J-Speaks: All-Star Forward Carmelo Anthony Officially Signs with the Houston Rockets

Last off-season, the Houston Rockets made a big off-season splash acquiring Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers. They had hoped to make another blockbuster addition by acquiring another perennial All-Star from the New York Knicks. That unfortunately did not come to fruition. At the start of this week that said All-Star after being dealt and then waived finally landed in “Clutch City” to team up with his good friend on a team that feel one game short of reaching The NBA Finals for the first time in 23 years. 

On Monday afternoon, the Rockets and forward Carmelo Anthony signed a one-year, $2.4 million deal to join the All-Star backcourt of Chris Paul and James Harden, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. 

That same report says that Anthony was on his way to Houston, TX and will take his physical before signing his contract. 

The 10-time All-Star had met with Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey and head coach Mike D’Antoni during the National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) Summer League earlier this summer. 

Even though he was still on the roster of the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was given permission by the organization to do so once the two sides came to the conclusion that parting ways with one another was on the horizon. Anthony also met with officials of the Miami Heat, who he also considered signing with once he became an unrestricted free agent.  

Anthony, who spent one season with the Thunder after being acquired from the Knicks the previous off-season was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks on July 19 along with swingman Justin Anderson and a 2022 Lottery-protected First-Round pick in a three-team deal with the Thunder, Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers. The Thunder in the deal received lead guard Dennis Schroder and guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, while the Sixers received sharp shooting big man Mike Muscala. 

The Hawks as expected waived the 34-year-old Anthony, buying him out of his contract where he received $25.4 million of his $27.9 million salary for this upcoming season that he agreed to when he opted in on the final year of the five-year deal he signed to rejoin the Knicks back in the summer of 2014.  

In his lone season with the Thunder, Anthony averaged a career-low of 16.2 points and struggled at times fulfilling his new role as a spot up, stretch power forward alongside 2017 league MVP Russell Westbrook and All-Star Paul George. 

Along with posting career-lows in scoring average, Anthony also shot a career-low of 40.4 percent from the field and the Thunder were defeated in the opening round of the 2018 Playoffs by the Utah Jazz in six games. 

After being the headliner for his entire career first with the Denver Nuggets and then the Knicks, where he scored 25,417 points-the 19^th best in NBA history became more of a catch-and-shoot scorer this past season. A far stretch from the isolation one-one-one just off the box that he had been his entire career. 

To put into perspective how different last season was for Anthony in OKC, in Game 6 of the First-Round at the Jazz that ended the Thunder’s season short of expectations, he played fewer minutes than reserve forward Jerami Grant, who the Thunder re-signed this off-season on a three-year, $27 million deal. 

Anthony said of his role after the season that he preferred to play with the basketball in his hands more. He also said that becoming a reserve was, “out of the question.” 

He stated as much at the start of Thunder training camp a season ago when asked during a press conference he said, “Who me?” 

He added while laughing and smiling at the question, “I don’t know where that started. Where that came from.”

As mentioned earlier, Anthony opted in to the final year of his contract worth $27.9 million. After re-signing George, Grant, and reserve guard Raymond Felton, it was reported that Anthony and the team would part ways eventually, though it was unclear if they would either waive, trade, waive and stretch or buy the perennial All-Star forward out of the final year of his deal. 

The Thunder decided to trade him and after being bought out by the Hawks, Anthony is now with the Rockets and will fill a major void in their front court after they lost defensive perimeter aces Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in free agency this off-season to the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers respectably. 

While the addition of Anthony is an upgrade to the Rockets, the question is what kind of player will he be for a team that was one game and a Paul hamstring short of overtaking the three-time defending Western Conference champion and defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Western Conference Finals?

For starters he will be playing for Coach D’Antoni, who he did not have the best relationship with when he was with the Knicks not to long ago. 

Second, he still wants to be the player where he is at the top of the food chain when it comes to getting 15 to 20-plus field goal attempts per game. 

While his game in terms of being an isolation player fits well with the Rockets, the off-season begins with Harden, then Paul and everyone else’s offense comes off their penetration and their ability to make three-pointers or get to the basket for layups or free throws off of fouls. 

The other issue is defensively. The Rockets lost two key cogs to their success at that end of the floor a season ago in Ariza and Mbah a Moute. 

The hope is that while he may struggle individually guarding his own man, Anthony will be a solid team defender where he will make the right rotation at all times and become a liability on that end of the court. 

"The one thing about Houston, even though its not stressed they defended in the playoffs last year enough to win games," NBATV analyst said on the latest edition of "Gametime." 

"It was light years better than what they did the year before and the reason why is you did bring in some defenders and some scrapers..." 

"The whole thing is he [Anthony] has to come and understand is just say whatever it is that it takes for us to win. Win, win, win and that system you get up a lot of points."

The other plus when it comes to that is Paul, his very good friend will hold him accountable on that end of the floor especially. 

To bring that point into context, when the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2009, where the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers beat them in six games, 2004 Finals MVP Chauncey Billups was the lead guard and one of the captains. When the Knicks reached the Semifinals in 2013, where the East runner-up the Indiana Pacers beat them 4-2, soon to be Hall of Famer Jason Kidd was the floor general on that team and Anthony finished third in the MVP voting that season. 

What this shows is that when Anthony is part of puzzle and not the most important piece in terms of being the vocal leader, the teams he is on can thrive and that is what Morey, D’Antoni and the Rockets are hoping. 

That also means that regardless how he might feel about the inevitable, Anthony has to come to grips that he may not get the same number of shot attempts that he got in the past. He may not be on the floor at key moments in the fourth quarter when the game hangs in the balance. Plus, while it has not been confirmed or denied Anthony might be approached to be the Rockets sixth man off the pine. 

Coach D'Antoni said to the Houston Chronicle  about Anthony's role, "Whether he starts or doesn't start, and he said it, is a moot point. We'll make that decision as we go forward. Maybe he starts the game, maybe he doesn't. We had to make sure that everybody is on the same page and he definitely, definitely is. We all have the same vision and want to get this thing done and beat probably the best team in NBA history."

The difference of him being approached by that now as supposed to even last year with the Thunder is that he is not the headliner on the team anymore. He has gone from being a top player on a team to a player that was traded twice within a year; waived by team that he was sent to and then signing with a team for the veteran minimum. 

While many have said that he needs to sacrifice a lot if he wants to become a champion, Anthony if you really look at it has made a lot of concessions. It just that he has not accepted the fact that he is not the same player he once was and if he wants to capture the only thing missing from his Hall of Fame resume, a championship he will have to. 

The most important person on the Rockets roster has welcomed him with both arms and that is Paul, who said in tweet @CP3, “Welcome my brother.”

The Houston Rockets a season ago wanted to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the Knicks, but they did not want to take on Ryan Anderson’s contract. After being dealt by the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks and then bought out of his contract, Anthony signed with the Rockets on Monday afternoon and hope he represents the final piece in them taking the final step in beating the arch rival Golden State Warriors and winning the organization’s third Larry O’Brien Trophy in franchise history.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 8/13/18, 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Jorge Sedano, Kevin Pelton, Kevin Arnovitz, and Royce Young; 8/13/18 www.nba.com article, “Carmelo Anthony Officially Signs with Houston Rockets;” www.espn.com’s “NBA Free Agency: Every New Contract and Extension;” 8/14/18 edition of NBATV's "Gametime," with Jared Greenberg and Steve Smith; www.espn.com’s “NBA Trade Tracker: Grades and Details For Every Deal;” and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelo_Anthony.