New Orleans Pelicans are the perfect landing spot for Carmelo Anthony
The Houston Rockets may be done with Carmelo Anthony, but he could have a new landing spot with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Carmelo Anthony’s career has taken yet another hit. The experiment with the Houston Rockets appears to be short lived, with reports that Melo could be waived by the team he joined just three months ago.
If the 10-time All-Star isn’t ready to call it quits, he could be a decent fit for the New Orleans Pelicans. According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Pelicans join the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers as three teams he’s heard as potential landing spots.
Melo said all of the right things coming into the season. He even surprised many people and came off the bench for the first time in his career. That alone was a major adjustment from his one-year stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder last season.
On the surface, Anthony’s numbers so far this season may seem decent for a 34-year-old vet. Although it’s been a scoring career low for Melo, averaging 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds a night isn’t horrible for a complementary player. But if you look at the impact of those stats, he’s not helping the Rockets in the win column. Melo has a plus/minus of -63 in his 294 minutes this season.
Even his free throw percentage is suffering. He’s shooting a dismal 68.2 percent from the line, compared to his career average of 81.1 percent. It’s as if we are seeing one of the greatest scorers of this era deteriorate in front of our eyes. But the real issue isn’t Carmelo’s skill level, it’s the fact that Houston’s roster doesn’t complement his skill-set.
The Rockets have already encountered a four-game losing streak this season, and somehow that’s all Carmelo’s fault. Houston did get rid of two prominent shooters in Trevor Ariza and Ryan Anderson. Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute guarded opposing superstars, but now the former is wasting away with the Phoenix Suns and the latter is locking down defenders for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Somehow the Rockets expected Carmelo Anthony to replace two automatic shooters and two top-tier defenders.
Unlike Houston, the Pelicans aren’t in immediate danger of losing any key pieces if the opportunity arises to claim Carmelo off of waivers. In fact, the addition of the former All-Star solves a problem that has plagued the Pelicans during key stretches of games.
With the injury to Elfrid Payton, New Orleans has struggled to find playmakers when Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday take a breather. It’s difficult for head coach Alvin Gentry to keep both guys off the floor for any significant amount of time. Melo would be free to do his thing and lead the second unit.
The Pelicans play at a pace that may not make sense for Carmelo at first glance. He’s never been a speedy guy, and New Orleans is the fourth-fastest paced offense in the NBA. But as the focal point of the second unit, he’ll have the ability to slow things down if need be. That’s a much better scenario than trying to play catch up with Chris Paul and Eric Gordon, only to receive a pass and have to make sure that you’re behind the 3-point line to keep the coaching staff happy.
With the Pelicans, Melo can set up in the half-court offense. He has the ability to play the wing, or move down on the block to abuse smaller defenders. Having the freedom to play in positions where he’s excelled his entire career will improve his confidence.
While teams like the Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers appear to be enticing landing spots, both squads have new pieces they are trying to figure out. They also have bench players to fulfill the scoring duties. Adding Anthony to either of those rosters would complicate things, ultimately landing unfair blame on Carmelo if things don’t work out.
In addition to New Orleans being an ideal fit as far as what the team needs, a spot with the Pelicans may also provide Melo with that extra urge to win. It’s not every day that players with his resume are waived this early in the season. It’s also worth noting that he and head coach Mike D’Antoni haven’t seen eye-to-eye since their days with the New York Knicks.
With both teams playing in the same division, Melo could use that chip on his shoulder as the Pelicans battle the Rockets for playoff position. Any added advantage helps in the Western Conference.
At the end of the day, none of this is possible unless the Rockets decide that they are done experimenting with a future Hall-of-Famer. If that decision is indeed made, New Orleans is a solid destination for Carmelo Anthony to finish his career.
