I am not sure how this season will turnout for the Lakers and when it will all resume. Carmelo Anthony signed a deal with the Blazers
and chose the number 00 to represent his reincarnation as a player. All season Melo has been a team player for the Blazers and it is looking like they at best get the 8th spot in the West assuming the season resumes and likely lose in the first round to the Lakers,even with the return of Jusuf Nurkic I don’t believe the Blazers have enough to beat the Lakers in a 7 game series if they were to face off. It’s not worth it for the Blazers to re-sign Carmelo Anthony because even with a healthy Nurkic,Lillard,CJ,and Collins I don’t believe the Blazers will ever win a championship with Dame and CJ, CJ McCollum is not a complete enough guard as far as rebounding,defense,and playmaking goes and Lillard is not a player who can exert his will on a game consistently for a whole playoff run. Maybe if Carmelo Anthony was 6-7 years younger the Blazers could’ve won a championship but not with this Carmelo Anthony.
I always marveled at Carmelo Anthony’s game and his perimeter shooting, the jab-steps,the turn-around fadeaways, bully ball drives to the basket for and-1 lay-ins. I saw Carmelo Anthony at his absolute peak and at this point in his career just like he was in OKC and Houston, Carmelo Anthony is a third option at this point and where I think he has grown is his willingness to accept that he is no longer the elite scorer who was scoring 30 in his sleep but you plug him on the Lakers with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and I think he could win that long alluded championship ring which he has not been able to obtain till this point. LeBron James will look for Carmelo Anthony willingly on the basketball court and get him the ball right where he wants it, how many unselfish players has Carmelo Anthony played with in his career? I do not consider Westbrook and Harden unselfish players even if they get over 5 assists a night, Melo was just like both of them playing a iso-heavy game. Melo had an offense built around him in New York and I remember the moment he got back from injury when Jeremy Lin made his magical run,the moment Melo returned the Linsanity stuff was over with.
Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire never worked out in New York not only because the Knicks traded half the roster away to acquire Carmelo Anthony but Carmelo Anthony was unable to co-exist with Amare Stoudemire for some strange reason. Seemed like ever since Amare Stoudemire suffered that injury he was never the same again and we never got to see what Melo and Stoudemire could’ve done together. On the Thunder he was forced to be the Klay Thompson of the team and expected to knock down 3’s if Westbrook or George couldn’t get anything going. On the Rockets he did not even make it through the season although he was playing well, the season was a trainwreck for the Rockets as we saw the divorce of Chris Paul and James Harden unfold last summer. Playing with LeBron James I think Carmelo Anthony will only become even more disciplined with his conditioning and understanding he’s playing for a championship if he signs with the Lakers.
In terms of fit he would fit in perfectly assuming LeBron James remains the point guard, he could start at the small-forward position, the lineup would be Bron-Green-Melo-Davis-Howard(assuming they re-sign him). Not bad, Dwight Howard is in the same situation as Carmelo Anthony and doing what is best for the team. No longer griping about lack of touches on the low post, just coming off the bench rebounding,playing defense, and providing rim protection for the Los Angeles Lakers. I think if Carmelo Anthony had adapted the mentality of a Manu Ginobili he would probably have a few championship rings by now, if his ego was not in the way he would have signed with the Bulls and teamed up with Butler,Rose,and Noah in Chicago when he was a free-agent but no he took the 5 year $124 million dollar contract from Phil Jackson and rotted away in New York.
To conclude what makes the Lakers such a great team is that there is organization and everyone is on the same page. The Lakers’ roster knows LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the top dogs but those top dogs acknowledge the rest of the team and it makes everyone better. Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James were once arch rivals when they first came into the NBA, a lot of Carmelo fans believed he should’ve won Rookie of the Year over LeBron James and I think the award should have been split between Bron and Melo. Carmelo Anthony in Los Angeles has always sounded like the perfect match, Melo is actually the closest thing I’ve seen to Kobe as far as approach to the game and skill-set. We always wondered what LeBron James and Kobe Bryant could’ve accomplished if they played together well I would not mind seeing at least something close to it with Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, till next time.
D-NBA 