Carmelo Anthony is a savant on the offence who transitioned his game according to need and has excelled at it like only a few others.
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Try telling the Carmelo Anthony of the Detroit Pistons or the New York Knicks that a few years later, he’d play an entire season in the NBA as a shooter, off the bench, and have one of the least usage rates in the team.
If he heard any one of those three sentences, that man would tell you what he tells everyone else (including his own teammates) while collecting boards on the court.
Cut to 2022. It’s been two years, and he is doing just that and has excelled in the role like a few others. One of the NBA’s top-75 players of all time has scored close to a thousand points in years 18 and 19 of his career after being out of the league.
After clearly stating that he didn’t want to play a secondary role in any team, the 10x All-Star made up his mind and had a turnaround that would prolong his career for a longer time than anyone would’ve imagined.
Not just that, it made him a desirable option off the bench for a championship-contending team led by his fellow draftee LeBron James. And although the Lakers failed even to make the Playoffs this year, Melo gave his all and more. Much more than what was expected of him.
Carmelo Anthony gave his all on both ends of the floor in year 19 and finished Top-3 on offence
Anthony didn’t just prove to be worthy of the belief Lakers management put in him. He delivered much more and became 3rd highest scorer in year 19, in the history of the game just behind LeBron and Kareem. Salute to both his and LeBron’s longevity.
Keep his offence aside, and again go back a few years. Assume somebody told Carmelo to get back of defence when he was playing over 35 minutes a game, averaging somewhere around 22-29 points. What will he say? You guessed it right.
But the 38-year-old gave his all on the other end of the court as well. He averaged his career-high 52 blocks (0.8 BPG) this season. The last and only time he touched 50 was in 8 years back in New York when he played almost 39 minutes per game, 13 more than this year.
All his defensive ratings wouldn’t show, but Melo was the player who came through in some of the most clutch moments for the Lakers on both ends of the floor for his team to keep them in the Playoffs hunt. And when he lost that touch at the last quarter of the season, Purple and Gold started losing way more games.
His effort will indeed have many teams interested in him this off-season as he becomes a free agent after, but most probably, he would again be picked up by the Lakers for yet another go at the Championship with The King.
