Carmelo Anthony is officially a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. The 10-time All-Star will make his Portland debut on Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Anthony can still score the ball in bunches. No one has ever doubted that. The main reason the 10-time All-Star was on the open market for so long is because of his lack of defensive skills.
One anonymous assistant coach is wishing Blazers head coach Terry Stotts “good luck” when it comes to Anthony's defense, via Sean Deveney of Heavy:
“It’s the lateral quickness, that is the problem. He’s never really had it and as his career has gone on, the tighter they called hand-checking and all the little things a slower guy could do to keep up, the more difficult it got for him to keep up. Some of the wings now, Paul George or even LeBron (James) or Giannis, he is not going to keep up with those guys. And if you get him switched on a guard, forget it. If he is on the floor, you get him into a pick-and-roll every single time you can. He can’t guard it.
“They’re going to have to send help. I don’t know, it’s not going to be easy. Good luck, Terry Stotts.”
Anthony played in just 10 games with the Houston Rockets last season before the franchise exiled and traded him to the Chicago Bulls in January.
Melo averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds with the Rockets while shooting 40.5 percent from the field, 32.8 percent from beyond the arc and 68.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Anthony signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Blazers. It's going to be interesting to see if the future Hall of Famer makes it past the guaranteed date of Jan.7.
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