Getty Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers shoots over Rudy Gobert #27 of the Utah Jazz.
At the moment, it appears that the Boston Celtics will not add Carmelo Anthony to their roster, as Brian Robb of MassLive reported on September 9 that the team is “not expected to have interest in bringing in the veteran for a signing ahead of training camp.” That has not stopped former Celtics like Kendrick Perkins from pushing the team to add him anyway.
On September 14, Perkins sat down with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Bally Sports to discuss why he believes the Celtics should add Anthony.
“What are (the Celtics) waiting on?” Perkins asked. “(Carmelo) has already shown us that he’s willing to take a lesser role. He’s still a bucket. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen ain’t all. You still got (Carmelo) coming in off the bench. You’re not asking him to do much. You’re asking him to come in and get you 12-15 points consistently doing that every night. (Carmelo) is doing that in his sleep.”
Perkins later expressed his belief that the Celtics’ defensive personnel could cover up for Anthony’s shortcomings on that end.
“You’ve got enough defenders around him, and he’s going to put forth the effort. I understand that some may say he’s a liability, but the way the Celtics are constructed with those anchors that they do have and the perimeter guards that they have to defend, they could hide (Carmelo).”
Carmelo Anthony, Celtics update from @KendrickPerkins to @BallySports. 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
Celtics BETTER SIGN MELO!!
“What you wait in’ on?”
“He’s still a Bucket!”
“@carmeloanthony already showed us that he’s willing to take a lesser role.”
Exec: Celtics Like Carmelo, Fear He’d be a Distraction
A Western Conference Executive revealed to Heavy’s Sean Deveney that while the Celtics like Anthony as a player, they fear that his presence would cause problems.
“(The Celtics) like (Carmelo), most teams do, but there is a fear that he could be disruptive — not him as a player, just his presence. So it’s likely a no. It’s a distraction, and teams want to avoid distractions. Most teams, at least. He makes sense there, and I think a lot of the stuff that has come out is more just ‘He makes sense’ rather than ‘They’re out there chasing him.'”
The executive later added that he doesn’t see anything happening between Anthony and the Celtics because of their current roster.
“It all adds up to it being a lot of smoke around him, but I don’t see any real fire there. Even with Gallo out, I think they like where they are.”
Jayson Tatum Approves Adding Carmelo
On September 5, the Twitter account “Legion Hoops” aggregated a report from Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe stating that Anthony joining the Celtics was “starting to gain traction.” Then, a Twitter account that goes by the name of “Hollywood Gussy” – which is an account that Tatum follows – quote tweeted “Legion Hoops” tweet, saying, “God if (you) want me to get a signed Melo jersey, just say that.”
Tatum would go on to like the tweet, which would indicate that he would approve of the Celtics bringing Anthony in, although it appears that’s not going to happen regardless.
Anthony has remained a free agent throughout the entire offseason after playing last season with the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s given no indication that he plans to retire, so while he may not start the season with anyone, that could change in the near future.
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Celtics Champion Urges Team to Sign Future Hall of Famer