Houston Rockets: Creating the all-time, one-year starting five

Houston Rockets Starting PF – Carmelo Anthony

In another no-brainer, the starting power forward for the one-year Rockets team is Carmelo Anthony. I mean, the guy averaged 20-plus points per game in his first 14 seasons in the league. On top of being one of the most prolific scorers the NBA has ever seen, Carmelo has also managed to silence anyone this season that might’ve thought he was done.

The Houston Rockets, unfortunately, are included in that list of those that might’ve given up on him too soon. After Carmelo had stellar seasons with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks that resulted in 12 All-Star appearances, he ended up with the Oklahoma City Thunder for one season before signing with Houston for the veteran’s minimum in August 2018.

Carmelo didn’t quite get the shot he was looking for with the Rockets, starting just two games and playing in a total of 10 for H-Town. The decision to release Anthony seemed to be mutual between Mike D’Antoni and Daryl Morey, who had envisioned a better fit by Carmelo within the Rockets offense.

At age 35, Carmelo got another chance to show he’s still got it with the Portland Trail Blazers, and he’s done exactly that. Through 50 games in the 2019-20 season, Anthony started in 50 games, averaging 15.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

While the Rockets and Anthony parted ways amicably, it’s certainly worth questioning if there was a way Houston could’ve figured out how to make such a talented player like Carmelo work within their system.

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