Toronto Raptors should stay away from Carmelo Anthony

After a 10-game stint as a Houston Rocket, it appears Carmelo Anthony will be on the market once again. The Toronto Raptors should stay away at all costs.

The Carmelo Anthony experiment in Houston was short-lived. Twelve games into the season, with the Houston Rockets underperforming expectations, General Manager Darryl Morey decided to yank the plug.  With Anthony’s camp searching for a new basketball home, the Toronto Raptors should stay far away.

To be fair to Anthony, he wasn’t the reason for the Rockets early-season failures. The team has been banged up, James Harden looks out of shape (and is not finishing at the rim), and a year after leading the NBA in three-point makes, Houston ranks just 25th in three-point percentage.

He’s wasn’t the root of the problems in Houston, but he wasn’t solving any. Houston decided to part ways with Melo after two-way, rookie forward Gary Clark started to earn consistent minutes. Clark, a better fit for the Rockets, made his way on the court through defense and a (hypothetical at this point) ability to stretch the floor.

Clark is a nice player. A rare four-year college vet, Clark earned two won the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year twice during his time at Cincinnati. He’s 6’8″, athletic, and extremely aware as a help-side defender. Offensively, Clark is solid, although I wouldn’t be running the offense through him anytime soon.

Still, it points to the place Carmelo is at in his career, when he cannot crack the lineup due to Gary Clark. Carmelo was an all-time great. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t have it anymore.

 Shooting

The biggest surprise of Carmelo Anthony’s struggles. The past two seasons, Anthony has become a much worse spot-up shooter.

During his last year with the New York Knicks, Melo shot 36-percent from three-point range. On catch-and-shoot three-point attempts, that percentage jumped up to 42-percent. On shots classified as “open” or “wide-open”, he hit 38-percent of his looks.

Playing in Oklahoma City, alongside two “other” All-Stars, in theory, was going to make his life easier. With better looks, Melo was going to become a more efficient version of his previous basketball-self.

That never happened. While at Oklahoma City, Melo was the same three-point shooter as he was in New York. He didn’t make strides, although he didn’t regress either.

This year, the bottom fell out. Anthony was down to 32.4-percent shooting on 6.4 attempts per game. That isn’t an elite marksman, that isn’t even average. Despite playing in one of the most wide-open offenses in the NBA, Melo had a hard time hitting an open jumper. 

His shooting woes, although not ideal, are something the Rockets could have worked through if it weren’t for the deficiencies in the other areas of his game.

Defense

More than anything, Carmelo’s defense has prevented him from being successful in the latter parts of his career.

To be clear, it’s not as if prime Carmelo Anthony was a defensive presence. Even at the peak of his career, Melo has been a below average defender.

The difference is: when you’re putting up 28-points per game with above-average efficiency, teams are willing to deal with your defensive limitations. When you’re a bit-piece who comes off the bench, those limitations become much more pronounced.

He also has regressed from his below-average standard. During last year’s playoffs, the Utah Jazz repeatedly targeted Anthony. So far this season, in Houston’s switch-happy scheme, Melo has been torched repeatedly.

Anthony can’t switch, he’s a poor help defender, and he doesn’t give great effort chasing shooters around screens. As a coach, there are only so many things you can scheme around, and Melo doesn’t give you many options.

Other flaws

Melo has had significant deficiencies throughout his career. He settles for tough shots, he’s never been a good defender, and his lack of playmaking has been continuously noted.

In his prime, he was so good at scoring the ball, that those things didn’t matter. Or at least they didn’t outweigh his positives.

But now that he’s not able to score the ball at the level he once did, those flaws still exist, and any team who picks him up will need to gameplan around them.

Toronto’s lack of need

The Toronto Raptors, like any NBA team, have flaws in their roster that could be addressed. Another shooter would help. They could also use a backline defender to play behind Serge Ibaka.

What they don’t need is an aging, ball-stopping defensive liability. Good luck to Carmelo wherever he goes, let’s just hope it’s not here.