Coach Jim Boeheim in lockstep with Carmelo’s PR team

Coach Jim Boeheim has Melo’s back. The former Syracuse star won a national championship for his coach back in the day, and his coach is supportive of the star as rumors continue to swirl about his eventual destination. There’s a subtext in his comments that deserves consideration. Let’s go to the tape, New York Daily News.

(Before we begin, let’s be clear. This is from New York media, which, during the Melo saga, just like with the LeBron saga, has pretty much entirely published material which supports the idea of a player switching teams. Just take it with a grain of salt.)

“He wants a place he can win,” Boeheim told the Daily News Friday. “And I hope he can do that. He’s in the prime of his career. He’d be a great foundation to build a franchise on.”

Not to read too much into it, but that’s certainly not sounding like Denver is really an option. Since they’re already building a franchise around him. This doesn’t help much, either:

He can help a team win a championship but you can’t do it by yourself.”

Right. He’s all alone. With Chauncey Billups, Nene, Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, and Ty Lawson. There’s also this:

“I’d tell him to try to get the best chance to be good - whether that’s with young players, with draft picks or what kind of players that team can get together”

Not exactly the Nuggets. And that’s clearly the idea of another place.

Boeheim says he hasn’t talked to Anthony, which you have to consider to be pretty unlikely, but we’ll take him at his word for right now. The problem is that this is yet another lingering element which leads Anthony away from Denver. The season is two weeks away, and Anthony has yet to sign that extension. Whatever your thoughts on Anthony’s value as a franchise player or whether the trade talks are overblown, the elements in play continue to point to Anthony leaving Denver. And that could have dramatic effects on this NBA season.