Catching up with...

- Melo never "felt slighted" by George Karl as we suggested he might and the Nuggets didn't fire their coach as we predicted. Our logic was borne out to be reasonable, however. ESPN's E-Ticket, which rarely dissapoints, most recently featured Chauncey Billups, or rather the journey of Chauncey Billups. Within Chauncey's story and specifically his impact on the Nuggets, are telling details of where Denver's season might've ended up without him. Karl, for one, openly acknowldges his fragile position,

"I just don't think I would've survived. I would've quit or they would've fired me... There was a posse of people in Denver that were tired of George Karl."

Before Chauncey, the Nuggets' play was erratic, "dysfunctional" Billups says. Billups came in to Denver and took the reins. J.R. Smith and Melo both praise him as a mentor, and the team's brass echos the same: "The Nuggets are grateful to have him, and team camaraderie skies through the roof."

- Michael Phelps' superficial PR-driven suspension ended last week. His response? "I had no idea."

- Last month the NYT profiled Roy Halladay, our pick for last year's AL Cy Young. it was good to see him get some much deserved attention - in the words of Raul Ibanez, "If he was in New York or Boston, fans would know more about him." The Times focused mostly on the same things as us - Roy Halladay, the throwback workhorse. This was their best:

"The movement on Halladay’s pitches can be seen in numbers compiled by the Inside Edge scouting service. Batters swung and missed at only 15 percent of his strikes, about the major league average. But they made solid contact only 7 percent of the time, one of the better rates in the league — the pitches looked good, but they flitted from the bat barrel at the last second."

- And on a sad note, Nick Adenhart, one of the Angels from the failed Cabrera trade that we followed all season, passed away. After just barely missing out on a spot in the roatation and struggling through a season in the minors last year, Adenhart won himself a starting spot this spring. He started the third game of the season and left after six innings and a 3-0 lead. He died that night at the hands of a drunken driver.

-Agent Easy

Doesn't this Put Karl on the Hot Seat?

The Nuggets just promised 'Melo that they wouldn't trade him.

If you read between the lines, it seems that 'Melo, after hearing trade rumors about himself, gave management an ultimatum: trade me now, or not at all. That George Karl was the one seeking out the trade and was eventually trumped by management does not bode well for his future.

Melo is now armed with the absolute assurances of a no-trade, effectively all the anti-Karl leverage he could want, should he feel slighted by the coach that wanted to trade him.

Doesn’t this have a tinge of Willie Randolph to it, superstar players going behind their coach's back, knowing they have management's support? What happens at the first 'Melo-Karl dust-up, or even any Karl locker room incident with which 'Melo might disagree?

Though there's no specific Anthony v. Karl history there seems to be a perfect storm for a Karl firing. There's already been speculation about Karl's job security the past two years ('07, '08). Melo, after starting his career 0 for 5 in the first round, is now firmly in McGrady territory and will be hearing as much throughout the season. To top it all off, there were trades floated for Iverson and for Camby as well. This, in turn, is reminiscent of last year's Bulls, where half the roster was linked to trade rumors and thus lost their confidence and/or desire to play for the team, leading to that spectacular .402 winning percentage after pre-season talk of a title run.

The seeds have been sown. There's no way Karl makes it through the whole season.