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Carmelo Anthony got the support of his fellow players in his quest to return to the NBA, but this support was largely vague. The players said that Anthony deserved to be part of the league, but they did not specify where he should play or what place he should occupy.
Royce White, a former Houston Rockets first-round pick who currently plays in the BIG3, overcame this ambiguity in defending Anthony. He not only pleaded for the place of the former superstar in the NBA, but also blamed LeBron James for not having awarded him a spot in the Los Angeles Lakers' lineup. He even named the player Anthony should replace in his mind: Jared Dudley.
"If anyone thinks Dudley can hold Carmelo's jockstrap, I'll slap them," concluded White. Dudley initially published a response to White's comments, but quickly removed it. He had little reason to do so beyond tact, because White was wrong on virtually every front.
On the LeBron James front: It's obvious, considering almost everything that has happened during the off season, that it does not have the effect of forcing his team to make decisions. If he did, Ty Lue would probably be the head coach of the team at the moment. But he is not. In April, Marc Stein reported for the New York Times that the Lakers feared giving the team too much control over James, known for his palace intrigue. Until now, their off season suggests that they make decisions regardless of their contribution.
That puts the responsibility of the Lakers, who would consider signing Anthony last season. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, both parties have ceased contract negotiations after a series of defeats in March "left the organization and Anthony's camp wondering if it made sense to place the veteran in an unstable environment ". Although the decision may not have been entirely owned by Anthony, it seems he had a say and chose not to reach an agreement with the Lakers when he was lucky.
And for the rest of their off-season moves, signing Anthony and Dudley never needed to exclude each other. The Lakers have a complete list of players for training camp, but only 14 of their players have guaranteed contracts, which means that for all intents and purposes they always have an empty slot. They had months to consider using it on Anthony even with Dudley in place. They chose not to do it. Nor is there an excessive number of advanced Lakers, as most reports indicate that the Lakers had reserved this spot for Andre Iguodala, another forward, before the injury. from DeMarcus Cousins.
The Lakers did not sign Anthony for the same reason that 29 other teams did not sign it: they do not believe it improves their team. This is the point that is fundamentally lacking in White. Anthony was, at one point, a dynamic and irreplaceable marker whose flaws deserved to be concealed. The last two seasons have suggested that this is no longer the case.
Dudley, on the other hand, has a set of skills and a personality that lend themselves to aging in a way that is not Anthony's. He is a career three point shooter with 39.2% of players who rarely needs the ball. He has just been nominated for the NBA's Twyman-Stokes Award, presented annually to the league's best teammate. Dudley is widely regarded as one of the best presences in the locker room of all basketball. This is a stark contrast to Anthony, who publicly opposed the idea of leaving the bench of judges and blamed the teams who had asked him not to have properly communicated this desire to him. in a recent interview with Stephen A. Smith. on "First Take" of ESPN.
If Dudley faced Anthony in a one-on-one match, he would probably lose. But the NBA is not a league face to face. The alignments have a depth of 15 and are complex ecosystems. Players are expected to perform specific roles on and off the field. At this point in their careers, Dudley is more able to do it than Anthony. All the NBA has seen that. White, apparently, does not do it.
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