Report: Rockets expected to bring Carmelo off the bench

Carmelo Anthony will finally be relegated to a bench role.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Rockets are expected to bring Anthony off the bench after signing the 34-year-old to a veteran's minimum deal worth $2.4 million this summer.

Houston won 65 games and came one win shy of reaching the NBA Finals last season, and have an established style of play in mind. They want to switch freely on defense while relying on James Harden and Chris Paul to attack in isolation, which doesn't leave much room for Anthony in the starting lineup. His skill set would work better in a substitute's role, especially during minutes when Harden rests.

Anthony famously laughed off the suggestion of playing with the second unit when he was introduced as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, his performance slid dramatically last season as he averaged under 20 points per game for the first time in his 15-year career, and Anthony wound up watching from the sidelines during important playoff moments.

Oklahoma City eventually dumped Anthony on the Atlanta Hawks, where he was unceremoniously bought out. But even in the nadir of his otherwise illustrious career, Anthony still insisted in July that only he knew when it was best to accept a bench role.

Anthony, a career 24-point-per-game scorer, has never come off the bench in his 1,054 appearances to date.