Carmelo Anthony willing to do ‘whatever’ to help Rockets win

Carmelo Anthony is willing to make any needed sacrifices, including coming off of the bench, in order to help the Houston Rockets win a championship.

Every season, there’s one main question surrounding every team. This time last year, the question for the Houston Rockets was if Chris Paul and James Harden, two historically ball-dominant players, could co-exist well on the floor together.

This year, all eyes are on Houston’s biggest off-season acquisition, Carmelo Anthony. Will he start or come off the bench? Is he even willing to come off the bench? How will he get along with Mike D’Antoni this time around? Will the Rockets allow him to iso or will he just be a catch and shoot guy?

The questions surrounding Melo and this Rockets team are endless. Fortunately, Anthony is willing to come off the bench, or make any other sacrifice, if it’ll help the Rockets win more games, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

“All the questions of coming off the bench, I don’t want to answer those questions at the end of the day. Whatever I have to do to help this team win a championship, that’s what’s going to be done.”

At this point, Anthony is understandably tired of answering questions about potentially coming off  of the bench. This guy is a 10-time All-Star, a former scoring champion and is the all-time leading scorer for the United States Men’s Basketball Team.

Melo knows that he isn’t the same athlete that he once was, but all of these questions about taking a bench role because he is declining as an athlete is probably just throwing salt in the wound. Anthony told the media that he just wants to come into the season in shape and help the Rockets win a championship, via Tim MacMahon.

“At the end of the day, we’re all going to camp to figure out what works in order for this team to try to win a championship. If that time comes, we’ll have that conversation. My goal is to go into training camp, be the best player I can be, be in the best shape I can be and do what I have to do to help this team get over the hump and win a championship. That’s all it is.

Anthony will likely play the bulk of his minutes at power forward, as will P.J. Tucker, who started at the four last season for Houston. The Rockets finished 29-5 with Tucker starting at power forward. Tuck’s defensive versatility, hustle and his ability to knock down the open 3-pointer really makes him an important piece in Houston’s rotation.

After losing Trevor Ariza over the offseason, the Rockets need to make sure they have at least one other defensive stopper in the starting unit alongside Chris Paul. P.J. Tucker is the guy for the job, which is why he should start over Anthony.

If Anthony joins the second unit for the first time in his career, look for the Rockets bench to be among the highest scoring the league. At the start of the second quarter, a lineup featuring Chris Paul, Eric Gordon and Carmelo Anthony should have no trouble putting numbers on the board against opposing second units.