Billups is the injection of maturity and leadership that Iverson never was. Denver just have to hope that this influence continues off the court for their young, somewhat errant star Carmelo Anthony.
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When the game gets tough, if it's a close game and it's five minutes left, I'm not going to get the ball and just be throwing it all over the place ... I'm not going to live and die with that. So we're going to slow it down, go with a pick-and-roll with me and (Carmelo Anthony) or Melo and somebody else. But we're going to get a good, quality shot.
The real thing is this: 20 years ago, you didn't have Reggie Bushes on every team. The offensive guys are so good now. It's like in the NBA. You didn't have a Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James on every team. Tackling is a lost art, but it's harder to do, too.
George Karl has to go. As an NBA coach, Karl has alienated star players everywhere he goes, from Ray Allen to Gary Payton, and now Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. The players will tune him out, and you can't coach players if they don't believe.
In designing the Jordan Melo M5, I wanted to create a shoe that spoke to Carmelo's ability to play anywhere, but that was also a symbol of his personal growth
I wanted the Jordan Melo M5 to be something even more sophisticated and more versatile than we'd done before, with performance still being most important
With a good supporting cast, Melo can easily take them to the next round of the playoffs, maybe even go to the Finals ... But you've got to start at the core. That's Melo.