Former NBA All-Star Pleads for Melo to Sign with the Lakers
Carmelo Anthony is still unemployed, and on the outside looking in, heading into the 2019-20 NBA season.
Many basketball experts are pleading for Anthony to join the Los Angeles Lakers, including former NBA All-Star, Gilbert Arenas.
“Melo plays if Melo wants to play. At 35, he has a bunch left in the tank, but is he willing to sacrifice what he perceives he still has versus what teams need. They might need a guy to come in and play spot minutes, and he is still a guy that thinks he is a star. Now, you have two realms of thought processes, that need to meet in the middle, but the first person that must buy-in is Melo. Then show that he can buy in during the season versus saying, nah I am not coming off anybody’s bench. I think I can’t still average 20, but you can still average 15 to 20, however, you must put yourself into position first to show them,” Arenas told me over the phone earlier this week.
I remember the reports named Houston as a possible destination for him to land. I said ‘Hell no’ don’t go there it is going a disaster and it is not going to work. You just for the first time in your career played with two ball-dominant players and it made you the third option. So, to go right back to a team that is going to make you again the third option is a disaster.
Go to the Lakers where you might come off the bench, but you are going to be the first option in the fourth quarter because that is what they are going to need from Melo. They need a 6’9 guy that can open up the floor, play your iso basketball, and that helps the rest of the Lakers. LeBron passes to everyone else, and you play iso basketball it all works. He goes to Houston and after ten games he is gone. Melo needs to be in a position where the last five minutes of the game he is the go-to guy. If you are not the go-to guy what are you on the court for because don’t have any other skill to be used. You are a fourth-quarter last five-minute iso guy that is your skill.
So, if I am not using you in your 100 percent talent there is no point in using you. I don’t need you sitting in the corner like you are a player at the club like you are a part of the atmosphere. I need you to be Melo. The Lakers don’t have someone that is in their bag in the last five minutes. That is where Melo gets to be Melo. Players have to know their own talents in order to know where they can insert themselves, and position yourself within an organization that plays to your skillset.”
Last month, Heavy’s Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson spoke with Los Angeles Rams safety, Steven Parker about Melo’s possible landing spot next season. “Not going to lie, I think it’ll be very cool if Carmelo joins,” Parker.
“It’ll be good for the team. I’ll love to see them together. They might mold. That’s what basketball is about. You can have all the best players in the world, but they might not mesh together. It’s not going to be a great turnout. If they do something like that, I hope it works out.”
Carmelo Anthony only played in ten games this past season with the Houston Rockets before being traded to the Bulls earlier this year and then was later waived.
Back in April, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban shared with me that Melo has to be the right fit for a team to sign him that late in the season.
“This late in the season, unless you are really ready and have a specific need even after All-Star break. There has to be a team that has a need for his specific talent and he is A Hall of Famer, but like everyone else it’s it gotta be a fit,“ said Cuban.
Earlier this month, Carmelo was a guest on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith and shared that he regained his passion for playing again.
“I’m in the gym every single day,” Anthony said. He also noted that “silence is not my surrender” and that he has been quiet until now because he felt like he needed to step away from the game to “reevaluate myself, reevaluate my career, reevaluate my life.”
Last season Melo averaged 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in ten games with the Rockets.
Landon Buford is an accomplished sports and entertainment journalist based in Richardson, Texas, with over a decade of experience covering the NBA, WNBA, NFL, WWE, MLB, and the entertainment industry. Known for delivering high-impact stories and headline-making interviews, Buford has earned a global audience through content that blends insider access with compelling storytelling.
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