Carmelo Anthony said the other day that he'd rather play with the Detroit Pistons than the Denver Nuggets. His college coach is out to change his mind.

Jim Boeheim, who coached Anthony at Syracuse University, put in a call to Anthony to sell him on Denver. He plans to talk to him again soon about it.

"He'll be all right," said Boeheim, who, as a member of the USA Basketball collegiate committee, is in Colorado Springs this weekend for Pan American Games and Junior World Championships tryouts.

Boeheim saw Anthony's comments in Thursday's Rocky Mountain News in which he said he would rather be drafted No. 2 by Detroit than No. 3 by the Nuggets on June 26. Boeheim told him Denver would be a better fit.

"He likes to win and (Detroit) has a better chance to immediately win," 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.