Anthony’s signing went quickly, with both sides agreeing to a veteran’s minimum contract with full guarantees.
Just as Demps said, he really wanted this opportunity.
The day after the buyout deadline, he completed the team’s physical and became the Pelicans’ 15th player.
He made it in time for the Pelicans’ first game in March, against the Lakers.
This was the third and final matchup between the two teams this season.
The two teams had each won one of the previous two games, making this third game very important as they were potential playoff opponents.
The winner would have a significant psychological advantage.
The good news for the Pelicans was that this game would be played at home, allowing them to conserve their energy.
On the morning of the game, the Pelicans scheduled their usual shootaround, and the players arrived early at the locker room to prepare.
Anthony arrived at the team at this time as well.
“This is your locker, it used to be Crowder’s.”
Nash led Anthony to the locker room, saying with a smile.
Anthony was in his prime when Nash was playing, and the two were old acquaintances. They seemed to be getting along well.
Tang Tian also saw Anthony again at this time.
The two teams had only played each other once this season, and that was not long after the season started.
He actually had the impression at the time that Anthony had lost weight in the summer.
He suffered a knee injury and lost his explosiveness and speed. Losing weight would reduce the burden on his knee and to some extent make up for the loss of speed.
This choice was not a problem, and it was something that was bound to happen.
However, his physical confrontation and positioning became problematic after losing weight.
Before, he could play the power forward position relying on his weight, but now, he couldn’t hold his own at the four, and he couldn’t keep up with the three, becoming a veritable “everyone’s punching bag.”
This was also a major reason for his poor performance with the Trail Blazers.
Nash left after dropping Anthony off, and Anthony took the initiative, smiling and greeting his teammates one by one.
Just as Demps said, he really put his pride aside this time.
Perhaps that’s just how people are, only after experiencing great ups and downs will their character change.
After nearly a month of DNP (Did Not Play) with the Trail Blazers, he also had a clear understanding of his current positioning.
“Tang, thank you.”
Anthony said with gratitude when he greeted Tang Tian.
Demps had talked about Tang Tian’s attitude when he signed him, and he knew why he was able to come to the Pelicans.
Tang Tian didn’t say anything, just smiled and hugged Anthony as a greeting.
He didn’t have much interaction with Anthony other than as an opponent before, and his choice of Anthony was out of consideration for the team.
So he just listened to the words of thanks and treated Anthony as just a regular teammate.
The training was about to begin, and Stevens and Nash returned to the locker room.
Stevens announced the morning’s training content and then talked with Anthony alone for a while.
He didn’t arrange for Anthony to play that night. He had two tasks for Anthony right now.
One was to train the defense of other forwards in one-on-one training, and the other was to play the role of James in full-court scrimmage training.
Tang Tian didn’t leave when Stevens was chatting with Anthony.
Hearing the content of their conversation, Tang Tian felt relieved.
The reason he was willing to let Anthony come, besides Demps saying that Anthony had a low profile, was also because of Stevens.
Anthony’s situation of being a defensive liability couldn’t be changed. Among the current coaches who could use him, besides Popovich, it was Stevens.
Stevens had coached Isaiah Thomas in history.
No matter how bad Anthony’s defense was, his height and physical confrontation were still there, and he wouldn’t be much worse than Isaiah Thomas.
Stevens’ arrangement at this time was based on this consideration. He could use these players with poor defense because he wanted to compensate through system defense.
And this wasn’t something that could be solved in a day.
Anthony accepted it.
It seemed that he had really made enough mental preparations before coming here.
The training session started quickly.
Although Anthony had lost his explosiveness and speed, and his triple threat was only left with pull-up jumpers, that was in official games.
On the training ground, he was still that offensive kaleidoscope.
Stevens was very satisfied with Anthony’s performance.
They were all signed for the minimum salary, what more could he ask for.
After the one-on-one training, there was full-court scrimmage training.
Anthony was arranged by Stevens on the bench of the backup team.
He wasn’t arranged to play in the first 10-minute scrimmage.
However, just as this quarter reached 7 minutes, there was a cry of pain on the court.
Kuzma, sprained his ankle while defending, and it was quite swollen.
After seeing this, Stevens asked the team doctor to arrange for Kuzma to be treated urgently on the sidelines, and then sent Anthony onto the court.
Tang Tian was slightly stunned when he saw this.
He remembered when he had just transmigrated, he only had the opportunity to play because his teammate Forsythe was injured.
Did Anthony open the protagonist’s halo like him?
In the full-court scrimmage training, Anthony’s performance was as good as in the one-on-one.
After the training ended, after communicating with his teammates, Stevens announced the 12-man roster for the evening game.
Carter, Kuzma, and Robinson were DNP (Did Not Play) for this game.
In other words, Anthony, who originally had no chance to play, came out of the DNP list because of Kuzma’s injury.
There was really nothing to say other than good luck.
That night, the New Orleans Arena was packed.
The local fans would definitely not miss the third game of the Pelicans-Lakers battle.
Half an hour before the start of the game, the players from both sides entered the court to warm up.
The cameras gave Anthony a lot of shots.
Although Anthony wasn’t in his prime, he was still famous.
And this was his first game joining the Pelicans, and the outside world was also focused on what kind of performance he would have.
However, there was a detail on the scene, Anthony and James were brothers, but neither of them took the initiative to say hello during training.
This made the already full of highlights game even more eye-catching.
After the training ended, the opening ceremony began, and the starting lineups of the two teams were released.
Along with it was the 12-man roster for the game.
It was also at this time that the fans on the hotline went wild because Anthony was on the Pelicans’ 12-man roster.
“Tang: LeBron, surrender quickly, your brother is in my hands!”
“LeBron: Sorry, I don’t have a brother.”
“Tang: You’re ruthless! But the Lakers also have my inside agent Durant, you’re doomed to lose tonight!”
“LeBron:……”
……
The game was about to start, and the starting players of the two teams began to take the stage.
Before Tang Tian went on the court, he touched Davis’ and Green’s heads, and when he walked to the technical table, he grabbed a handful of magnesium powder and threw it into the air.
The cheers at the scene instantly erupted.
Practice makes perfect, Tang Tian’s action of throwing magnesium powder is becoming more and more professional.
Of course, more importantly, throwing magnesium powder in front of James is always exciting.