With the Detroit Pistons’ recent signing of Michael Beasley, some Pistons fans are confused as to why they didn’t sign ten-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony. I think the Pistons made the right call by not signing him.
The Detroit Pistons added to their bench last Sunday, signing Michael Beasley to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal. With Carmelo Anthony still available via free agency, it left some Pistons fans confused.
Fans: “We want Bradley Beal.”#Pistons: Claim Christian Wood.
— PistonPowered (@PistonPowered) August 11, 2019
Fans: “Carmelo is available.
Pistons: pic.twitter.com/ZHyaoE8wcG
But the Pistons made the right move by not signing Anthony. Here are the reasons why I believe Anthony is not a good fit for the Pistons.
Carmelo Anthony’s Ego
There’s no question that Melo had a lot of personal success in his career. He was a 10-time NBA All-Star, 6-time All-NBA team, NBA scoring champion in 2013, three gold medals from Olympic basketball and won an NCAA championship with Syracuse in 2003.
But he is no longer that player. He hasn’t been for several years now.
The last successful year he had was in 2016-17 in his last year with the New York Knicks, when he averaged 22.4 points per game on 43 percent shooting.
The next season (2017-18), after an offseason trade sending Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-rounder, his stats dropped off, dropping down to 16.2 points per game on 40 percent shooting, the worst statistical season of his career.
With superstars Russell Westbrook and Paul George on the team, it was hard for Melo to be effective when he is best with the ball in his hands.
The following season, the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted Anthony to come off the bench, but he strongly rejected the idea.
Melo on sacrifice in relation to reduced role, coming off the bench: "I'm not sacrificing (with) no bench role."
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) April 28, 2018
"I think everybody knows I've sacrificed damn near everything, and was willing to sacrifice nearly everything for this situation to work out."
Everything started going downhill for Carmelo from there. The Carmelo Anthony experiment clearly did not work out for Oklahoma City and they would eventually part ways in the summer of 2018, via a trade to the Atlanta Hawks.
He then signed with the Houston Rockets after being bought out by Atlanta and averaged 13.4 points per game on 40 percent shooting in 29.4 minutes per game (two starts). He was released after 10 games with the team.
Since then he has not found an opportunity with an NBA team. I can’t say I blame them.