Often guarded with his comments during the NBA season, Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony talked openly Friday about the extent of his sorrow after a chain of negative events that plagued him early last season.

Appearing as a guest on ESPN2's Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Anthony said he was "in a shell," "depressed" and "messed up" and hired a professional therapist for a short time. He also met with Nuggets general manager Kiki Vande- weghe.

"I even went to Kiki and said 'I'm lost, I don't know what to do,' " Anthony said.

Vandeweghe offered Anthony two weeks off to collect his thoughts, but Anthony didn't accept. "It would have been the biggest story since Ricky Williams disappearing and smoking marijuana," Anthony said.