During Syracuse's magical run toward the NCAA championship, Orangemen small forward Carmelo Anthony became a household name.

The NBA scouts, however, already knew what he was capable of doing.

''(The championship) helped him with the general public,'' Nuggets assistant general manager David Fredman said. ''But NBA people already knew what he could do. He makes shots, rebounds, passes, and does what it takes to win.''

In his lone season of college basketball, he averaged 22.2 points and 10 rebounds and was a second-team All-America pick by the Associated Press.

Unless Pistons president Joe Dumars is putting out the biggest smokescreen in the history of the NBA draft, Anthony seems destined to be headed to the Denver Nuggets on June 26. Dumars has told anyone who'll listen he's taking Serbian forward/center Darko Milicic with the second pick, which leaves Anthony for the Nuggets.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

''He likes to win and (Detroit) has a better chance to immediately win,'' Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. ''But in Denver he's going to play more minutes. Detroit's got Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and (Corliss) Williamson taking shots. They're not going to want a rookie to come in and take 15 to 18 shots. In Denver, he's capable of that. If he plays 35 minutes, he can get 20 or more points next year. I think he'll be an All-Star.''