A faded star
The Carmelo Anthony trade was a little bit of a bummer for OKC over what the Thunder gained.
“The stars are ageless, aren’t they?” Norma Desmond whispers in one of the many “Sunset Boulevard” scenes that will make you shudder.
“Great stars have great pride,” she says elsewhere in the flick.
One of Hollywood’s all-time great movies. The faded silent-film star who dreams of returning to the silver screen.
Now playing Gloria Swanson’s part, Carmelo Anthony. The faded star cruising down Sunset Boulevard, refusing to accept reality. Refusing to acknowledge that the march of time is as relentless as ocean waves. Here they come. And they will not be stopped.
Yet there was Carmelo on Saturday, saying in his exit news conference that, “I think everybody knows that I’ve sacrificed kind of damned near everything ... sacrificed my game for the sake of the team and was willing to sacrifice anything and everything in order for this situation to work out. So it’s something I really have to think about, if I really want to ... finish out my career as this type of player, knowing that I have so much left in the tank and I bring so much to the game of basketball.”
Uh-oh.
Sam Presti’s two offseason blockbuster trades has brought Thunderland into two stages of regret.
Any NBA executive would have made either deal, and both trades were widely praised.
Yet the Paul George trade with Indiana now stings a little because of what the Thunder lost. Victor Oladipo turned into an all-star. Domantas Sabonis continued progress that promises to produce a valuable NBA player.
It was a gamble to trade both for only one assured season of George. If PG13 bolts in free agency, the trade was a Thunder net loss. If PG13 sticks around, the trade was a Thunder net gain.
The Carmelo trade with New York now stings because of what the Thunder acquired. Enes Kanter’s sweet spirit is missed, but his and Doug McDermott’s game not so much.
The Thunder can live without them. But can the Thunder live with Carmelo?
Carmelo seems to be subtraction by addition. Carmelo was billed as the final piece of a trinity. A third superstar to go with George and Russell Westbrook. Turns out it wasn’t so. Carmelo was a shell of his former self. The offensive juggernaut from Nugget and Knickerbocker days was nowhere to be found.
Carmelo shot 40.4 percent from the field, the worst of his career. His true shooting percentage (which factors in foul shots and the bonus for 3-pointers) was a career low .503, well behind Jerami Grant’s, Corey Brewer’s, Terrance Ferguson’s and Andre Roberson’s. Carmelo was purported to be a playoff weapon, joining with Westbrook and George as craftsmen who could manufacture shots when postseason defenses stiffened.
Didn’t happen against the Jazz. Instead, Carmelo averaged just 11.8 points a game, shot 37.5 percent from the field and made just six of 28 3-pointers. Utah was willing to give up the long ball; Carmelo’s teammates combined to make 39.3 percent of their 3-pointers. Carmelo, brought in largely as a deep threat, made 21.4 percent.
The Thunder won a reported bidding war with the likes of Houston and Portland to get Carmelo. Which in some ways gives Presti a pass on the Carmelo deal. If Carmelo’s skills and talents were a gradual decline, that should have been spotted by the Thunder’s scouting crew. But if the Rockets and Blazers — two rock-solid organizations — also wanted Carmelo, perhaps his skills and talents suddenly fell precipitously.
Player efficiency rating is a number devised by statistical guru John Hollinger, designed to encapsulate a player’s total stat line, with 15 being considered an average player. Carmelo’s player efficiency rating was 20.2 in eight Denver seasons and 21.8 in seven New York seasons. With OKC, Carmelo’s PER was 12.7, a career low by a wide margin and on the level of Cleveland’s Rodney Hood, Houston’s Ryan Anderson and Utah’s Alec Burks, players who dip in and out of rotations.
And of course, there’s the $27.9 million that Carmelo will be owed for next season, if he activates the option on his contract, which he won’t do only over his accountant’s dead body. But a new concern arises with Carmelo. Not just his play. Not just the economics. The attitude.
Carmelo doesn’t seem to understand that at age 34 (which he’ll turn later this month), he’s not the same player he was at 26 or 29. Doesn’t seem to understand that no one this side of LeBron James can stare down the chimes of time.
Team chemistry is threatened when a player believes a reduced role is some kind of sacrifice. Grant or Patrick Patterson this season clearly should have played some of Carmelo’s minutes, which averaged 32.1 during the regular season and rose to 32.3 during the playoffs.
When Carmelo says he has “so much left in the tank” and that he brings “so much to the game of basketball” and that he’s militantly opposed to coming off the bench, it has to prompt Presti to make Carmelo some other team’s problem next season as he coasts down Sunset Boulevard.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel.