Marcus Camby was "the heart and soul" of the Nuggets defense, and his former team has very little chance of winning without him.

It's not me saying that. It's a knowledgeable basketball man who also happens to be close to Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony.

Whether Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's view of the Nuggets' offseason salary dump reflects Anthony's view or is merely an attempt to watch Anthony's back may be academic. Boeheim, clearly, is in a position to say things Anthony can't without causing a public rift within the organization.

Boeheim and Anthony are in China as members of the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, Boeheim as an assistant to head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"Without Camby, I don't see any way that they can possibly win because he was a key guy for them," Boeheim told me the other day. "Believe me, I watched at least 70 games they played, maybe more. And he was a key guy."

So, Coach, shipping Camby to the Clippers and getting no immediate help in exchange didn't make any sense to you?

"I'm sure it didn't make any sense to anybody, from a basketball point of view," Boeheim said.

"From a financial viewpoint, I guess Wal-Mart's stock is down a little bit, or something. Must be down a couple hundred million dollars, I don't know. I didn't know money was a problem in that family."

Nuggets owner E. Stanley Kroenke's wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. She was ranked No. 165 on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans last year, with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.

Kroenke, who made his money developing shopping centers around Wal-Mart stores, was ranked No. 204, with an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion.

"I don't know how you can let Marcus Camby go," Boeheim said. "He was like the heart and soul of that team, when it comes to defense, protecting the basket and rebounding. It's tough to replace him."

I mentioned that Anthony, perhaps second only to coach George Karl, is a popular target of criticism for the Nuggets' failure to get out of the first round of the playoffs in any of his five pro seasons, particularly because his 2003 draft classmates, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, have both been to the NBA Finals already.

"My belief is, it's about players and about teammates and who you've got on your team," Boeheim said. "You can't do it alone in the NBA. I don't think he's had enough with him to enable him to get his team to the Finals.

"Obviously, the West is much more difficult, top to bottom, than the East. Dwyane had Shaq. LeBron had a great run and LeBron's a great player.

"But Carmelo won a national championship, so he can win. Dwyane Wade didn't win a national championship (in college). So Carmelo's already proven he can win. I believe he can win in the NBA."

Anthony led the Syracuse Orangemen to the 2003 NCAA championship while playing for Boeheim.

Most recently, the Nuggets front office banked on the high-scoring duo of Anthony and Allen Iverson to compete for a championship. The team is 1-8 in the playoffs with that combination.

"I think it was a good thought," Boeheim said. "I think Allen is a tremendous offensive player, but he's not a point guard that gets other people involved. He's a guy that scores. I think they just don't have enough to win."

Implicitly, that evaluation is a criticism of the front office, which tends to take less flak than Karl or Anthony because it's hard to know which of its three heads to blame.

What confuses Boeheim is what confuses many of us. The Nuggets' biggest weakness last season was defense. By dumping a player who led the NBA in blocked shots and ranked second in rebounds, they exacerbate that problem.

"They're a great offensive team, but in the NBA, in the West particularly, you've got to stop people," Boeheim said. "There are great teams out there. It's hard to outscore those teams. They have not been a great defensive team.

"They just have never seemed to be able to play consistently at a high level. Not necessarily defensively, just overall. I don't know enough about them to know all the reasons for that."

Amid a slew of trade rumors earlier this summer, Anthony's agent demanded and received assurances that his client would not be moved. If Anthony's camp shares Boeheim's view of the Camby trade, it suggests a widening schism between the scoring star and the team that drafted him five years ago.

Anthony can't say publicly what Boeheim says without opening himself up to an ongoing controversy. But even if Boeheim is only watching his former star's back, his unvarnished analysis represents a pre-emptive strike against an organization offering its young star even less help than he had a year ago.

kriegerd@RockyMountainNews.com