Many were right to be skeptical when the Portland Trail Blazers announced the signing of controversial former superstar Carmelo Anthony. No other teams were willing to take a flyer on Anthony and to some it appeared as an early act of desperation for a Portland team off to a rough 5-9 start.
In the midst of a six-game road trip, Carmelo joined the team and was forced to learn the playbook and offensive schemes on the fly. To make things even more difficult, the Trail Blazers were missing Damian Lillard and Hassan Whiteside in two of Anthony’s first three games in black and red.