He may not have won Rookie of the Year, but CARMELO ANTHONY’s first NBA season was responsible for the rebuilding—and rebranding—of the Denver Nuggets.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe they didn’t split the vote.
There was a precedent for that sort of thing, of course. Twice in the previous decade, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award had been shared by two players: Grant Hill and Jason Kidd in 1995, and Elton Brand and Steve Francis five years later. The award is decided by a media vote, so it’s not as if the League itself could just choose to split the award. But if ever there was a year it would’ve have made sense, 2003-04 was it.
Instead, the 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year award went to that kid from Akron, playing for his (almost) hometown Cavaliers. There was never any real argument that LeBron James didn’t deserve ROY that season; the argument was that Carmelo Anthony deserved it every bit as much. Even now, 13 years later, that argument holds up.
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