Now that Carmelo Anthony is at peace with his situation, he faces a changing Nuggets roster.

Anthony, who rejoined his U.S. Olympic teammates on Monday, said he doesn't "know what direction the Nuggets are going in. I don't want to harp on it. I want to focus on what's going on here."

That would be the U.S. Olympic basketball team's training camp, an exhibition game here Friday against Canada, then a trip to China for four exhibition games before beginning Olympic play Aug. 10 in Beijing.

But one can't blame Anthony if he's a bit distracted.

In recent weeks, the Nuggets:

* Traded center Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers in a salary dump that gave them the option of trading second-round draft picks in 2010.

* Lost forward Eduardo Najera to the New Jersey Nets in free agency.

* Made a $3.04 million qualifying offer for next season to guard J.R. Smith, who said last week he had not had any further talks with the team.

None of that, however, tempers the fact Anthony feels "more comfortable than a month ago."

"Denver reassured me that they want me as part of the organization," he said. "I know I have to assume more of a leadership role. When A.I. (Allen Iverson) arrived, I sort of took a little bit of a back seat, but I know now that it's time to step up."

Jim Boeheim, a Team USA assistant and Anthony's coach at Syracuse University, believes his former star is up to the task.

"I'm going to speak to him about it," Boeheim said.

"He knows he's a professional. He's been a leader. He was a leader at Syracuse, so it's not new to him."

Anthony admitted he got a bit nervous the day of the Camby trade.

"I was in my hotel room and the phone started to ring off the hook," Anthony said in his first public comments about the deal. "Calls were coming from my teammates and members of the Denver basketball family. When I answered, I said, 'OK, so where am I going?'

"When they said it was Camby, I said, 'There goes a five-year teammate and (2006-07) Defensive Player of the Year.' Losing Camby and (Ed) Najera, there goes about 20 rebounds a game."

Anthony was icing his left calf muscle after practice and scheduled a massage treatment, but he said, "It's nothing out of the ordinary, just some tightness."