Carmelo Anthony has come a long way since his disastrous stint with the Rockets. After being exiled just 10 games into last season, Anthony was forced to sit out for a year before eventually being called up by the Blazers in early November.
Despite the concerns, Melo has been a great fit with the team and his revival helped give the Portland team life.
Before the hiatus, he was averaging 15.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game on 42% shooting. As for what we can expect when the NBA returns later this month, that much is still up in the air.
But if his new frame and body condition is any indication, we should be optimistic. Judging by recent pictures and videos of Melo working out with the team, he’s lost a lot of weight and seems in absolutely great shape.
Melo recently talked about his new body and explained that the change was a result of his switch to small forward.
(via ESPN)
“For me, I had that in the back of my mind, once coach told me the position, that I’d be switching back to the 3,” Anthony said. “I kind of challenged myself to get down to that weight where I feel comfortable with playing the 3, comfortable running around and utilizing things I can do within our system from playing the 3.
“That was a big motivation for me to come back at that exact weight or around that weight, 230, 235. I haven’t seen 230, 235 since early, early in my career,” he said. “So now it puts me back in a mindset of that from a confidence standpoint, knowing that I was able to get back to that. On the court I feel good, I feel healthy. I have a lot of clarity, too. All of that was part of the plan.”
The odds are against the Blazers to make the postseason. They’ll have to be pretty flawless for the first eight games and then will likely have to compete in a mini-series for that final playoff spot.
Still, with Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, a healthy Jusuf Nurkic, and a trimmed-down Carmelo, they could definitely have it a whole lot worse.
