Carmelo Anthony Injury Update – Return Date
January 29, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under Injuries, NFL Player Analysis
The Denver Nuggets have set a firm return date for Carmelo Anthony. Their star small forward is set to return from injury on Friday in a game against the Charlotte Bobcats. Interestingly enough, the Bobcats will be without their star small forward after Gerald Wallace got injured by Andrew Bynum.
Anthony missed a total of ten games with his injury — a broken bone in his hand. During those ten games, the Nuggets were able to win six of the contests.
To make up for Anthony’s scoring, the Nuggets got help from a number of players. Chauncey Billups, JR Smith, Nene and Linas Kleiza have all added to their scoring lately. Once Carmelo returns, expect those players to get less shot attempts and less points.
The player whose fantasy value could rise with the return of Carmelo is Billups. With Carmelo sidelined, Billups’ assists plummeted. In his last five games, he’s only averaging around five assists per contest. With Anthony around, you can expect his assists numbers to rise to around seven or eight per game.
