Why Carmelo Anthony is succeeding with Blazers but failed with OKC Thunder

Former OKC Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony spoke of his four-year emotional roller coaster ride. In retrospect, his fit in OKC’s system and roster was always doomed for failure. 

Carmelo Anthony‘s career was on life support after his failure to adapt to the OKC Thunder and Houston Rockets systems. The forward told The Uninterrupted’s WRTS, After Party podcast, he was emotionally reeling feeling his career had hit rock bottom.

It’s no secret the past few seasons were tough for Carmelo Anthony. From the moment he was selected third in the vaunted 2003 draft he spent his career as the primary scoring option for the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks.

Every NBA player will eventually have to deal with their game regressing as they age. In Anthony’s case, his descent seemed premature and appeared to happen overnight. The truth is Anthony was partially a victim of circumstance.

In this era, the league encourages ball movement, ample 3-point shooting, and small ball play. None of those priorities play to the forward’s talents. He’s an isolation heavy player and while he can play either forward role his age pushed into the power forward position but his ability to defend is limited and more importantly, he gets exposed when guards look to attack him.

In retrospect, Melo’s downfall began when he pushed for a trade from his native New York as he hoped to add a championship ring to his resume. He had the right to approve any trade and although his preference was the Houston Rockets he agreed to a deal with the OKC Thunder.