You Know Things Are Bad For Melo When Not Even His Banana Boat Buddy Wants Him
(ESPN) – The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Carmelo Anthony are pausing talks on a possible contract agreement unless the franchise makes a turn back toward pursuit of Western Conference playoffs contention, league sources told ESPN.
The Lakers had been leaning toward signing Anthony for the rest of the season — until losses in four of the past five games left the organization and Anthony’s camp wondering if it made sense to bring the veteran into an unsettled environment with suddenly so little chance of making the playoffs, league sources said.
Anthony, a 10-time All-Star, had been hoping to find a new team that would provide a positive conclusion to his season after an abrupt stay with the Houston Rockets.
The Lakers had waited on Anthony through the March 1 deadline for players to be waived and be eligible for playoff rosters to see who else would become available and perhaps be willing to sign with them, league sources said.
Remember Carmelo Anthony? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t as he hasn’t seen an NBA court since November 8th. I think we all sort of assumed he was officially done after things in Houston didn’t work, and really his only option was that LeBron would throw him a bone and bring him in. Throughout the year he certainly dropped nuggets that a move like that would be possible, but as the Lakers season has gone up in flames it looks like not even LeBron is willing to throw him a bone.
Their reasoning is a little confusing if you ask me. While I agree that if the Lakers aren’t going to make the playoffs they may as well play their young guys a shit ton, get them some additional exposure and maybe give them some confidence for whatever team LeBron trades them to over the offseason. The confusing part was the idea that had the Lakers actually been in playoff contention that probably means the young kids were playing well, so that’s when it made sense to bring in Melo? That seems odd. If things were good, why would you risk it by bringing in someone like Melo who has proven that he’s basically a net negative? To me it sounds like they are using their current situation as an excuse as an easy out to go in a different direction. It’s also pretty good spin in the event they were never interested in the first place. The fit never really made sense anyways, considering the Lakers need shooting and that is not exactly something Melo can do anymore.
But the Lakers aren’t the only disaster that Melo has been connected to. Just today Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe suggested that the Celtics use their open roster spot to bring in Melo to help their bench and “be a mentor” to the young kids. I’m sorry am I taking crazy pills? You have two teams that are pretty dysfunctional right now things are so bad that the idea of bringing in Melo makes sense? I don’t think so.
There’s no debate that Melo had a HOF career and was one of the best individual scorers of his time. It’s also not debatable that he has nothing left, and sadly he should probably accept his time in the league is over. He’s out of banana boat friends, even dumpster fires like the Celts most likely won’t bring him in, in my opinion this season has proven it’s time for Melo to just call it a career.