Days after he agreed to a deal with his new team, 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony made his much anticipated debut for the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. The 35-year-old veteran was thrust into the starting lineup, with Anthony logging a healthy 24 minutes in his first game back after almost a year on the sidelines.
As expected, the 6-foot-8 forward exhibited some signs of rust and would go for only 4-of-14 shooting from the field en route to 10 points, four rebounds, and a blocked shot. Anthony did make two out of his three attempts from deep, so this was certainly a good sign. However, he did turn the ball over five times throughout the contest and also had an ill-advised dunk attempt against rookie Jaxson Hayes:
Melo tried to throw it down on Jaxson Hayes 😅 pic.twitter.com/fmm1JnBp3x
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 20, 2019
Other significant factors to look into here is the fact that Melo was whistled for five fouls in a little over 20 minutes of action, so he will definitely need some time to get re-acclimatized with the speed of the game. Perhaps the most concerning of all is how Anthony accounted for a team-low plus-minus rating of minus-20. There's no denying that he did little to help his team overcome what would end up as a 115-104 defeat in favor of the Pelicans.
It is worth noting, however, that there are also a number of other factors to consider here. For starters, the team was without superstar point guard Damian Lillard who was dealing with back spasms. There was definitely a shortage of offense for Portland on the evening, and perhaps Anthony was asked to do a little more than he would usually have to on the offensive end.
Anthony claims the Blazers brought him in to start games, but the expectation was that it would be alongside Lillard and CJ McCollum. Being inserted into the starting lineup without having sufficient practice with your new teammates was going to be a challenge no matter what for a man who hasn't played a competitive basketball game in nearly 12 months, and not having Lillard around made it even more difficult.
All things considered, the fact of the matter is that Anthony's debut on Tuesday night might not be the best indicator of how well (or poorly) he's going to fit in with Portland. Nevertheless, if we were to give him a grade based on this performance alone — with all other factors taken into consideration, of course — we'll give him a C+.
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