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Tim MacMahon
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ESPN Staff Writer- Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009
- Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks
- Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM
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Royce Young
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ESPN Staff Writer- Covers the Oklahoma City Thunder for ESPN.com
When Carmelo Anthony accepted a trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder three weeks before the 2017-18 season, the thought was that the star would create the NBA's next big three, one powerful enough to compete with the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers of the world. That did not happen.
A clunky offensive and defensive issues led to a first-round playoff defeat and also spelled the end of Melo's brief tenure in OKC as the franchise waived him in July. Now in a reserve role with the Houston Rockets, many of the same questions marks the future Hall of Famer to his new home.
Jeff Bzdelik is coming out of retirement to help you in your life.
Will the Rockets finish with fewer wins than the Spurs?
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So what made Anthony a poor fit in OKC, and how has it been done in Houston?
As the Rockets visit Oklahoma City on Thursday night for Anthony's Thunder reunion, ESPN.com Tim MacMahon and Royce Young tackle the biggest questions surrounding the highest-profile minimum-salary player in the NBA.
Can 'Olympic Melo' make a comeback in Houston?
MacMahon: At Rockets media day, Anthony is still very much in love with Rockets than he was with the Thunder last season. He had time to prepare for his arrival in Houston as opposed to landing in Oklahoma City "at the 25th hour."
"Last year, I did not know what to expect from the situation," said Anthony. "It's different when you're clear on what is needed or what you need." It's a big difference. "
But Anthony was vague when pressed for specifics about how to behave in a different way. As we try to figure out how Melo fits in Houston, I guess we should start with this question: Why Did not it work in OKC?
Young: There's a lot of things to do with the Thunder, but the answer is this: He did not shoot the ball well. The "why" is the question, whether that was comfort, teammates, role, system or something else.
But one thing that always needs a baseline: He definitely thing the Thunder. He waived his no-trade clause to join them, so it was not as if he was traded into a situation he wanted no part of. He understood up front he would be changing positions full-time to power forward and he knew he would be approaching the game at least slightly different.
He came to Oklahoma City with somewhat of the expectation that he combined with Russell Westbrook and Paul George would be a superstar triad where shots were evenly distributed and scoring averages stable all around. They made it easy to get to know each other, "It's just that you're going to be successful," said Anthony the Thunder.
With the Rockets, Melo entered with a different mindset from the outset, being willing to come off the bench. It does not seem like it's going well with Harden and Paul, but more of the OKC envisioned.
Like the Thunder, the Rockets are hoping to unlock "Olympic Melo," the near-mythical catch-and-shoot stretch 4 monster who feasts on open looks. He tried to be OKC, but just was not very good at it.
He took a closer look at his career: 42 percent of his shots were catch-and-shoot, up from 29 percent New York Knicks. He was taking half the jumpers, fewer midrange shots and few isolation jab-stepping jumpers. Fifty percent of his shots came out of it, compared to 39.8 percent the season before.
But here's the striking number: On open 3s, he shot only 30.5 percent, and 37.8 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s. Most of those numbers are in the world, and they obviously have a better understanding of the Rockets, and they can do better.
MacMahon: That is indeed the hope in Houston, where GM Daryl Morey has been eyeing Melo since. This version, of course, is no longer a perennial All-Star in his prime.
The Rockets are really lucky they were not able to pull off a trade with the Knicks before last season, which they thought was going to happen at one point that summer. They did not have to deal with high-rate, high-rate Houston, Houston, Texas.
|
OKC MELO |
HOU MELO |
|
|---|---|---|
| 78/78 | 9/2 | |
| 32.1 | 30.4 | |
| 16.2 | 14.7 | |
| 5.8 | 5.4 | |
| 1.3 | 0.6 | |
| 40.4 | 43.6 | |
| 35.7 | 36.2 | |
| 22.3 | 19.1 | |
| 50.3 | 55.1 | |
| 12.78 | 13.00 | |
| * League average: 15.00 | ||
I mean, Melo went from "Who, me !?" in the world with a reserve role with the Thunder to at least reluctantly accepting coming off the bench with the Rockets. Or maybe "tolerating" it, as a rival scout corrected me during a recent conversation.
