Houston Rockets: The latest stance on the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes

The Houston Rockets are still finding ways to dominate the headlines and the latest news that has broken indicates they’re in hot pursuit of a long-time object of affection. They’re still stuck on Carmelo Anthony. What’s going on? Look.

Houston Rockets fans — we’re at the midpoint of July and this team still hasn’t been shaped to what we’d like to see just yet. The answer of filling the hole at small forward still hasn’t been addressed yet.

Unless you’ve been under a rock, that void has been left by Trevor Ariza, who decided to cash in on HUGE OFFER made by the Phoenix Suns to a one-year, $15 million deal. As his career in the NBA starts to wind down, it’s perfectly understandable that he’d want to pursue such an opportunity and not leave any money on the table.

There’s no way in hell that the Houston Rockets could afford to pay him that amount when they’re looking to play Clint Capela — who apparently still hasn’t come to terms with team — that amount over four seasons.

But the obvious choice to replace Ariza is clear. There’s not a better chance than now for the Houston Rockets to pursue Carmelo Anthony, who has been the object of Daryl Morey’s affection for multiple seasons on end.

You all remember when the Houston Rockets were recruiting Melo a few seasons back with a nice poster of him in his signature No. 7 jersey when Jeremy Lin — who also wore the same number — was here?

Lin raised a slight stink about it — he was in his second tour of duty with the team — but all ended well. We didn’t get Melo that year as he re-upped with the New York Knicks and Lin eventually was able to strike it big in free agency once again.

But the dynamics have changed as he’s on a expiring contract — and he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder last season — with a $27.9 million player option for 2018-19.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have not been successful in finding a trade for him so they’ll go on and waive him to make him unrestricted free agent. His salary for this season will likely be spread out over time using the stretch provision, a new component of the current collective bargaining agreement.

This helps the Rockets negotiate a lower number for his signing, depending on how much he’ll be getting paid annually over time from the Thunder.

Here’s the latest from Marc Stein of the New York Times:

The Rockets, as reported Tuesday by @NYTSports, are regarded leaguewide as the unquestioned frontrunners to sign Carmelo Anthony once he clears waivers. Here, again, is the browser version of Tuesday's @nytimes NBA newsletter on Houston's Melo pursuit: https://t.co/DoAAn2zR8l https://t.co/43cq15HuuP
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 13, 2018

The Houston Rockets will likely get their man at a much more discounted rate than $27.9M as I’m positive he can still make an impact with this team. If Capela decides to return to the Rockets, we also won’t have to worry about his salary counting toward the cap because of his restricted free agent status.

How would Melo fit?

If Jeff Bzdelik and Roy Rogers can convince him to play as hard as he possibly can on defense and

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that he understands that he’ll have to play third-fiddle to James Harden and Chris Paul offensively, I think he’ll be fine. He’s got a great relationship with CP3 — he’s a Banana Boat brother — but things are different when you’re actually teammates.

The Houston Rockets like to run, quickly utilize the pick-and-roll to rack up points and make lightning-fast transitions on both ends of court to keep the pace as high as possible. My biggest concern is if he’s able to keep up with all of that and offenses he’s in typically are SLOWER and not as productive.

He was part of a Thunder offense that was ranked 8th in offensive efficiency — 107.7 points per 100 possessions — but a lot of that can attributed to Russell Westbrook‘s relentless desire to be the best.

Here’s how the Knicks stacked up in offensive efficiency in his two previous seasons:

2016-17: 104.7 per 100 (18th)

2015-16: 102.0 per 100 (26th)

So the proof is in the pudding, when Melo is the anchor for the offense, things tend to slow down but with him paired with Harden and Paul, it could be a boon for this team. He’ll need to score smartly when he’s open, rebound and be able to move without the ball. This is all while being effective on both ends of the floor.

The Rockets were 2nd in offensive efficiency — 112.2 per 100 — in 2017-18 and if Melo is added, I don’t think we’ll see much of an effect to that.

There’s always the concern of him getting along with Mike D’Antoni — it didn’t work in the past when the two were paired together in New York — but I think they’ll bury the hatchet and make it work. This potential scenario would confirm that they’re both encapsulated in a better situation and that they can knuckle down, concentrate and figure a game plan to make things work.

I’m personally confident that they can — but we’ll see about that — they have to acquire him first.

Next: The Top 30 Rockets players of all-time

Anthony, 34, averaged 16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists with a shooting line of .404/.357/.767 through 78 games in 2017-18.

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