Getty Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony
Will Carmelo Anthony return to the NBA this season?
“I would hope,” TNT’s Kenny Smith tells Dallas,Texas-based Fanatics View.
“I’m a Carmelo Anthony fan, so I would hope someone picks him up.”
A 10-time NBA All-Star, Anthony signed with the Houston Rockets last summer after clearing waivers in a trade that shipped him from the Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks.
After signing with the Rockets, he played ten games in Houston and was sent home. Melo was later dealt to the Chicago Bulls before the NBA trade deadline.
He was waived by Chicago and hasn’t played NBA ball since since November 8, 2018 in a game against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The last few seasons have not been kind to Anthony. In one season in OKC, Anthony averaged career-low numbers.
For those keeping score at home: Melo averaged 16.2 points on 40 percent shooting, made 36 percent of his 3-pointers and his true shooting percentage was 50 percent; his worst ever.
he was not option one or two with Russell Westbrook and Paul George as the top two options. It is arguable that Melo was option 4 behind Steven Adams and from the very beginning in Oklahoma it seemed that Melo was doomed.
Remember his introductory presser when he was asked if he was coming off the bench.
Melo replied: “Who Me?”
Yup. It was a wrap like Reynolds wrap!
“No player is going to say: Nah, I ain’t got it no more, I’m washed up,'” Etan Thomas told me.
“So they blew everything he said out of proportion.”
Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said all of the right things about the former All Star, but it was only a matter of time.
“Carmelo I think has done a great job coming in,” he told the Norman Transcript’s Fred Katz a couple of seasons ago.
“First thing was I think obviously changing positions for him, going from a small forward to a power forward, I think coming into a new role and trying to figure out how he can fit in, and I don’t want to use the term reinvent himself but maybe playing a role different for him from the majority of his career and some of the sacrifices he’s had to make.”
So here we are.
The third overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, he’s averaged 24 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3 assists in his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.
“Melo’s a Hall of Famer,” Nash told Landon Buford of Fanactics View.
“One of the truly great scorers the league’s had. He’s still got something to offer and I hope he lands on a team.”
What’s next?
“I can name some teams,” Kenny Smith told Fanatics View.
More from that conversation in a transcript provided by Dallas Mavaericks beat writer, Landon Buford.
“The Spurs he could fit in right away, Lakers, he would fit in Brooklyn. This is just off the top of my head without doing any research because I am a fan, but not that big of a fan of every team. Right off the bat, can name five teams that he would fit in.”
According to my esteemed Heavy colleague, Sean Deveney, Anthony is said to be in good shape and his resume as a scorer is sterling and representatives of Anthony are fighting the perception that Anthony can no longer be a functional team player.
“He has been the scapegoat for a few teams that didn’t play up to their potential,” one source said. “Obviously that is sticking with him. They’re showing teams he can play, but they’re also making the case that the negative reputation stuff is BS, that he is not a team-killer, that other people put blame on him the last few years that he didn’t deserve.”