I'm actually gonna talk some ball so, you know, look out.... Got into a debate with a friend who clearly doesn't think highly of Carmelo in general but postulates that he isn't "power" enough to play the 4 spot. That he's been a 3 his whole career and besides not being a defensive stalwart he will get worked over physically guarding "power forwards". He's not a small man but certainly, he doesn't fit the prototypical power forward measurables. He's not Tim Duncan or Karl Malone. Yes, Ryan Anderson is 6'10" but the term "power forward" is so far removed from him it's almost not even worth cracking jokes about. So back and forth we go, me trying to impress upon him that this isn't the 1990s and him trying to poke holes in the idea that Carmelo can play the 4. So I say this. We're all gunning for the Warriors. Who is their power forward? Curry - Thompson - Igoudala - Durant - Green That's their killer line up right? Durant is a power forward now? Or he's the center lol...who it is? Green I'm almost positive is fairly similarly sized to Carmelo but he retorts Green is a madman, even though his big point is about size. Paul - Ariza - Harden - Capela - Carmelo (I know that's out of order position wise but it's astonishing how close they are in size) That would be our killer lineup, somewhat mixed up but able to match up physically. 5 shooters vs. 4.5 (Capela not a shooter but I don't see how their lineup would consistently keep him grounded unless just hacking) He says defense. I say "NBA, 2017" lol...but seriously, who is gonna consistently score 135 to the 134 this hypothetical Rockets team would average? He says rebounding. I say no need for rebounds when you don't miss. He says small ball doesn't work. I say the last 3 chips were awarded to small ball teams. He says Carmelo can't play the 4 if we want to win. I say neither can Ryan Anderson.
Carmelo's best two seasons in the NBA came when he was playing the 4. He's statistically an equal off-ball shooter to Anderson, a better rebounder and a more versatile defender. Unlike Anderson, Melo can also create his own shot.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/carmelo-anthony-really-is-better-on-team-usa/ Thought this was an interesting article about Carmelo's success on Team USA
If you watched him in Team USA bball, he primarily played the stretch 4. He seems to love to receive the kick outs for spot up shooting. He'll get a lot of wide open looks but putting him in screen rolls with Paul is going to prove deadly if other teams play traditional 4's against him.
when you have the option to run pick and rolls with your 4 being the primary, that's a deadly option in your offense
I imagine paul being the primary and the 4 getting schooled because Carmelo canroll to the basket or pop out and hit the jumper. OR in your case melo being the primary and the center as the screener. But the key thing is we'll have options and will be able to find the positions of weakness from the opponents and exploit those and give them different looks so that we don't become predictable. I felt the Rockets just became too predictable offensively and in a 7 game series it's easy for a team to adjust.
oh yeah definitely. point being the added versatility of having 3 guys run pick and roll is going to be a headache for defenses.
Capela is a huge key to this IMO. He has to become a legit threat against the Warriors small ball on both ends of the court. He has to provide the vertical threat that forces their defenders into the paint and become an elite and versatile defender. That will let Melo play the 4 effectively. We do not have a small ball 5 right now, so our center play has to be excellent.
honestly I like our matchups against he death lineup if we add lebron Paul/harden/ariza/melo/capela with melo guarding iggy actually gives us an interesting advanatage with capela as a lob threat But what is really intriguing to me is Paul/harden/gordon/ariza/melo That is a true small lineup. Put melo on draymond and harden on iggy. I'd be interested to see how that played
I don't have a ton of time to post his stats, but look at Melo's numbers when he played a stretch 4 for Mike Woodson for two seasons. Those were easily the most productive, efficient years of his career. Also, rebounding and defense shouldn't be a concern because Melo was actually a better rebounder last season than Anderson was (despite playing a lot of SF) and he's hardly worse on the defensive end than Ryno. PF should be Melo's permanent position moving forward, and he's going to thrive there.
Draymond is an enigma though, he knows where to stand and how to defend bigger guys and smaller guys effectively, he is pretty intelligent on and off the court. More on the court though.
A lot of Curry & Green PNRs, probably leaving Melo guarding Curry 1v1... I might put Melo on Durant and Ariza on Green in this case.
This. I don't think Capela will be able to hold up on the perimeter with Durant Iggy and Draymond dragging him out beyond the 3 point line. Our best lineup would be as said above all 3 and D capable players with playmaking still on the court from 3 out of the 5 positions. If Dwayne Wade gets bought out I would love to add him to that lineup as well... but first we gotta get Melo'd out.
