I thought Melo was hustling on defense and rebounding last night. Certainly much better than you'd expect from him. For context, let's remember that Carmelo did this terrible "17 points on 14 shots" on a night when his teammates did the following: Ennis - 15 points on 8 shots (great) Tucker - 6 points on 6 shots Harden - 25 points on 17 shots (decent) Capela - 12 points on 11 shots Paul - 7 points on 11 shots Clark - 6 points on 6 shots Green - 6 points on 9 shots Someone has to score, and Carmelo is here to provide a spark off the bench. He did exactly that. Let's enjoy a positive for once.
No need to be bipolar. I'm capable of enjoying positive and seeing negative. He was definitely hustling and did his best. The result was poor. I don't think we're disagreeing. Also, I didn't say 17 on 14 is terrible. I implied it's not worth fawning over. Also 25 on 17 is mathematically better than 17 on 14, so if you call it decent then you are yourself calling 17 on 14 less than decent. He provided a spark, but those shots will not fall for long periods. Same as every year, if he takes the same shots as every year. He has provided this spark for years. It's not a lot to ask to get him to do his 2nd and 3rd favorite thing over his favorite thing, if he is quantifiably better at doing it.
This is what people need to understand: even if he is 1 of 7, his defender was glued to him, which opened the game up for our superstars. Meaning: missing the 3 has benefits. Missing the mid range 2 has none. Making the 3 has more benefit than making the 2, even if you make the 3 less often. Regarding your last sentence, you have to show some proof for it. But let me save you time: you won't find it. MAKING THEM OFTEN can help, in the way Chris Paul does it. That's several tiers above Melo's ability. Making it at the rate Melo makes it is not helpful to us.
I think so far the only guy that eventually deserves to get cut is MCW, i wanted him to be succesfull here, i still do but...man, a pg that can't shoot fts, can't shoot 3s, can't setup other players, can't really stay solid on defense...is there anything he can do decently? So far he's been very disappointing, and it's not like i had great expectations...
We're disagreeing because the result wasn't "poor". Expectations for Melo are all over the place, but I'm arguing that Melo's performance last night is good if you have realistic expectations for him based on his history. You love your rhetorical strategies. Casting over-negativity as the opposite of bi-polar is clever, but it's a false dichotomy. Then, trying to build a mathematical proof around my attributes of 'decent' and 'good' to assert that 'less than Harden's decent = bad' is also entertaining, but doesn't counter the actual mathematical point that Melo was a top 3 performer in efficiency on the team last night. Many clever strategies to avoid saying that Carmelo played reasonably well and has been growing into his role on this team better than a lot of cynics expected. There's reason for optimism.
why you ignored the main and central point of my last post? adding a postup or midrange option increases variety of the offense and makes it less predictable thus making all around offense more efficient... this is the same logic as your claim that missing 3s is usefull because it makes game more open for superstars
Yes and the haters have the advantage as new players joining a new team take about a month to get acclimated and fit in. Those individuals are pinning their names to those hats. Harden was labeled a poor defender as he put most of his energy into the offensive end........so has Melo over the years. I don’t copy people like Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaq, Kevin Garnett who chirp that negativity about a player and then it is picked up with by the national reporters as the gospel. Stephen A Smith, Skip Bayless, Kellerman and other lazy shock jocks take it and run with it. They also wished CP3 with the Rockets would not work.....but they were wrong. Transition defense will never be good for Melo......younger teammates have to pick up the slack. Restricted Area defense FG% was above 80% last week.......now it is 70% for Melo.....which means he has been in the 60’s-% for the last 3 or 4 games. An improvement. Last year with the Thunder Melo was 64.4% in RA for the year. Draymond was 62% in RA last year. Melo could use some help just like Tucker and CP3 need help in the paint......while Draymond freelances a lot which takes him out of position quite often. Defense is hard to quantify. But Melo probably will get better. This is where the flunkies say his D can’t get worse. Haters gonna hate.
I already said he played reasonably well, and I've said earlier in the thread I'm optimistic about his future here if he sticks to the plan. How you can characterize that as over negative is beyond me. I'm not here for the philosophical discussions. Whether he was top 3 in efficiency or not, your own description had him at less than decent or decent at best. Is a decent showing against a piss-poor team worth fawning over? Who cares about 3rd best efficiency while being one of the worst defender on the court at all times against the Bulls? Relative to your expectations, his performance was good. Relative to my expectations, his performance was good too and he has been good given there's time for him to continue adjusting. I'm saying: he is not going to make those shots against contenders. And when it happens, people who are fawning over him for this will blame someone other than Melo. This is a tried and tested process. If he takes the same shots, we will get the same results. I guess we do disagree that the result of his high defensive effort was poor. I watched him close out and switch poorly consistently, despite his best efforts. His effort is what gives me optimism.
Melo is Ryno's replacement. He's an upgrade in production and he's cheaper. Remember that the next time you question the move to pick him up. Quit comparing him to Ariza and Luc. Compare him to last year's Ryno.
I addressed it in the end of my post. It's a mythical statement. You need to provide some proof for that. Being a threat from the 3 even if you've missed a bunch in one game opens the game up, this is a well-defined strategy employed by all teams now and our own GM/coach are among its chief architects. Here's a good place to start: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/11744634/explaining-gravity-basketball
Let's hope Melo is finding his groove in our system. He's made some shots past couple of games and he's showing effort supposedly.
lol its not a myth just a common sense... and basketball iq and not only basketball related... its how life works...you need variety in everything.. you cant thrive eating only one kind of food no matter how good it is...
I just dont get the hate some folks have for a minimum contract.... just crazy.... Ryan Anderson tying up 20M/yr in salary while putting forth little to no effort - I understand.... If you think his game so dreadful - blame the coach for playing him....
We got him for minimum but he isn't just a minimum player. Atlanta must be still paying him not playing for them. Real minimum players worry about their existence. Surely, how fans feel about a player should not just depend on his salary.
I don't think calling someone "bipolar" because you disagree with their opinion is an okay thing to do, friend. I'd also venture to say you know very little about the illness based on your use of the term. Educate yourself.
