Getty Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
There have been conflicting reports regarding whether the Boston Celtics plan to pursue Carmelo Anthony or not. Brandon Scoop B Robinson reported on August 30 that the Celtics considered him a “potential signee,” then added on September 2 that they were Anthony’s “number one suitor.” That same day, Boston Herald’s Steve Hewitt reported that the Celtics were in no rush to make any moves, including signing Anthony.
“According to a league source, the C’s aren’t in a hurry to make a deal or sign Anthony, and they’re interested in taking a look at all of their internal depth options, including Mfiondu Kabengele and Luke Kornet.”
On September 7, Mark Murphy went on the “Celtics Talk” Podcast to discuss the Celtics’ possible interest in adding Anthony with Chris Forsberg. Murphy explained to Forsberg the one reason why he believes the Celtics don’t want him.
“I don’t think they are at all interested in Carmelo,” Murphy said. “I think what it comes down to is that they don’t want to sacrifice their defensive principles. You have to either be able to defend. I’m not sure what it would look like the first time Melo had to switch onto a point guard.”
🚨CELTICS TALK PODCAST 🚨
@ChrisForsberg_ talks with Mark Murphy about whether the Celtics have interest in Carmelo Anthony 👀
Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers had a defensive rating of 114.17, which was the 10th-highest in the NBA, according to Basketball-Reference. When Anthony was on the floor, the Lakers gave up plus-0.4 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com. That isn’t positive but isn’t that much of a negative either.
Former Celtic All For Adding Anthony
On September 6, Brian Scalabrine went on SiriusXM NBA Radio to explain why he thinks Anthony would be a good fit on the roster. In Scalabrine’s opinion, he believes Anthony could be a good role model for the Celtics players, particularly Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, they look up to guys like that. They looked up to Joe Johnson, and Brad [Stevens] thought it was really cool to bring Joe Johnson in. I think it should be the same kind of thing. Carmelo Anthony, if you watch him on Instagram, he’s kind of helping his son out, he’s working out younger kids – I could see how there could be some advantages to having Carmelo on the roster, not just on the playing side, but also the mentoring side of our two stars,”
The Celtics are reportedly interested in signing Carmelo Anthony.
@Scalabrine is all for it!
Tatum Hinting at Possible Anthony Addition
On September 5, the Twitter account “Legion Hoops” aggregated a report from The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn saying that the Celtics potentially adding Anthony was starting to gain traction. A Twitter account that goes by the name, “Hollywood Gussy” quote-tweeted that, saying, “God if (you) want me to get a signed Melo jersey, just say that.”
Tatum follows this Twitter account and went on to like his tweet about Anthony potentially joining the Celtics. By doing so, it appears that Tatum is, at the very least, aware of the rumors going on. Better yet, he could very well be signaling that he would approve of a Carmelo Anthony signing if the Celtics go that route.
Murphy believes the Celtics aren’t interested in Anthony because of his defense. Scalabrine believes Anthony would be a good fit because of his mentoring abilities. No matter what the reasoning is, it’s apparent that Tatum wouldn’t mind having him around.