In fairness to Melo, it's been a rocky early ride with the Rockets for a guy trying to find a new team. He had to make a mental adjustment to the bench – and he did not mind telling you how tough it is – and then served as a starter when hamstring strains sidelined two starters. The plan is to be used as a power forward James Ennis out.
And the two first playmakers who recruited him to Chris Paul due to suspension, and James Harden due to his hammy. It was more bad than good offensively for the Rockets' version of Olympic Melo during Houston's horrendous 1-5 start.
A Brooklyn / Chicago back-to-back was a nice little get-well trip, with Melo scoring 45 points on 17-of-26 shooting over the two wins as he went back to coming off the bench with Ennis returning from a strained hamstring .
Melo torched the Nets on catch-and-shoot opportunities, knocking down 6 of 9 3-point attempts. He was only 1-of-7 on 3s in Chicago, but he did not stop looking after closeouts and bullying guards on the block.
"Every day is going to be different," he said before the road trip. "It's going to be a challenge, I'm going to have a figure on the fly."
I chuckled when Melo made an off-dribble jumper from just inside the 3-point line to a jab-stepping iso on his first touch of the regular season. I do not think that 's the kind of shot that Mike D'Antoni had in mind when he agreed to give Anthony coaching another shot after they got tough on their tenure together in New York. Melo even made light of it in the preseason when he mouthed, "My bad," towards the bench after hitting a jumper just inside the 3-point line.
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After a long 2-point shot, Anthony Carmelo apologizes to his teammates on the bench.
Young: Thunder coach Billy Donovan did not know what to do. But the most likely to have been in the game – playing without George and Westbrook – was most successful (38 minutes together and was a plus-2.5 points per 100 possessions).
The best lineup for OKC, though, did include Melo; it was the starting five. Before Andre Roberson's knee injury, the Thunder's starting unit was dominant, outscoring opponents by 13.5 points per 100 possessions, one of the best numbers for any starting group in the league.
MacMahon: Melo was not brought in, but it does not seem like he's settling into his niche with the Rockets. And yet it's a good sample of this stage of the season, it has been adequate as a catch-and-shoot guy. He had a 59.3 effective field goal percentage of catch-and-shoot opportunities entering the week. By comparison, Ryan Anderson, the pure shooter Anthony really replaced the Rockets' rotation, had a 58.8 catch-and-shoot effective field goal percentage last season.
Melo has been effective in picking his spots to post up. Key phrase: picking his spots. There's a better chance of a blizzard hitting Houston during the NBA playoffs than D'Antoni calling for a post for Melo post-up, but Anthony has done a good job getting deep position off a mismatch in transition on several occasions and picking on smaller defenders after switches.
He has shot 14-of-18 on post-ups this season, by NBA.com/Stats, which again is evidence that the Rockets have a good job recognizing opportunities for him, not necessarily that he needs more of them.
Melo's days as an elite, go-to scorer are done. He's 34 and fighting Father Time, but the Rockets firmly believe he can be an efficient complementary threat with two of the league's first playmakers feeding him for open looks.
OKC could not hide Melo on defense; can Houston?
MacMahon: Let's be brutally honest here. We are looking forward to the future and we can not help it with the Rockets, the big problems with the other. And, well, Melo has not played much defense this season.
The Rockets are a bottom-10 defense with him on the floor (111.2 points per 100 possessions) and awesome without him (100.9 points per 100 possessions, right behind NBA-best Boston's 100.8). Again, but yikes.
Simply put, the Rockets' switch-everything scheme puts a bullseye on Melo. Opponents hunt him, trying to get in touch with their best scorers (we saw this during OKC's first-round loss to Utah last season). It's not easy to defend yourself, but it's a good idea to try it.
Houston has to figure out how to help him, but it's on his way to the small things to limit opponents' opportunities for easy buckets. He can not be lazy running back in transition. He can not be a step late on rotations. Superstars can get a pass for resting on an occasional defensive possession. That no longer applies to Melo.
