. Smith (CSU), Dunkley (Norfolk State) and Draper (College of Charleston) are in various stages of their college basketball careers, and Minor graduated last year from Manhattan College.

"I look at him as a big brother," Draper said. "I look up to him. We're all the same age. He just seems older."

Older and wiser.

Natural byproducts in the ongoing story of Growing Up Melo.

X's and O's: What Anthony's coaches have to say about him

Jim Boeheim

Syracuse coach, Team USA assistant

"We'll always have a special relationship, which I cherish. He's a great kid. People think I like him because we won the national championship. That's not the case. . . . He's just a really good-natured kid who gets along well with everybody."

Jeff Bzdelik

Former Nuggets coach

"I have a tremendous respect for him. We did butt heads, but he always played with energy and enthusiasm. It just needed to be channeled into other areas of his game. Like all young players, he's beginning to figure that out."

Mike Krzyzewski

Team USA coach

"I knew he was very talented, but what I found him to be is just a great guy. He was really easy to coach. He started out the practices like he was on a mission. He really set the standard for our team. He was one of the tri-captains and never made an excuse."

George Karl

Nuggets coach

"All I can say is no one - no one, including me - could expect what he has done because no one said it could be done. There were more probably pessimists than optimists and he has made us all . . . whatever word you want to use. We've got to eat crow or shut up."

lopezaa@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5388

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