Houston Rockets: Carmelo Anthony will be worse than Ryan Anderson

Carmelo Anthony becoming a spot up shooter for the Houston Rockets is not an upgrade. He stands to be a worse version of what Ryan Anderson has been for the team

There is an old American adage which states friends are friends, and business is business.

Unfortunately, Chris Paul has mixed the two as he has successfully pushed for the Houston Rockets to acquire his friend Carmelo Anthony.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Schultz, Paul advocated for the Rockets to acquire his “good friend” in early July.

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Earlier this week, Adrian Wojnarowski was first to break news that Carmelo Anthony plans to officially announce his intentions to sign with the Rockets as soon as he clears waivers.

This comes, at best, an awkward fit with the team.

The Houston Rockets ran an offensive system centered around isolations last season. For instance, Chris Paul or James Harden would bring the basketball up to the 3-point line. Once this happened, they would pay close attention to who was guarding them before making their next move.

If they were being guarded by players who could keep up with them step for step, they would call for the big man to set a screen. The screen would create space between them and the defender, as the player guarding them has to waste a couple seconds going over or underneath the screener’s body.

The pick would often put the opposing team in a position where they were forced to switch their defensive alignment, not wanting to risk the possibility of Paul or Harden being left open.

Consequently, the defender who was supposed to guard the big man had to switch and guard them. The switch was normally beneficial for Paul or Harden because the opposing team puts their weakest defenders on big men. After the switch occurred, Paul or Harden would wave off the screen and isolate the defender.

The system was the catalyst behind Houston being top five in the league in isolations and screens. According to NBA.com, the Rockets were first in isolations with 1280 possessions and fourth in screens with 730 possessions.

At first glance, Houston’s isolation offense would appear to be an ideal fit for Carmelo’s skill set. Carmelo likes to isolate his defender out of the post up in the mid to low block. During his final season as the No. 1 one option for the Knicks, Anthony was third in the league in isolations as he averaged 5.3 per game.

A significant amount of those isolations ended with him taking a mid-range jumper as he took 21.1% of his shots from 10-16 feet. However, it is not the case.

Unfortunately for Carmelo, his midrange game is unlikely to flourish in Houston, as their general manager Daryl Morey thinks that three-pointers and layups/dunks are more efficient shots than midrange jumpers.

In fact, Tim Cato of SBNation pointed out that the team was last in midrange jumpers two seasons ago attempting 579. Houston’s philosophy puts Carmelo in the position where he is once again a spot up shooter because he has lost a significant amount of speed to be effective at isolations from the 3-point line.

Carmelo Anthony potentially becoming a spot up shooter for the Houston Rockets is not an upgrade. He stands to be a worse version of what Ryan Anderson has been for the team. According to NBA.com, Ryan Anderson shot 39.3 percent on catch and shoot 3’s last season which is 2.1 percent more than Anthony.