Editor's note (Jan. 21): This story has been updated as of Monday afternoon.
With Carmelo Anthony having played his final game for the Houston Rockets, what could he bring to another team?
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday that the Rockets have agreed to trade Anthony and cash to the Chicago Bulls. However, Anthony won't play a game for the Bulls, league source tells ESPN. He will be released and become a free agent if he clears waivers.
So how much can Anthony still contribute at age 34 after being jettisoned by a pair of teams in the past four months? And where might his skill set fit? Let's take a look.
Offense: Melo's 3-point accuracy needs to come around
The hope Anthony would be more efficient in a smaller role was a key reason for optimism when the Oklahoma City Thunder dealt for him 16 months ago. Instead, Anthony posted a career-worst .503 true shooting percentage during his lone season in Oklahoma City, and it didn't bounce back much this season in Houston (.513).
The biggest issue there has been Anthony's inability to maintain his strong shooting on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers with the New York Knicks. Over his final four seasons in New York, Anthony made 40.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts, according to Second Spectrum tracking on NBA Advanced Stats, including 42.3 percent in 2016-17. But that dropped to 37.8 percent with the Thunder and just 31.4 percent so far in 2018-19.
Inevitably, Anthony should be expected to shoot better from downtown than he has this season, which would be his worst overall 3-point shooting since 2009-10. (Second Spectrum tracking dates back to only 2013-14.) However, he'll have to get all the way back to his Knicks performance to be better than league average on catch-and-shoot 3s (37.2 percent over the past two seasons, per Second Spectrum data).
That's crucial because at this stage of his career, Anthony can no longer score with reasonable efficiency on self-created shots. On Melo isolations during his final four seasons in New York, the Knicks averaged 0.99 points per chance, according to Second Spectrum tracking -- better than the league average of 0.92 points per chance on isolation plays. That figure dropped to a league-average 0.92 points per chance in Oklahoma City, and this season Houston averaged 0.73 points per chance on 22 Anthony isolations.
In the right matchup, Anthony can still be an effective one-on-one player. The Rockets averaged 1.07 points per chance on his 24 post-up plays this season, per Second Spectrum data, and a whopping 1.17 points per chance the 12 times Anthony posted up a guard. But his ability to take advantage of mismatches should be considered a bonus against switch-heavy defenses rather than a primary part of a healthy offensive diet.
Defense: Reserve role minimizes Melo's weaknesses
After Anthony scoffed at the suggestion he might come off the bench for the Thunder, he made that transition in Houston, playing as a reserve in eight of the season's first 10 games. That's important because playing against opposing starters on a regular basis is probably too much to ask of Anthony defensively at this stage of his career.
As it was, the Rockets allowed 9.6 more points per 100 possessions with Anthony on the court, per Cleaning the Glass' stats. I noted in analyzing where Melo's time in Houston had gone wrong that difference can't really be traced to difficulty in the Rockets' switching defense, but rather the team forcing fewer turnovers, fouling more frequently and surrendering more offensive rebounds with Anthony on the court.
Houston defended better with Anthony at small forward than power forward, according to Cleaning the Glass' lineup data, but that's probably more attributable to playing alongside defensive stalwart P.J. Tucker in bigger lineups. At this point, I think Anthony is best suited to defending power forwards or hiding on 3-and-D players who rarely create their own offense.