Trail Blazers: 3 reasons why signing Carmelo Anthony was a smart move

2. Lack of dependable depth scoring

Who is Carmelo Anthony? A ten-time All-Star and former NBA scoring champion. What does Carmelo Anthony do? Get buckets.

That’s more or less what I expect to eventually be written on the former superstar’s epitaph. We know who Carmelo is, we know what he does; all that’s left is for him to go out there and actually do it.

And believe me, the Portland Trail Blazers need all the help they can get. While it remains unseen if Anthony will earn the immediate starting nod or if he will come off the bench, the smart assumption is that he will work with the second unit until he proves he deserves a promotion.

The Trail Blazers bench is scoring a meager 29.1 points per game, the 27th worst mark in the NBA. Even more concerning, they are only hitting 40.3 percent of their field goals. That’s the third worst mark of any team in the league. When Dame comes out, this team goes on life support. It’s just not a feasible strategy for a real championship team.

Even at his worst in ten games for the Houston Rockets last year, Carmelo still put up 13.4 points per game on better efficiency that the Blazers bench is currently producing at. If Anthony can come in and put up around 12 to 15 points a night — while not giving them all back on the defensive end — Portland will be a much better team because of it.