Applebee's, Thursday afternoon in Durango, Oct. 5, 2006

On a rainy afternoon Carmelo Anthony and newly acquired guard J.R. Smith make their way across an Albertson's parking lot back to their hotel room at the Doubletree in Durango on the first week of training camp at 2:30 p.m.

After being told the Nuggets have the afternoon off from two-a-day practices, Anthony remarks the only plans he has for the rest of the day is getting some sleep as he tucks his Applebee's to-go Chicken Ciabatta sandwich under his oversized sweatshirt to shield it from the drizzle.

Earlier, Applebee's seemed a fortress of solitude to the 23-year-old from Baltimore. Only the Applebee's manager stopped at the NBA superstar's table, and only to remark at the number of times Anthony had frequented his restaurant. No one bothered him for autographs as he sat with Smith and caught a Tigers-Yankees American League playoff game.

Carmelo orders the regular-meal sized chicken salad in addition to his meal of grilled salmon. He boasts he hasn't touched red meat for more than a year and insists he is in better shape for it.

I knew Carmelo would have to walk across a few parking lots in the rain with his to go-order, so I asked if he minded if I photographed him doing that. He agreed, if I could keep up with him since he and Smith said they would be running back to the hotel. He didn't run and it allowed me to photograph them for the good 10 minutes it took to walk to the Doubletree, the whole time being berated with laughs and pseudo concerns about whether or not my camera would work after being rained on. The scene ended as always, with a request for copies of the photos.

Did you know . . .

• As part of his offseason conditioning, Anthony took up boxing. He jokingly reminds his friends he is ready to throw down at a moment's notice. "He's like, 'The next time you say something to me, I've got the gloves in the house. We're going to go in the basement,' " said Anthony's longtime friend and business manager Robert "Bay" Frazier.