He is better than Ryan Anderson
While he has played small forward for the majority of his career, he has played power forward for much of the last seven seasons (according to basketball-reference’s position estimate) so he could step in and play that position right away here too.
This would be a big boost for the Suns because Ryan Anderson is currently holding down that position – and doing an absolutely awful job of it.
At 34, Carmelo Anthony is still a decently productive player and scorer in particular, and a good 3-point shooter.
While he’s only shooting 32.8% this season, he has been better than that in ten out of his last eleven seasons, and is still 9% better than Anderson’s outside shooting percentage this season as well.
Carmelo too can create his own offense, which Anderson cannot, and his DRtg is better than Anderson’s at 113 to 118 (the lower the better).
If nothing else, placing Carmelo Anthony as the starting power forward relegates Anderson farther down the bench, which that alone will help the Suns win a little bit more. T.J. Warren could return full-time to the Sixth Man role, and he, Josh Jackson, and Mikal Bridges, would all receive minutes ahead of Ryan, which would give the Suns a little bit more of the depth that they were hoping to have heading into this season.