Jayson Tatum Makes It Pretty Clear He Wants The Celtics To Sign Carmelo Anthony So It's Time For Brad Stevens To Give Him Carmelo Anthony

Harry How. Getty Images.

Over the weekend Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported that the idea of Carmelo Anthony finding his way onto the Celtics roster was "gaining traction"

Carmelo Anthony. This is starting to gain traction because Anthony may be the best shooting forward left on the market, and he has shown to be productive offensively despite his age. He turned 38 in May, but he managed to play 69 games last season and average 13.3 points off the bench. Anthony has been criticized for his lack of 3-point shooting, but he has improved dramatically. Anthony was in exile from the NBA after a short stint in Houston because of his reluctance to take shots from behind the arc. That has changed. Anthony has remained in great shape and can still score. He had 20 or more points in 11 games last season and played 26 minutes per game, showing his durability. Anthony wants an opportunity to win a championship, and this could be his best chance.

which isn't all that surprising given his skillset and the sudden need for a stretch four after Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL. We've talked about how thin the open market is with actual options and things look even worse when you start to look through the potential trade market of guys that fit both the skillset needed and are under the larger of the two TPEs the Celts own (6.9M). 

But that's obviously not the only reason this idea is probably gaining traction. There's also the whole your franchise player is openly telling the world he wants you to sign Melo thing

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While catering to star players and their roster demands can be tricky and doesn't always work out, I think this is a situation where it's time to listen to your best player and make it happen. It's just going to cost you the minimum, there's a roster need for it, so let's lock this in and move on. 

As we know, keeping Tatum/Brown happy is pretty important when it comes to the future of this team. While Tatum has already signed his max extension that has him locked into 3 more seasons (plus a player option in 2025), it's still important that the franchise makes sure he's happy. I'm also not ruling out the idea that Brad and the Celts were open to bringing in someone like Malcolm Brogdon not just because of his skillset, but also his relationship with Jaylen. Unless you're going to tell me who the better option is instead of Melo, this seems like a low risk way to not only address a need but also keep your star happy.

One of the big themes of the 2022-23 season will be keeping everyone fresh. That's why Gallo was going to play such an important role. There are going to be games where the Celts rest Al Horford. Rob will be load managed to some degree I would imagine. When it comes to Tatum/Brown, I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world to not have them run themselves into the ground during the regular season. Adding a proven player like Melo can help with that.

Tatum was 4th in the NBA in minutes at 2,731. In the playoffs, he led the field with 983 and Jaylen was right behind him at the 2nd spot with 920. Horford was 3rd for 815. The closest Warrior was Klay Thompson at 792. We all saw how that worked out to end the Finals, which is why all summer the talk from the team has been about adding proven NBA depth in an attempt to keep everyone's minutes down during the year.

I know the team is saying the plan is to increase the minutes of Sam Hauser, but I don't see why you can't do that while also signing Melo. If it doesn't work, get out of it at the trade deadline just like they did with Dennis Schroder.  

Listen, before Brad Stevens took over we had no idea if he could build a roster. It turns out he's pretty fucking good at it. Maybe the same is true for Tatum. I say let's start with the Melo Experience and then if it works out, Tatum can pick whoever he wants moving forward.