Getty Former Houston Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony isn’t on an NBA team and Knicks legend, Walt Frazier says he know why.
“Well you know with your past,” Frazier told me.
“People will say that he was arrogant at one point in his career and the way of getting revenge or something.”
Frazier does hope that Anthony latches on with someone soon.
“I hope so man,” the NBA Hall of Famer told me.
“I don’t like what’s happening to him. He should have a swan song. I’m confident that somebody will give him a chance.”
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 was later traded to the Chicago Bulls before the NBA’s trading deadline.
Melo hasn’t played NBA basketball since November 8, 2018 in a game against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
On the Scoop B Radio Podcast this winter, NBA writer, Chris Sheridan told me that Melo and the Houston Rockets may have had a “falling out,” which could have led Melo and the team to part ways.
Sheridan said Melo and the Rockets had an issue that they ‘dont want out yet.’
“I was in the arena at San Antonio the night he disappeared,” Sheridan told Scoop B Radio.
“They were saying he’s out with the flu. And it actually was a flu bug going around the team. The coach stated that James Harden was sniffling and Chris Paul was too. So there really was a flu bug going around during that game.”
ESPN First Take’s Stephen A. Smith shared on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club that analytics may have done Melo in.
Without question they’re doing him wrong,” Smith told The Breakfast Club hosts DJ Envy, Charlemagne and Angela Ye last week.
“Melo belongs in the league. There are 250 players, let alone 450 plus players better than Carmelo Anthony. Now you’re making the argument that the ball stops moving when he’s on the court, which is legitimate, but I think what people are missing is what’s happened to the NBA game. You’ve got a bunch of these white dudes that are analytics dudes and so they’re numbers crunchers. Everything is according to PER and all of this other stuff; all of these statistical categories. But what has happened is, they’re looking at that and using that to frame rosters. Because if you go to an owner and an owner of a particular team doesn’t know basketball, what’s their position? I know numbers!”
Former Los Angeles Lakers point guard, Scott Machado told me this summer that he likes Melo in LA with the Clippers rather than with the purple and gold.
“Lakers because Boogie [DeMarcus Cousins] got hurt,” Scott Machado told me this afternoon via text message.
“He’ll play the four, stretch the floor too!”
The Lakers signed Machado to a 10-day contract back in March after soaring as a stud on the Lakers’ G League team where he ranked second in the G League with averages of 16.4 points per game, 8 assists per game, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 45 contests (25 starts) this season.
Carmelo Anthony was 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.
NBA training camp begins at the end of this month. The NBA’s regular season begins next month.