Getty Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony can still get buckets in the NBA.
Just ask his NBA bretheren.
“Yeah definitely,” Portland Trail Blazers guard, Rodney Hood told Dallas Mavericks reporter, Landon Buford.
“I mean this is a guy who is probably to this today, one of the hardest guys to guard in isolation type of situations.”
That’s high praise for Melo who has not played basketball in a long time. The third overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Anthony’s last appearance with the Houston Rockets came in a blowout loss to Oklahoma City on Nov. 8 when he had two points and five rebounds.
A 10-time NBA All-Star, Anthony signed with the Houston Rockets this summer after clearing waivers in a trade that shipped him from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks.
So what’s next for Carmelo Anthony on the basketball court?
Getty ImagesCarmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson during their days with the Nuggets.
“When the time is right he will speak out,” a source close to Carmelo Anthony shared with me via e-mail recently.
In an interview with Taryn Finley of the Huffington Post recently, Melo suggested he is at peace with the fact he may not play much longer:
“I’m sure [retirement is] coming soon. I’d be sitting lying to you if I said it’s not coming soon. I think I want it to come soon. I don’t think I want to do this forever, but because you love it so much, it’s hard to give it up. At the end of the day, at anything you do, when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. But as long as you feel good with that.”
The Lakers had been leaning toward signing Anthony for the rest of the season — until a mound of losses occured that make it seem that there’s less of a chance the Lakers will make the NBA Playoffs this season.
Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
“The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Carmelo Anthony are pausing talks on a possible contract agreement unless the franchise makes a turn back toward pursuit of Western Conference playoffs contention.”
Whatever happens next for Anthony, Hood respects him.
“He is a legend,” Hood told Buford.
“He is one of my favorite players to ever play and it is tough to see him go through what he is going through in the media. I think he can definitely help a team especially when playoff time comes when things start to stagnate. He is a veteran, so I hope he lands on his feet.”