The Los Angeles Lakers have yet to fill their open roster spot although there remains only one choice in their list that has yet to be signed. Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James' friend, remains unsigned and will likely wear the purple and gold unless something diabolical happens.
Aside from Carmelo Anthony, other players the Lakers had their sights on were Enes Kanter and Markieff Morris. Kanter opted to join the Portland Trail Blazers while Morris elected to go to the Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA.com reported.
There are many who remain skeptical on how Anthony could be of good use to the Lakers at this point. Los Angeles is 10th in the Western Conference, trailing the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings. Can Carmelo aid LeBron James and company to make the NBA playoffs?
Bringing Anthony is two-fold. He is a perfect fit to help the Lakers on the offensive end. But as far as the defensive side, Melo may end up being a liability. He was never known to be a good defensive stopper and it seems that it will all end up like that.
Anthony does not need to learn defense only now. All he needs to do is figure out his place on the Lakers and see how he can help his buddy and the young guns. Hence, there is one player who could help Melo do all that - LeBron James. Not only can he fit in, but he also gets the chance to re-align his career and hopefully show that he still has the hops to contend with other players in the league, Forbes reported.
Right now, the Lakers don't exactly have plenty of options. Morris or Kanter would have been great additions to toughen up their frontline. But if the offense is their concern, both may hardly be the solution. They are good bruisers but their shooting may not necessarily be on queue.
Melo is a proven scoring machine. Sharing the ball may be a concern but leave that James. He is perhaps the only player that can talk sense into him and bring out the Carmelo Anthony of old. But assuming Anthony finds his range with the Lakers, will that be enough?
The thing here is getting a player to fill in the spot at least until the end of the season. Being a veteran, he is the only one that makes sense at this point unless there are new candidates bought out by teams. Some may look at it as a disaster while others have hope. The Lakers need a pinch in the arm and right now, LeBron's buddy is looming as the only logical fit.
