While the trade talk for much of the past week has involved sending Carmelo Anthony from the Knicks to the Rockets, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowksi reported on Saturday that another team is trying to enter the Carmelo sweepstakes: The Portland Trail Blazers.
The report said that the Blazers are hoping to be included on the list of teams Anthony would waive his no-trade clause to join, and that Portland thinks the addition of Anthony would vault the team into the upper echelon of Western Conference powers.
Blazers guard CJ McCollum apparently likes the idea of adding the 33-year-old prolific scorer, as he posted the captionless image of Melo in a Blazers jersey to his Instagram account on Sunday.
Does McCollum know something that we don't? Possibly. Is it more likely that McCollum is joining the longstanding tradition of NBA players messing with fans on social media? Probably.
After a promising 2015-16 season, the Blazers took a noticeable step sideways last year and needed a second-half surge to earn the honor of being swept by the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. While Carmelo would potentially add more scoring, he would do nothing to address Portland's 21st-ranked defense -- in fact, he would likely hurt it by taking the place of defensive-minded Mo Harkless or Al-Farouq Aminu in the starting lineup.
The backcourt of McCollum and Damian Lillard was among the worst in the league last season, allowing 108.1 points per 100 possessions. Anthony was one of the worst individual defenders in the league (429th, to be exact), with a defensive rating of 111.1 according to NBA.com statistics.
While it might be fun for McCollum to post Photoshop work of Anthony in a Blazers jersey, Melo might not be the answer that Portland is looking for.
