After months of speculation about whether Carmelo Anthony would get a chance to prove himself one last time, we now know the Portland Trail Blazers have signed him to a non-guaranteed contract.
One of the biggest stars in basketball is returning to the NBA. Carmelo Anthony was once one of the best scorers in the game playing in the biggest city on Earth. Now, he’s playing for a non-guaranteed contract in Portland.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Anthony just is signing with Portland. Anthony’s name has not been talked about much, and a lot of us thought he was going to finally team up with LeBron James in Los Angeles. Instead, he joins a Portland team which has not had the start to the season they hoped.
Damien Lillard’s 230-game double-digit point streak ended at 230 games yesterday. They stand at 4-8 on the season, losing six of their last seven games including Wednesday night to the Toronto Raptors.
Speaking of Lillard, he apparently was asked directly about the move, and he’s all for it. Chris Haynes with Yahoo Sports says he’s always been supportive of bringing in Anthony.
One thing that confuses many about this move is one of the problems with the Blazers this year is their inability to stop people on the defensive side. They are scoring 112 points per game, but they cannot win games. That shows that what they really need is someone who can stop people.
They are 2-4 in games decided by less than two possessions, so maybe they need a clutch scorer. Anthony has been known to hit big shots in the past.
The problem with Anthony is accepting his role. Right now, he’s a bench guy. That’s the reality. He can still score. Even in those 10 terrible games, he played for the Houston Rockets last season, he still scored 13.4 points per game. It was the worst output of his career, but a lot of time away from the game of basketball hopefully humbled him.
This is a no-risk move for the Blazers. Again, he agreed to a non-guaranteed contract today. That means the Blazers can get out whenever. However, if it works, and he helps their turnaround, everyone looks like a genius.