Carmelo Anthony: 7 Reasons Why the Cavs Should Stay Away

Late Friday night, New York Daily News’ Frank Isola reported that the Cavaliers are entertaining a three team trade that would result in Kevin Love being shipped to Boston, Timofey Mozgov and draft picks sent to New York, and Carmelo Anthony uniting with LeBron James in Cleveland.

LeBron shot down the trade rumors when he was asked about the rumors on Saturday afternoon. Also Anthony has a no trade clause and has repeated that he doesn’t want to leave New York. Even though both LeBron and Anthony have shot down the rumors, it wouldn’t be surprising if both players changed their minds if they were actually forced to make a decision. Both players have wanted to join forces for years. It would be hard to imagine Melo vetoing a trade that would put him on a team with one of his best friends that has a good chance at going to the Finals for the second consecutive year.

GM David Griffin has shown that he isn’t afraid to make a risky move if he thinks it’s what makes the team better. But it’s questionable if swapping Kevin Love for Carmelo Anthony makes Cleveland any more likely to beat Golden State or San Antonio.

Here’s seven reasons why Cleveland shouldn’t pull the trigger on this blockbuster deal.

1. Trading for Carmelo Anthony doesn’t help the Cavs where they need it most.

It’s no secret Love is a below average defender. He is awful in the pick and roll defense and certainly isn’t a rim protector.

However, Anthony maybe more of a liability on defense. Advanced defensive analytics such as defensive win shares, defensive box plus/minus, and defensive ratings actually show that Love is a better a better defensive player than Anthony. Love is also in the middle of his best defensive year in his career.

The Cavs showed last year that defense is the way to beat the Warriors. The defense has been an issue for the last few weeks. No team will outscore Golden State, the way to beat them is by playing stingy defense. Adding Melo would make the defense worse and likely not help the Cavs get past Golden State

Also trading for Melo would mean the Cavs would be sending away the only rim protector they have on the roster. Even though Mozgov is having a terrible year, he is still the Cavs only rim protector. (Editor’s Note: Tristan has improved in this area but is still not a bonafide shot blocker.)

2. Carmelo Anthony is passed his prime.

Melo is in the middle of one of the worst seasons of his career. His effective field goal rating, shooting percentage, and points per game are all the lowest they’ve been since his second year in the league.

Melo is still a great scorer, but he’s no longer one of the top scorers in the Association. He doesn’t possess the explosiveness that he’s been known for. He now settles for contested jumpers (similar to LeBron) instead of attacking the basket like he used to.

3. Adding Melo would shorten the Cavs’ championship window.

The Cavs currently have a championship window that is somewhere between 4 and 7 years. Cleveland currently has a good mix of young and veteran players. Adding Anthony would ruin that and make the Cavs a much older team.

Adding Melo to the team would shorten the championship window a few years. Instead the Cavaliers would realistically be looking at a championship window that is 3 to 4 years. The Cavaliers could become like the Boston Celtics were in 2008 when they added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen with Paul Pierce. While Boston ended up with a championship, they didn’t have a long championship window. In only a few years they were shipping out their aging stars for draft picks. The Cavaliers would probably doing that with Melo if this trade was made. The difference is the Cavaliers are a good team now and adding Melo doesn’t guarantee them that they will be better than they already are.

4. Adding Melo would ruin the chemistry the Cavaliers have been trying to establish.

LeBron, Kyrie, and Love have had a hard time adjusting to playing with each other offensively. They have slowly been getting better at playing with each other, but it has taken a lot longer than many anticipated when this team was assembled.

Adding Melo would disrupt any chemistry the Cavs have already built up. The Cavs would have to readjust to playing with Anthony. This is something that probably wouldn’t be worked out in the final two months of the regular season.

Editor’s Note: A little proof that the Cavs Big 3 is doing well:

5. Melo and J.R. Smith don’t play well together.

The resurgence of Smith has been a pleasant surprise to many. He has shown just good of a player he can be when he’s put in the right situation. However, we’ve also seen how bad he can be if he’s not in the right system.

Smith and Anthony played good together in Denver, but they had a hard time sharing the ball in New York. It’s likely that they would struggle playing with each other again like they did with the Knicks. The Cavaliers certainly don’t want a repeat of that. Especially when you add in high usage players like LeBron and Kyrie.

6. Trading Kevin Love to the Celtics makes them a dangerous team.

Brad Stevens has done an exceptional job of getting the most out of what he has. He has taken below average talent and made them a playoff team in the East. Stevens has made Boston a tough team that knows how to play fundamentally sound basketball. The biggest problem is that his team doesn’t have a go-to player.

Adding Kevin Love would make the Celtics one of the top four teams in the East and a team that nobody wants to play in a seven game series. Boston would be a perfect fit for Love. He would be on a good team where he can be the primary scoring option.

Right now Boston doesn’t have the talent to keep up with the top teams in the East, but they probably would if they added Love.

7. Melo doesn’t fit with the offensive system.

Anthony’s style of play couldn’t be a worse fit for what the Cav’s new offensive system. Coach Lue has tried to instill an up-tempo offense that emphasizes moving the ball. Players like LeBron and Kyrie have had to adjust their style of play to fit in with the new offense. Anthony generally operates out of the isolation and would have a hard time adjusting to an offense that moves the ball.

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He has been the number one scoring option ever since he’s been in the league. If he came to Cleveland he would likely be the third scoring option. This would be a difficult midseason adjustment for a guy who has never played in this system before.

In a perfect world, the offense would look great with Melo, LeBron, and Kyrie moving the ball around and working for a wide open shot. However, this isn’t a perfect world. The offense would likely go through many more phases of isolation basketball settling with contested jumpers taken as the shot clock expires.

It is clear that David Griffin is willing to do whatever it takes to improve the Cavs. However, this isn’t the move that puts Cleveland over the edge. We’ll see what deals, if any, the Cavaliers make before the trade deadline.

Are there other reasons Carmelo Anthony wouldn’t fit for the Cavs? Any reason to think he would?