Getty Draymond Green and Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony hasn’t signed with an NBA team yet and Golden State Warriors forward, Draymond Green knows why.
“I think Carmelo is a great player who’s had a great career and looks as if he still has a lot left in the tank,” said Green on a recent appearance on CNBC.
“I think it’s kind of crazy that he’s not on an NBA roster. There’s a lot of players that he’s better than, that’s for sure.”
Carmelo Anthony has not played NBA basketball since November 8 when he was a member of the Houston Rockets. Ironically in that game, Melo suited up against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A 10-time NBA All-Star, Carmelo Anthony has averaged 24.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in his 16-year career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.
On Thursday’s episode of Power 105’s The Breakfast Club, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith shared a conversation that he had with an NBA assistant coach:
“One coach said this to me, he said: ‘Stephen A this brotha is a future Hall of Famer, but I don’t think he works for my nine man rotation. How am I supposed to look down at the end of my bench and see a Hall of Famer and not think I’m going to take heat for that? Why would I want that headache? I know from roster 9 to 15, he clearly could be on any roster in the NBA. The problem is, most of those dudes are marginal talents without his resume that you could justify and get away with it and get peace of mind. That’s why he’s not in the league.”
Carmelo Anthony has been working out with members of the Brooklyn Nets in Los Angeles.
According to a report by SNY’s Ian Begley and Anthony Puccio, Anthony and the Nets have participated in informal workouts.
Per Puccio and Begley: “It is unknown if the Nets are one of the teams that Anthony and his representatives have talked to about a potential signing. The club’s interest level in signing Anthony to a contract is also unknown.”
Melo to Brooklyn from a basketball standpoint makes sense.
The Nets have a potent roster with names like Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie complimenting Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
The Nets will likely be without Durant this season as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
“He could be a bench player asset to play and may be a good cheap replacement in a sense for KD this season,” Josh Hicks of Chicago’s Regal Radio suggested to me.
Anthony has also contemplated retirement. In an interview with Taryn Finley of the Huffington Post, Melo suggested that he is at peace with the fact he may not play much longer. “I’m sure [retirement is] coming soon,” he said.
“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.”