Carmelo Anthony Is Willing To Come Off The Bench If It Helps The Rockets Win A Title


Getty Image

Carmelo Anthony’s pursuit of the first NBA championship of his career has brought him to Houston, where he hopes that he’ll be able to get that elusive first ring next to fellow title chasers Mike D’Antoni, James Harden, and Chris Paul. There are questions about how Anthony will fit into this group, which leads to a question that popped up last season in Oklahoma City being asked: Is the best thing for Carmelo Anthony to start or come off the bench?

When he was on the Thunder, Anthony was very much not down with the idea of being a sixth or seventh man, resisting the idea of coming off of the bench when it arose. On Monday at the Rockets’ media day, Anthony was asked about the idea once more, and while he said the conversation had not popped up yet, he isn’t completely opposed to the idea.

“At the end of the day, we’re all going to camp to figure out what works in order for this team to try to win a championship,” Anthony said, according to Tim McMahon of ESPN. “If that time comes, we’ll have that conversation. My goal is to go into training camp, be the best player I can be, be in the best shape I can be and do what I have to do to help this team get over the hump and win a championship. That’s all it is.

“All the questions of coming off the bench, I don’t want to answer those questions at the end of the day,” Anthony continued. “Whatever I have to do to help this team win a championship, that’s what’s going to be done.”

While Anthony doesn’t sound like he’d be especially eager to come off the bench, the mere fact that he’s open to coming off of the bench if it means winning a ring is a bit of a win for Houston. Anthony is a less than ideal fit with ball-dominant players like Harden and Paul, but while he struggled in Oklahoma City last year, he might thrive in a role as the man who leads a second unit.

Anthony might not be the guy who could go out and drop 25+ every single night anymore, but if he has the freedom to be the guy who runs the show at times in Houston, perhaps we’ll see flashes of what made him such a deadly scorer. At the very least, D’Antoni must be relieved that his newest big name would buy into this arrangement should it have to happen.

(Via ESPN)

×