Houston Rockets: Pros and cons of trading for Carmelo Anthony

With the Houston Rockets being heavily linked to a potential Carmelo Anthony trade, what are the pros and cons of adding the 10-time All-Star to the roster?

By now, almost all NBA fans and analysts are tired of hearing the constant rumors surrounding a potential Carmelo Anthony trade. Currently, it seems he is focused on becoming a Houston Rocket, but the teams are struggling to find additional trade partners willing to take on players with hefty contracts such as Ryan Anderson.

However, it still looks very likely that a deal will be completed, and many Rockets fans have begun preparing for what the team will be like with the addition of Anthony.

Anthony is one of the most heavily scrutinized players in the league, as people attack his lack of defense, ball-movement and leadership. The former Denver Nugget has had little success in the playoffs, and has recently been putting up empty numbers on losing New York Knicks teams.

Would the addition of Anthony firmly establish the Rockets as the clear-cut, second best team in the West? Would Anthony make Houston any more of a challenger to the Golden State Warriors? It’s impossible to answer those questions without first seeing 1) What the Rockets give up in the trade and 2) If Carmelo Anthony buys into being a third option.

In the end, there are pros and cons for the Rockets of a potential Carmelo Anthony trade. Do the pros outweigh the potential cons? Let’s take a closer look.

Pros

Carmelo Anthony is one of the best scorers the NBA has seen over the last decade and a half. For his career, he averages nearly 25 points per game and can score from nearly anywhere on the floor. Anthony is still a threat from beyond the arc (36 percent last season), but does a nice job of spreading out where his shots come from on the floor.

Only 31.3 percent of his two-point field goals were assisted on last season, meaning Anthony can create his own good looks from attacking a defense. That is something Ryan Anderson can’t do for the most part. Anderson is a spot-up shooter that spaces the floor around players like James Harden.

Anthony would provide the Rockets with a spot-up shooter that can also create his own shot. And while Anderson is the better three-point shooter overall, the two are nearly identical on catch-and-shoot attempts. Anderson shot 42.7 percent on such three-pointers, while Anthony shot 42.6 percent.

If the Rockets were to get “Olympic Melo,” their floor-spacing wouldn’t suffer by replacing Anderson with Anthony.

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Another potential pro is on the defensive end. Now I know what you’re going to say: “Carmelo Anthony playing defense? That’s not happening!” However, there are two things to consider when it comes to Anthony playing in Houston. The first is that the Rockets would present the best chance to win for Carmelo, and he would be playing alongside his close friend in Chris Paul.

Paul has a winning mentality, and could get Anthony to buy in on the defensive end. Plus, with Anthony being the second or third option, he will be able to rest more on the offensive end, leaving him with more energy to engage defensively.

Second, Anthony would be replacing Anderson, who is one of the worst defenders in the league. Even when he gives effort, Anderson is limited physically, leading him to struggle guarding most power forwards or switching in the pick-and-roll. Anthony would be an improvement defensively for the Rockets.

Cons

The first con that most people think of when contemplating a potential Anthony trade for the Rockets is chemistry issues. Everyone knows about the clash that Anthony had with Mike D’Antoni when the two were in New York, and although all the right things have been said in the media recently, it’s impossible to tell if the two can ever truly get along.

Also, adding one ball-dominant player alongside James Harden is one thing, but adding two could become a problem. Harden and Paul wanted to play together and Harden actively recruited him to come to Houston, but how would adding Anthony affect that combination? It remains to be seen how well all three would get along and how receptive Anthony would be to D’Antoni.

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Rockets fans have already seen their team go through chemistry issues (think 2015-16) and never want to see anything like that happen again. But when adding two stars in the same offseason, there will surely be bumps and confrontations.

The other potential con relates to ball-movement — more specifically, a potential lack of ball-movement with the addition of Anthony. If the Rockets get “Olympic Melo” as mentioned previously, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, there is no guarantee that will be the case.

For his career, Anthony averages 3.1 assists per game. His career high for a season is 4.2 per game in the 2015-16 season. Anthony’s game is revolved around isolation scoring, something that would have to change significantly in Houston.

It’s not that Anthony isn’t capable of being an adept passer, it’s more that he has been building habits of ball-hogging and isolation on Knicks teams that surrounded him with very poor supplemental talent. Would playing alongside Paul and Harden change Anthony’s ways? It’s certainly possible.

As with every significant trade, there are pros and cons. However, with the Rockets already having one of the most active (and praised) offseasons, adding Anthony late in the summer could make the adjustment period even more difficult.

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If Anthony buys in, he can be an improvement defensively and make the Rockets offense even more dynamic and unstoppable. However, if chemistry issues arise, Houston’s season could be one rocky roller-coaster.