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His hype reached untold proportions as his fame rose in the months ahead of the 2003 NBA draft, with the only unanswered question revolving around which team would be the ultimate beneficiary of his All-Star bids, first-team all-NBA nominations and, good lord willing, NBA titles to come. His visits to New York have been known to incite a frenzy among the passionate Madison Square Garden crowd. In the eyes of many, he's become the savior-to-be of the New York Knicks.

His name is not LeBron James. It's Carmelo Anthony.

When James and Anthony arrived in the league together in that star-studded 2003 draft -- James as the Ohio child prodigy ready to become a man, Anthony as the freshman sensation, leading scorer and heart of the newly crowned NCAA champions from Syracuse University -- the two seemed destined to forever be linked throughout the careers that lay ahead of them over the course of the next two decades.

Both played the same position, both had the moxie and talent to single-handedly turn a down-on-its-luck lottery team into a perennial playoff powerhouse. However, despite being a year younger than his counterpart, James seemed to be just a little bit ahead of Anthony. Sure enough, James went No. 1 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 draft, while Anthony fell to the Denver Nuggets at No. 3.

Reviewing the first six years of their NBA careers, James' slight edge does not seem to have disappeared. James has been selected to five All-Star teams, Anthony to just two. James has three first-team All-NBA selections, Anthony has none, settling for three nods to the third-team. James has brought the Cavs to the NBA finals. Anthony and the Nuggets have gone only as far as the Western Conference finals.

As free agency looms for James next summer, talk of where he'll sign his next contract has spiraled out of control, often consuming the NBA landscape. No where has James' future overshadowed the game on the floor more so than New York, where the Akron, Ohio native has found himself showered with love and affection in each of the Cavs' visits over the past two years.

For Anthony, meanwhile, free agency has remained on the back burner, his contract ensuring that his window to potentially switch teams will open one year behind that of James. In New York, the reception for Anthony has never been filled with nearly the adoration seen in James' entrances. In fact, Anthony's most memorable Madison Square Garden moment is a dark one, an on-court brawl between the Knicks and Nuggets on Dec. 16, 2006. The melee was highlighted by Anthony's sucker punch of then-Knicks guard Mardy Collins. Knicks fans, however, are more than familiar with Anthony's talent, and got a reminder of just what he's capable of through his 50-point performance in the Nuggets' 128-125 win over the Knicks in Denver on Friday night.

Both on and off the court, Anthony's star has shined just a little less brightly than James'. So why, then, should Anthony, and not James, be the Knicks' savior in-waiting?

For one, the opportunity to make that star shine every bit as bright.

Much has been made of James' desire to become a global icon, a Ruthian figure universally recognized around the world not only as a basketball player, but as a larger symbol of greatness. The prevailing logic is that the spotlight, money and endorsements that come along with New York can make that happen. That's not untrue, but the whole truth is that James does not need the glamor of New York to make that happen. With every nationally televised commercial, with every non-basketball award and appearance, with every one of the thousands of adoring fans who constantly surrounded him in Beijing two summers ago, it becomes all the more clear that James is well on his way to global icon status from right at home in Ohio, with or without New York.

If Anthony, however, is to achieve that sort of fame, he's going to need a boost from New York's bright lights.

And what of James' Ohio roots? One cannot put a price tag on the emotional value of rising from youth star to global star, from high school champion to world champion, all while staying within an hour of home. Neither can one underestimate the potential for hatred and anger that could come along with leaving home to pursue those goals elsewhere. Indeed, if James were to flee Ohio for the riches of New York, he would have to face the reality of his home state and home city forever turning their backs on him, much in the same way he would be turning his back on them.

Anthony's roots tell a different story. Brooklyn born and bred, the current face of the Nuggets may have fresh mountain air in his lungs, but he has New York basketball in his blood. A move to New York would not be a home-burning, but rather a homecoming for a man who called Red Hook home for the first eight years of his life. From his formative years on the streets of Baltimore to his brief, yet historic stay at Syracuse, Anthony is a man and basketball player forged on the East Coast, complete with the toughness that has always been a staple of the game east of the Mississippi.

But, of course, all the individual glory and homecomings in the world mean very little compared to the ultimate goal of a professional basketball player, the one neither James nor Anthony have yet reached -- earning that illustrious championship ring.

Accomplishing that lofty goal is no given, regardless of a player's individual talent -- just ask Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Reggie Miller or Allen Iverson. One must find themselves amongst the right collection of players at the right stages of their career, and then hope to be blessed with more than a little bit of luck.

Both James and Anthony currently find themselves on title-contending teams. For Anthony, however, that title window seems to be closing just a little bit quicker.

If the Eastern Conference elite were weighed against each other on a multi-pronged scale, it would be tough to tip the balance in any specific direction. There is no single clear-cut favorite. James' Cavaliers are lined up at the starting blocks side-by-side with the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, without a single hurdle in front of them. They have as clear a path to the NBA finals as any of their competition. Sure, the Cavs' two pivot men, Shaquille O'Neal and Zyndrunas Ilgauskas, are likely winding down their careers, but the remaining part of the team's core is firmly in its prime. Some minor roster tinkering may be in order, but James looks sure to have the opportunity to chase NBA titles in Cleveland for years to come.

Anthony's Nuggets face a different outlook. They are coming off a Western Conference finals appearance, but are also a clear No. 2 in the West to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, and the core surrounding Anthony is not built for the long term.

Chauncey Billups is 33-years-old and beginning to show signs of wear. Kenyon Martin is an old 31, approaching 32, and playing on a pair of surgically repaired knees. Frequently injury-bitten Nene is only 27, but in the first seven years of his career has managed to play in 65 or more games just three times. Sure, the Nuggets may be better positioned than any other team in the West to dethrone the Lakers this season, but if they cannot do it this year, it seems increasingly likely that, at least in their current form, they never will.

Fast forward two seasons to the summer of 2011 -- will it be in Anthony's best interest to stay with a team that may be just beginning a rebuilding process, or perhaps come to a Knicks team that, by adding a few pieces below the maximum contract level in the summer of 2010, could already be turning the corner in a rebuilding process? Does Anthony bide his time in Denver, or take the opportunity to bring basketball back to its old prominence in the city of his birth?

Does Anthony risk falling further behind James in the race that is their NBA careers, or does he, at long last, take the opportunity to close the gap and pull even in the lane right alongside his longtime friend and rival?