Carmelo Anthony’s return to the NBA for the Trail Blazers has been one of the feel good stories of this season, will he also add an all-star appearance?
The Trail Blazers move to add Carmelo Anthony to the roster this season was a masterstroke. The combination of a short-handed Blazers roster because of injuries, and Melo not wanting his hall of fame career to end with the memory of his disappointing stint with the Houston Rockets led to both sides having nothing to lose. The signing of Melo was not only a feel good story, but he has added great production and helped the Blazers get back into the playoff race.
Melo may not have the counting stats that all-stars have traditionally but he has a massive following and will still garner a lot of fan votes.
So far he has played 16 games at around 30 minutes a night and is averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds. His 40.6 percent from three is actually a career high, while 83.7 percent from the line is the third best of his career.
Melo will likely get a massive amount of fan votes this season. This year has been a bounce back for him and like last year where fan favourite Derrick Rose had a massive amount of fan votes, Melo may end up with the same.
He will still need to get the players and coaches votes to get across the line but it’s definitely possible. A lot of players called for Melo to be signed when he was out of the league, so the players vote may be where he will succeed also.
The other alternative is that the league give him an honorary all-star spot similar to what Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade had. By the looks of it though, these spots are only given to retiring players in their last season.
Melo has stated that this year isn’t a retirement tour though, and his play for the Blazers has shown that he may be physically capable of playing another season after this one. He probably isn’t bothered about an honorary all-star spot considering the above!
The Blazers are now in the eighth seed and if they were able to continue their push up the western conference standings, then Melo’s all-star bid may gain some more traction. There’s only a month or so for him to gain the required votes, but a few more wins and staying on the three-point leader board will go a long way towards securing the love he needs from the fans.
Melo will be more of a feel good vote after a whole year out of the league, but after some sections of the media said he was washed up, he is deserving of an all-star spot with his remarkable comeback.