Thunderous Intentions
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Five takeaways from Thunder preseason opener against Houston

By Tony Heim

TULSA, OK- OCTOBER 3: Raymond Felton #2 of the OKC Thunder handles the ball against Chris Paul #3 of the Houston Rockets during the preseason game on October 3, 2017 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Shane Bevel/NBAE via Getty Images)
TULSA, OK- OCTOBER 3: Raymond Felton #2 of the OKC Thunder handles the ball against Chris Paul #3 of the Houston Rockets during the preseason game on October 3, 2017 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Shane Bevel/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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TULSA, OK- OCTOBER 3: Carmelo Anthony #7 of the OKC Thunder looks on during the preseason game against the Houston Rockets on October 3, 2017 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Shane Bevel/NBAE via Getty Images)\
TULSA, OK- OCTOBER 3: Carmelo Anthony #7 of the OKC Thunder looks on during the preseason game against the Houston Rockets on October 3, 2017 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Shane Bevel/NBAE via Getty Images)\ /

Carmelo Anthony will have the most efficient season of his career

Carmelo went off tonight. Sure he only scored 19 points, but he did that in one half of basketball. And it was on 53.8% shooting from the field and 60% from deep. Don’t expect those type of numbers to be an anomaly this season either.

For the first time in his career Carmelo isn’t the first scoring option on his team – he’s probably going to end up as the Thunder’s third option. That means every night he’ll be guarded by opposing team’s third worst perimeter defender. This tweet sums it up perfectly:

Carmelo torched Ryan Anderson tonight. Once his jumper got going early on he was able to take Anderson to the hole at ease. And that was without a Rockets defense worrying about Russell Westbrook.

It’s obvious that Billy Donovan’s goal is to spread the ball a la Golden State. The offensive movement is focused cross-court in order to get maximum spacing. Because of that, when defenses break down on Westbrook/George drives, Melo will be the biggest benefactor for open jump shots. Remember all those wide-open Domantas Sabonis threes last year?

Yeah, that’s Carmelo Anthony now.

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