New York, OKC, Houston: what went wrong according to Carmelo Anthony

The comeback of Carmelo Anthony in Portland has been one of the great stories of the 2019-2020 season. Banished from the big league after successive failures at New York, OKC and Houston, in part because of his inability to question himself, the winger hit rock bottom before rebounding to Oregon.

« I believe no one will understand what I went through emotionally to be where I am today He explained in May. ” I’m talking about doubting myself, wanting to give up mentally. Walk away from the game to come back, nobody else but MJ (Michael Jordan). I hit rock bottom emotionally. I had to rebuild myself, mostly on my own, to be able to tell this story. »

Admitting your discomfort and comparing yourself to Michael Jordan is the ambivalence of Melo’s version of humility. A ten-time All-Star player between Denver and New York without ever reaching the Finals and who struggled to react at the end of his New York adventure, when things were not going well for the club and the NBA was in full mutation.

True to himself, when he comes back to this failure in JJ Redick’s podcast “The Old Man and the Three”, he regrets the implementation of the triangle attack – with an argument that holds up – without too much. talk about him.

The triangle incompatible with the evolution of the NBA

“When Phil came in he said, ‘We’re going to do it my way, I’m going to bring in the right players for this system, and I don’t want players who can’t play in the triangle.’ He put together the team he wanted. But we were at a pivotal moment in attack. The triangle worked, but the game was much faster, the players are super athletic. You can’t slow down the game when you have a counterattack. You can’t play with two fullbacks on the same row when you have Derrick Rose and Raymond Felton. It’s not Derrick’s game, you need him to run. “

“When you play like that for 48 minutes, the teams adjust, not you” deplores Melo. “The ball will eventually find you if we spin it around, okay.” But if the opponent understands the system, you’re screwed. That’s what happened. “ And JJ Redick nodded, saying he loved defending against the Knicks at the time. “In addition, Phil was not a coach, it could not give the result he expected” points out the current Blazer, rightly, who was finally transferred to Oklahoma City before the “Zen Master” left the ship in turn.

The OKC paradox

All-Star upon his arrival in Oklahoma, Carmelo Anthony arrives in a team where it will be necessary to share the ball with Russell Westbrook and Paul George. If he wants, he can play with the substitutes and boost the bench: a hypothesis that he sweeps away while laughing during the “media day”. He will never find his place. “Personally, I really enjoyed my time at OKC and playing with this team” he nevertheless judges.

“The objective was to win with this team. We did not succeed, we did less well than we thought. In our minds, we were going to come back the next year and be good. It was new to everyone. It’s Russ’s team, I’m just coming out of an All-Star season in New York, we could put everything in place. But that did not work. It came down to a matter of money. I knew what the problem was. I wish it worked at OKC. ” That year, the Thunder was eliminated by the Jazz in the first round of the 4-2 playoffs.

Carmelo Anthony was then 34 years old. On paper, he managed to go from All-Star status to third offensive weapon at 4th in the Western Conference with 16.2 points average. But he has starving percentages – 40% on shots including 36% at 3-pointers – and struggles to keep up in defense, being targeted by opponents. Above all, he does what he criticized for the triangle attack: slow down the game. He has one year left in his contract but OKC wants to get rid of it.

An impossible marriage with Houston

He is transferred to Atlanta then cut, and finally signs in Houston alongside his boyfriend Chris Paul but the experience comes to an end. “When I get to Houston, I really feel like an outcast. But there are CP, PJ and James, we can find a solution, this team needs me ” he imagines. “But they didn’t think the same as me. They wanted me to be just a shooter in the corner and it didn’t work out at all. I said to them: ‘Give me the ball when there is a switch’. I need to touch the ball. I am a player who needs rhythm. I can’t get off the bench and shoot three 3-pointers in a row. I can not. “

An impossible marriage which again results in a transfer and a buyout. This time around, no one wants him, or at least is ready to offer him the role he wants. The end of the season and the summer of 2019 passed without his finding a team. Finally, a Portland team in search of an electroshock gives him his chance as a starting wing. A risky choice, but a sharpened and recovered Carmelo Anthony is worth two.

He has found his place with the Blazers, revamped his crest, and now prays to extend: “I have the feeling that I have found a house in Portland” he let go after the elimination against the Lakers.