Carmelo Anthony is now a Houston Rocket and is reunited with former Knicks Head Coach Mike D’Antoni. The two did not see much success together as they only made the playoffs once during their tenure together which was in the 2012-13 season where New York won the Atlantic Division but was defeated by the Pacers in the second round of the playoffs after beating the Celtics.
In a new interview with USA Today Sports, D’Antoni discussed reuniting with Melo and is confident about his potential in Houston. He believes that Melo will prosper more in with the Rockets and have a better relationship with him than he did with the Knicks. He blamed New York not having enough talent to compete after trading for Anthony in the middle of the 2010-2011 season.
“In New York, when the Knicks gave away half the team [to the Nuggets in the 2011 trade for Anthony] and everybody expected us to win a championship, it really wasn’t realistic. It put a lot of pressure on everybody, and it kind of burst the pipes.”
D’Antoni is putting much emphasis on being surrounded by a core of veterans who can put Melo in a position to win a title.
“I think this is totally different. We’ve got a team that is a whole bunch of veterans that really, we’ve got one thing in mind, and that’s to win a championship, and we have the possibility.”
When asked about Anthony possibly being inserted into the starting lineup this season, D’Antoni said it is a possibility but different lineups will be used in the preseason and early on in the regular season to see what the perfect fit will be.
“I don’t know, and that’s something that we’ll have to work out. All I know is that we’ll try different combos — preseason, early season, and the good thing is that with analytics and with gut feelings and coaches and players, we’ll figure out what is the best way to play.”
When the Rockets lost Trevor Ariza to the Suns in free agency, many wondered how they’d fill the void at small forward. Acquiring Melo is a good step in filling that need but hopefully Melo will return to the solid scoring threat that he once was.