Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
With just a few weeks left until training camps open, Carmelo Anthony is still a free agent. But there are plenty of teams that could still use his offensive touch.
At 38 years old, Carmelo Anthony is clearly in the twilight of his career. But he is still coming off a productive season, averaging 13.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game on a 57.9 true shooting percentage. His limitations are growing but he’s still a useful offensive player and plenty of teams have holes that he could fill.
Which potential playoff teams could use Carmelo Anthony as a role player this season?
3. The Chicago Bulls could use Carmelo Anthony at the 4
The Bulls have a major hole at the 4 that they hope will be filled by the healthy return of Patrick Williams. With him out of the lineup last season, DeMar DeRozan played more than 80 percent of his minutes as the nominal 4. While this allowed the Bulls to spread the floor and him to attack mismatches, having some additional options would certainly benefit Chicago this year. Derrick Jones Jr. could take some of those minutes and, I suppose, there may be some circumstances where playing Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic together.
In addition to his value as a spot-up shooter, Anthony can still punish mismatches in the post and he ranked in the 80th percentile in scoring efficiency on post-ups last year. He could help Chicago play small and space the floor while offering another secondary creator for bench units to lean on. He might not be a game-changer and he’s still a defensive liability but he would give the Bulls some needed and versatile frontcourt depth.