Stay Melo | Houston's Got A Problem

The Houston Rockets and All-star forward Carmelo Anthony haven’t been on the same grid thus far. According to fellow reporters, Carmelo may have played his last game in a Rockets Uniform. Anthony is averaging 13.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 0.5 apg, but still haven’t solidified his role on their ball club. The Rockets haven’t found their niche yet, which can be attributed to the departure of wing defenders Trevor Ariza and Luc’ Mbah A Monte. This season the Rockets are allowing 119.2 points a night, which is 10 more points allowed than last season. Coming off last season’s campaign, The Rockets Won 65 games and lost in the Western Conference Finals to The Golden State Warriors. It’s safe to say that “Houston We Have A Problem”. To date The Rockets sit below .500 and out of playoff contention. Houston’s problems consist of lack of ball movement, ineffective defense, and poor shooting. Let’s see how things pan out for Houston this season.

Photo by: USA Today Sports

It’s easy to point the finger when things are in turmoil. Collectively, The Houston Rockets have failed to get things to work at this moment. Carmelo Anthony has been thrown in the fire and is being blamed for all of the mishaps. In the 10 games played Carmelo has scored 20-plus points in 4 of those games, he’s proved that he can be a contributor for The Rockets. It’s no surprise that the media and organization changed the narrative to make Anthony the main culprit for The Rocket’s failures. Carmelo’s long time friend Dwayne Wade has came to his defence and stated his views on the whole situation. He believes that the Rockets are trying to use Melo as a scapegoat; I deem the statement to have some truth behind it due to the statistics that were viewed. The Rockets rank at 28th in 3pt percentage, and 25th in pace. In order for Houston to find a solution, they must address their problems. Wade and Anthony came into the league together back in 2003, with Wade is in his final season of his career. The future Hall of Fame guard believes Melo has a lot more to give any ball club in the league.

“Trying to make my guy the fall out guy huh? Man y’all need to stop. That’s the easy way out instead of addressing the real problem.
”

— Dwayne Wade

Photo by: Getty Images

Let’s turn the page over to the numbers. We have witnessed an enormous decline of The Rockets this season. Lack of productivity from their guards play can attribute to their slow start. The inconsistent shooting from Eric Gordon, Gerald Green and Michael Carter-Williams plays a vital role in The Rockets slump. MVP James Harden is slowly getting back into Rhythm and Chris Paul still hasn’t got back into playoff form. So if you ask me, the root of the problems runs deeper than Carmelo Anthony himself. Up to date, The Rockets currently sit at 28th in pace, and 25th in 3pt % (32.7). Before we blame Anthony for the dysfunctional play of The Rockets let’s pump the brakes. Coach Mike D’Antoni spoke about his team struggles after their lost to Oklahoma City Thunder and he stressed the importance of shooting at a high percentages and playing solid defense.

“Our problem is that we can’t shoot the basketball, that’s the hindrance in the problem. ”

— Mike D'Antoni

Whether or not Anthony decides to continue the season with the Rockets is still the topic of discussion. Let’s not forget the great contributions that Carmelo has made during his 16 year career. Carmelo Anthony’s long list of accomplishments will lead him into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Melo is the first NBA athlete to win three Olympic gold medals, he is arguably one of the best international players to grace the hardwood. He has captured a NCAA title back in 2003 and was named the Most Outstanding Player. In the peak of his career Melo was seen as a dominant scorer averaging 28.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. In the last 2 seasons the media has created a misconception of Carmelo Anthony, and for that reason people like to point the finger and blame Melo for their teams failures. I think it might be time for the 10-time all-star to close a chapter in his book and move forward. He’s been able to rewrite history in the NBA and has an illustrious career. From the mean streets of Baltimore to the NBA, its safe to say that Carmelo’s success isn’t determined by his last 2 seasons, but his contributions made to the game of basketball. Do you want to see Melo finish the season in a Rocket’s Uniform? or do you think it’s time for him to start his farewell tour?

