With the serious injury of Danilo Gallinari on the sidelines of Eurobasket 2022, the Boston Celtics have already lost one of their most important recruits of the offseason. Brad Stevens is forced to turn around quickly enough so that his team does not lose too much in terms of bench depth, one of the successes of the Boston “transfer window”. This is where Carmelo Anthony comes in.
According to Gary Washburn du Boston Globe, the Celtics are in talks with Melo to fill the role that seemed devoted to Gallinari. At 38, Carmelo Anthony is certainly no longer the offensively dominant player that we have known, but the former New York Knicks winger still finds a way to score fairly abundantly on the minutes he spends on the floor.
We saw it at the Lakers last season despite the slump and non-qualification for the play-in tournament, Melo was still averaging 13 points in 25 minutes of play per game and 44%. If what the Celtics are looking for is above all an impact player to score off the bench, then the leading scorer in the history of Team USA is undoubtedly the right profile.
In a team that defends the lead, we imagine that he will manage to put himself more or less in tune despite his age and his not necessarily brilliant history in terms of defensive involvement. Carmelo Anthony is still hungry, and while a comeback in New York doesn’t seem likely to materialize, it might still be a return to the Eastern Conference.
Since leaving the Knicks in 2017, Anthony has only played for teams in the West: Oklahoma City, Houston, Portland and Los Angeles.
