The Los Angeles Lakers have not had the greatest of starts this year. They won three games and lost the same amount. In the three losses, they lost to the poor Oklahoma City Thunder after a huge lead in the first half. Clearly, the roster is still settling in. Additionally, their offseason acquisitions have not been fruitful up until now. However, one of them is showing the reason why he was signed – Carmelo Anthony. Anthony has been very good for the Lakers and there are clear reasons why.

While Anthony Davis and LeBron James are the leaders of the team, the scoring efforts from other parts of the squad are questionable. When the roster was assembled in the offseason, this was evident. Guys like Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Trevor Ariza are useful in other manners. However, the offensive section was lacking. Thus, the signing of Anthony made sense, but it was not exactly clear how he will fit in.

So far, so good, at least for Anthony and the Lakers. The NBA legend has completely melded into the role of a scoring sixth man, something he relished a couple of years ago. Now, at 37, he clearly needed to stay relevant and there are a few, if any, teams that would offer him a starting spot. Due to the great friendship with James, most likely, Anthony was able to find comfort in this role. The friendship with James is relevant due to the simple fact that Anthony, with his resume, needed the trust of someone at his level of greatness, or above, to guide him into the dawn of his rich career.

The stats are not the greatest, especially due to the fact that the season is still young. In six games, Anthony is averaging 15.7 points on 48.5/50.0/90.0 shooting splits. The numbers are not indicative of the overall impact. While the splits are impressive, especially the 50% clip from three, it has only been six games. Carmelo Anthony still needs to increase the scoring a bit more and stay efficient, something he was unable to do in the past.

For example, Anthony is around 44% on field goals in his career, due to the types of shots he took. His shots mostly come from the perimeter, the shot that has been almost eradicated from the league at this point. Carmelo loves these shots and while he has a high rate of success on them, they are also not the easiest in the world, thus his fairly low career field goal percentage.

However, when it comes to his fairly new Lakers stint, Anthony needs to be the stable scorer for this team. If he is inefficient in any way, the problems of the starting lineup, mostly coming from Russell Westbrook, would simply extend to the bench, with Anthony. Thus, the main reason why he has been so good with the Lakers is his increased level of efficiency, something the Lakers needed at moments.

Also, having a scorer such as Carmelo Anthony coming from the bench is a great Laker asset, since most sixth men, apart from a few that are elite, are not the scorers of his resume. He presents stability of sorts, being able to consistently put up 10+ points playing against the second lineups of Lakers opponents. Anthony can keep the offense going even after great weapons like Davis and James go for a short rest. He can also close games, giving the Lakers additional options if needed.

It was mentioned before that Anthony has a great friendship with James. James is the leader of every team he has been on and his word works well with management when it comes to roster assembly. Thus, it was not a huge surprise when Anthony was signed by the Lakers. However, this has many levels, beyond the friendship between the two basketball greats. One was already mentioned, and that is the trust Anthony has in James and his guidance.

Guidance, or leadership, is very important. James had other opportunities to get Anthony in the past, but he chose this one and that must speak volumes to Anthony. He is not in the prime scoring form, as he was before, and even though he had a great spell in Portland, it was still questionable what kind of role he can expect. The trust of James to bring him in now and give him the role of a sixth man, essentially, clearly gave Anthony a lot of confidence to continue his scoring greatness, even at 37 years of age.

It is still uncertain how long his efficiency and scoring prowess will continue. However, Carmelo Anthony is making sure that he is a great part of this, potentially, championship team.