After the past few years of his career, it's been difficult to believe that Carmelo Anthony will be a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer. Anthony's career began to peter out ever since he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder and his scoring prowess could no longer cover for the deficiencies in his game. Still, NBA skills coach Chris Brickley believes that Melo belongs in an NBA team, especially after a productive 2021-22 season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Brickley gave the 38-year old forward a ringing endorsement as to why a team in need of experience and shooting off the bench should take a flier on Carmelo Anthony. Posting on his Twitter account, Brickley said that Anthony has made considerable defensive strides late in his career, and that teams that are put off by his defensive reputation should take a gander at his metrics last season with the Lakers.

“Melo is ready, he’s been ready….He could help MANY teams. Also to anyone that says @carmeloanthony isn’t in the league bcuz of defense….well….he had the best defensive rating of his career last season,” Brickley wrote.

https://twitter.com/cbrickley603/status/1579666817345540096?s=46&t=Rhj40G4VbarDtFLdvCLg-g

However, it doesn't seem like Brickley doesn't realize that bringing up Carmelo Anthony's defensive rating of 114.0 last season isn't quite the good omen he thinks it is. The average team defensive rating last season in the NBA was 112.0, so a quick calculation tells us that Melo was two points worse than average.

And after 19 years in the league, the last thing teams expect out of Anthony is defense, so perhaps that was not the best advertisement for Melo's services.

Nevertheless, what NBA teams will value out of Carmelo Anthony is the efficient scoring he can provide off the bench. He posted the best True Shooting percentage of his career with the Lakers at .579, all the while averaging 13.3 points and 2.2 threes in 26 minutes per night.

There are no questions regarding Melo's ability to make shots. And perhaps at such an advanced stage in his career, the 10-time All-Star should focus on making sure his strengths remain top-notch instead of presenting something he's not good at as something it's not, especially when the bar he's set for his entire career isn't the highest.

However, Chris Brickley has worked with notable stars such as Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden in the past, and perhaps he knows something behind the scenes regarding Carmelo Anthony's defense.