Portland Trail Blazers: Melo at the 3, why not
Ed Stein
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The Portland Trail Blazers are in Orlando preparing for the NBA’s restart to the 2019-20 season. Some major personnel updates have led to lineup changes.
This isn’t the same Portland Trail Blazers team fans saw beat Phoenix 121–105 at the Moda Center back on March 10. A combination of players opting out of the Orlando bubble and those returning from injury, Portland is a much bigger team. That will necessitate Blazers head coach Terry Stotts to make some changes to both his lineup and rotation.
Maybe the most significant change is 36-year-old Carmelo Anthony moving from power forward (the four slot) to small forward (the three slot). Anthony has played well at the four since signing with Portland on November 19. His 15.3 points and 6.3 boards per night prove it.
With center Jusuf Nurkic and power forward Zach Collins returning healthy after injuries kept them out long-term, Anthony isn’t needed as much inside. However, Ronny Hood’s Achilles injury and Trevor Ariza‘s decision to sit out the rest of the season leaves the Trail Blazers dangerously thin at small forward. That’s the position where he can help his team the most.
It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. First of all, the NBA is moving to a more positionless style of play. It’s more critical for the Blazers’ offense to flow than to worry about who plays which position. Damian Lillard will control who goes where, when he has the ball in his hands. Defensively it’s all about matching up. Anthony can guard the perimeter.
Next, Anthony began his career at the three. Until 2017–18, except for back-to-back seasons with the rudderless New York Knicks, Melo played a minimum of 69 percent of his minutes as a small forward. He knows the job and knows what it takes to do it at an elite level. In a recent Zoom interview with Blazers.com, Anthony said the same about playing the three.:
“I’m actually very comfortable at that, I’ve been doing that my whole life,”
Finally, there are those members of the Portland Trail Blazers faithful who believe, without Ariza nailing threes from the wing, this team can’t succeed. This year, Ariza shot 40 percent for behind the arc, while Melo comes in at 37.1 percent. The difference isn’t as big as they think. In 40 games, Ariza averaged 4.0 trifectas per game, hitting 1.6. Melo averaged 3.9 shots, connecting on 1.4 during his 50 appearances.
If anything, Portland will miss Ariza attacking the basket because he shot 71.4 percent within three feet of the basket. Anthony only shot 53.7 percent from the same range. The difference will be from three feet out to the arc. Anthony has been solid from mid-range while Ariza barely shot the ball from there.
Moving Melo to small forward for the rest of the year is no problem.
What do you think about the Portland Trail Blazers lineup the rest of the way? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.