NBA Rumors: The Lakers and 76ers have reportedly resisted the idea of bringing in Carmelo Anthony, but that could change with time?
It’s been a little more than a month since Carmelo Anthony left the Houston Rockets after it was decided that the two parties needed a divorce. Still, there has been no real clear indication if we’ll ever see Anthony in the NBA again.
However, according to a recent report from Marc Stein, of the New York Times, it appears that have been at least two teams that have at least thought about the potential of bringing in the perennial all-star.
And those two teams are the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers. So far, though, both of those teams, per the report, have elected not to go down that path with Melo. Probably for obvious reasons.
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"[via New York Times]But the teams most often mentioned as potential landing spots for Anthony — Philadelphia and LeBron James’s Lakers — have resisted the idea thus far."
In his last two spots, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Rockets, Melo has simply not accepted and embraced the role that would be best for the team. Instead, he’s continued to hang to the hope that he could still be a No. 1 or 2 option for a really good team.
Simply put, that is no longer the case. The game has changed dramatically since the last time Melo was that. And he really hasn’t evolved with it.
While Melo has been average to above average from 3-point range, he’s never really been an efficient scorer at any point in his career. He’s only shot above 45 percent from the field once in his last eight seasons, and has never shot 50 percent or better from the field at any point in his career.
And the big issue isn’t the fact that he’s shooting a low 40 percent from the field, it’s the fact that he wants to take that efficiency and take 15-20 shots per night. And that simply doesn’t work in today’s NBA, especially if a good chunk of those shots are from mid-range.
I would be shocked if we don’t see Melo again this season, but unless he accepts that he’s, at best, a bench option for any team, it doesn’t really matter.