After an uninspiring season with the Oklahoma City Thunder which preceded a trade that sent him to the Atlanta Hawks for Dennis Schroeder, where the team bought him out soon after, Carmelo Anthony has finally found a new home with the Houston Rockets, and according to The Athletic’s Alykhan Bijani, Anthony’s new Rockets teammates are feeling pretty positive about his arrival:
Btw. With Capela coming back. Next would be signing Carmelo once he’s officially through the waiver process. If there was any question about how #Rockets players feel about Melo, one source told me the players feel “very positive” about him joining. Know what he can bring. https://t.co/AV7X7TVZZz
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) July 27, 2018
The Rockets’ acceptance of the former All-Star forward is a great first step to begin the process of building on the team’s best season since Hakeem Olajuwon led the team to back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, as Anthony will need to play a key role for a Rockets team that lost two key role players in Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute this offseason.
Anthony has obviously lost a step, a fate every NBA player faces once Father Time strikes, as he averaged under 20 points for the first time in his illustrious career on a career-low shooting percentage. Anthony obviously won’t help replace the defense that both Ariza and Mbah a Moute showed, a job likely being given to the also recently-signed anthony James Ennis, but with arguably the two best playmakers in the NBA around to get him open looks, Anthony could and should find more success than he did with the Thunder last season.