Photo by: Getty Images

Thanks: ESPN, Bleacher Report, NBA

Athlete: Carmelo Anthony

HBO Student-Athlete | NCAA Should Pay The Price

Producers Maverick Carter & Steve Stoute, and LeBron James have teamed up to produced a HBO documentary “Student Athlete”; which sheds a light on the lucrative billion-dollar sports industry. In the world of college sports athletes are exploited every year, college institutions generate billions of dollars annually and profit of it’s pool of student athletes. This has become a common trend for the college athletics system. If you calculate the high-revenue colleges make of their athletes and the time invested by the athletes, it just doesn’t add up. In the 2016-17 academic year, the NCAA records 91,755 men that played basketball and football, only 303 were selected by the NBA or NFL. Over decades the NCAA made profits at the expense of their student-athletes, not to mention the lucrative TV deals and partnerships that they’ve solidified over time.  The conversation has always been in the works, but now Iconic figures like LeBron James will like to push the conversation forward on the NCAA prohibiting student-athletes to get paid from colleges. It’s imperative for the NCAA to come to terms and provide a solution for why college athletes should be better compensated. The colleges are making a fortune, and the coaches and staff are greatly benefiting off of the revenue, so it’s only fair that the student-athletes benefit somehow. In America amateur athletics present several restrictions pertaining to student-athletes, we’ve witnessed the causing effects that the college athletic system created over the course of decades.

“Generally, there’s a pool of workers generating millions of dollars and they’re not allowed to touch the money.”

— Don Yee (Sports Agent)

The current college athletic system offers scholarship athletes free education and dorm to represent their university in competition. This would seem like a fair exchange however; as we know college basketball and football generate billions of dollars in revenue annually. It’s a common trend for coaches to benefit off highly touted recruits because they’re generating all the revenue for the university. In 2002 Carmelo Anthony led the Syracuse Orangeman to a NCAA National title. In his final game at the Carrier Dome 33,071 fans attended to witness the ending of an era. More than 70% of fans were wearing Carmelo’s Jersey, while he was living the struggle of a college athlete. Over a decade later Carmelo Anthony found out financial revenue that the NCAA has leveraged off him.

“ There is no security blankets for these kids in college, you here for school and you here for education. If you go out there and play and get hurt, then its on you.”

— Carmelo Anthony (Houston Rockets)

Every year there are various individuals who are impacted by the college athletic system and what stood out to me was the fact that coaches and other faculty members fail to express the concerns about profiting of the athletes. A large representation of African-American male athletes comes from families who live below the poverty lines. It’s a common trend now where athletes are specifically going to school for athletics and have less emphasis on education so they’re obtaining meaningless degrees. What happens to the 50% of college graduates don’t get to play professionally? In the HBO film former College Graduate Shamar struggles to provide for himself due to the financial instability of his job. Shamar attended college where her was a student-athlete and then decided to pursuit a professional career in football. It’s safe to say that things didn’t work out the way he expected and now he finds himself working dead-end jobs to provide for his basic necessities of life.

“I couldn’t afford rent. Plan A didn’t work, about to try Plan B”

— Shamar Graves (Former NCAA Athlete)

For the average college coach, in order to make a living you must develop the subtle skills of talent recruitment, fundraising, and most importantly winning. The more wins equal more revenue the universities makes, not to mention all the monetary investments that alumnis and business corporations dump into the institution. The modern day college athletic system is strictly about big business. Over time we’ve witness the top tier programs have legendary coaches who make a fortune. Duke’s Coach K is currently the highest paid NCAA coach in men’s basketball, followed by Kentucky’s Coach Calipari whose annual salary is 8 million dollars. It time for the NCAA to push the conversation forward and try to implement a new policy where the student-athletes are getting a percentage of the revenue they generate for the institution. It’s good to see a. lot of NBA athletes show there support in hopes of breaking the corrupted college athletic system.

“Fundraising, public relations, and obviously recruiting which is the top priority of a coach.”

— Steve Lavin (Former St. John's Coach)

Thanks: HBO, Uninterrupted, ESPN

Athletes: Shemar Graves, Carmelo Anthony

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0arOfqNnOM