In fairness to him, that trend at least on the Rockets' get-right road trip. They've been even stinging with him on the floor – a 98.6 defensive rating! – than when he sits during the three-game winning streak entering Thursday's OKC reunion.
So how did the Thunder manage to be a solid defensive team with Melo starting 78 games last season, and why did it all fall apart in the playoffs?
Young: Three reasons: Paul George, Andre Roberson, Steven Adams. That starting group – those three plus Anthony and Westbrook – was an outstanding defensive unit (94.7 defensive rating), mainly because it was able to hide. After Roberson's injury, there was no systematic recovery and Melo's deficiencies became much more obvious.
Part of the reason the Thunder was made to make the trade. Except Melo Became a Clear Liability, and Without Roberson available to clean up the mistakes, the Thunder got exposed. The Rockets are facing some of the same kinds of issues, with no Trevor Ariza and no Luc Mbah a Moute, who's left over free over the summer.
The Thunder Hoped to Absorb Some of Melo's Defensive Limitations with Better Scheme – they tried to get rid of 1-through-5 switching to get to grips with pick-and-roll mismatches – but they could not get that right. After Roberson 's injury, OKC' s defense was about four points per 100 possessions worse with Melo on the floor.
The Rockets are seeing similar results, which is why they're thrilled defensive guru Jeff Bzdelik will be coming out of retirement to join the coaching staff.
MacMahon: The bigger question, if any, is the Rockets can figure out how to be strong defensively despite Melo's obvious limitations on that end. Bzdelik, who was fired as the Denver Nuggets' head coach Posted by admin at 8:11 AM 0 comments Email This BlogThis!
Will the chemistry experiment work for Houston?
Young: You mentioned Melo's humbling experience in OKC, and that's what gives me hope for Houston. It's a low-risk move with Melo on a minimum deal, and there's no trade-approval in the Rockets need to. He went from declaring not once, but twice, that he would not be coming out of the bench to come off the bench with the Rockets. It's a process for Melo to accept his role, and that started with a challenging year in OKC.
He was not used to having a good time, or even a touch, and had a problem when he was ready to go.
One other aspect to this is chemistry and dynamic team. In OKC, there was some talk about how Melo impacted the locker room. To be clear, he was remarkably professional. But Melo's general vibe and personality influenced OKC, particularly Westbrook. The Thunder had a confident we'll-be-all right, and it was projected most from Melo. And while he and Westbrook got along very well, that kind of atmosphere had a negative impact on Westbrook, who needs to be on the edge at all times to succeed on the court.
Westbrook has never been so happy that it does not make it easy. He has to play one way, and that mentality sets the tone for the whole organization; the Thunder lost some of that identity with Melo.
Their primary struggle was consistency, especially against less-than-good teams, and that often manifested by thinking they could just show up and win. Westbrook-led teams have never operated like that.
But on the flip side, there is a lot of talk about Melo's relationship with Paul and how their friendship could positively impact the situation. Why will it be different between him and Westbrook and George?
MacMahon: For better or worse, CP3 has never been a part of getting a teammate's face. He called the Rockets on Friday night, when Houston was caught up in a horrible defensive effort, and the Rockets responded with their first really defensive half of the season. PJ Tucker is cut from the same cloth.
"If you think you're gonna come back and have a say, Tuck's got another thing for you," said Paul on media day.
Those are the guys who set the tone in the Rockets 'locker room, with Harden' s voice obviously mattering to the reigning MVP. Melo is respected and liked, but it was a franchise that won 65 years of age. There are vets who will be blunt with him – behind the scenes – if he does not quite fit in.
And any notion that the Rockets could coast or play it cool during the regular season disintegrated during that brutal 1-5 start.
The Rockets, unlike the Thunder, did not sell it. As D'Antoni mentioned before the season started, they want to be their version of Bob McAdoo on the Lakers: an aging superstar who excels in a reserve role.
Melo has reluctantly accepted that role – or at least not rocked the Rockets' boat. How well he fits his team.
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