“Iso” Joe Johnson is one of the many former and current NBA players who think there's still a place for Carmelo Anthony in the league. The perennial All-Star has seen a massive fall from grace, ending a string of 14 straight years averaging over 20 points per game when he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder to be the third scoring option.
His stint with the Houston Rockets went even worse, playing in only 10 games before the team exiled him for half the season before trading him. He didn't sign anywhere else after the Chicago Bulls immediately waived him.
Johnson, who shared many battles with Melo through his venture in the Eastern Conference for the latter part of his career, thinks there's still some juice in the 35-year-old's legs:
“I think Melo still has a lot left,” Johnson told TMZ Sports. “[He's] a bona fide scorer. So, I know for a fact there's a lot of teams that he can help. I hate to see him not playing especially in the NBA at this point.”
New York Knicks guard Allonzo Trier kickstarted a “Free Melo” social media campaign to bring awareness to Melo's current unemployment and urge teams to add one of the all-time great scorers to their roster.
Yet former teammate Chauncey Billups gave perhaps the most genuinely true statement that has marred Anthony's career, saying he cared more about his individual performance than the team's success. That indictment right there is one that could likely leave him out of a job for good.
Besides saying Melo is not a team-first guy, Billups also noted he still hasn't made the mental transition from being a top-flight scorer to a helpful contributor off the bench, saying that is the part that has largely kept him from finding work for the better part of a whole year.
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