Houston Rockets All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony plays for a franchise driven by advanced analytics and he knows it. After making a long two-point attempt against the Memphis Grizzlies, a shot considered to be one of the toughest and least efficient in the game, Anthony promptly turned to his bench and apologized for his poor shot selection.
Carmelo Anthony takes (and hits) a long two and apologizes to the #Rockets bench. Old habits die hard pic.twitter.com/7yhtUjrrtB
— Fastbreak Breakfast (@fastbreakbreak) October 3, 2018
You would almost believe that Anthony didn't make a living off of taking those types of shots after his familiar jab step, much to the chagrin of fans and media who felt as if Anthony would be better served by dwindling down his midrange attempts.
According to NBA.com stats, last season, Anthony took 460 attempts from the midrange — more shots than he took from any other area — and only made 39.3 percent of those attempts. If you combined his two prior seasons, Anthony has 1,270 shots taken from the midrange area. He made 44.5 percent of his midrange attempts in 2015-16 but only 36.0 percent of his midrange attempts the next year.
Suffice it to say, Anthony (and the Rockets) are better served by him being more careful with his shot-selection, shooting three-point attempts and scoring around the rim off of drives or post-ups whenever possible rather than taking a tough, contested jumper from in-between those areas.
Anthony finished Tuesday night's game against the Grizzlies, a 131-115 win, with 13 points, four rebounds and two steals in 23 minutes. He was 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from long distance, so his shot-selection in his Rockets debut wasn't bad in a general sense.
Furthermore, the sight of Anthony apologizing for a shot he's proven himself comfortable taking throughout his career shows that he's able to buy-in to the Rockets system. Given his struggles to fit into the Oklahoma City Thunder's offense last season, that's a significant improvement.
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