Carmelo Anthony will officially become a member of the Houston Rockets Monday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
Free agent Carmelo Anthony plans to sign his one-year, $2.4M deal with the Houston Rockets today, league sources tell ESPN. He traveled to Houston and he’s completing his physical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 13, 2018
Melo was traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for a package headlined by Dennis Schroder. The Hawks waived Anthony and he became a free agent. Melo had reported interest in joining the Rockets or the Miami Heat, with a lesser interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, but pretty quickly decided to sign with Houston.
The signing will become official Monday, as Carmelo returns from travel.
Another report said that Carmelo will, indeed, come off the bench in Houston. Melo has loudly opposed such a move, but it sounds like the Rockets will be moving forward that way anyway.
I have been saying that Carmelo is best served coming off the bench in a sixth man role at this point in his career. Melo cannot score the same way he once could- he might be the greatest pure scorer of all time- but he could still probably feast on a second unit and if he commits to a catch-and-shoot role when playing with starters like Rockets superstar guards James Harden and Chris Paul.
I wonder how long the Carmelo-off-the-bench thing will last. I actually think he could start on this team, but it would have to be at the four in Ryan Anderson’s place. Carmelo can still keep up with power forwards, defensively, making himself a serviceable piece, but can’t defend any small forwards at this point in his career.
PJ Tucker will probably start because of his history of defensive prowess, but we could see Gerald Green earn plenty of starts this year, too. Are they better than Melo? I think probably, but I’m sure Mike D’Antoni will be trying every possible combination and will see what lineups he likes best, which will likely include Carmelo Anthony being a bench player.
Featured Image via Flickr/Keith Allison
