You can find data on open shot % by player. Here is Carmelo last year: https://stats.nba.com/players/shots... Season&CloseDefDistRange=6+ Feet - Wide Open Not suprisingly he shot 42% on wide open threes. He shot 31% on threes where the closest defender was 4-6 feet from him, this was just barely his highest frequency of three pointers. It's not a good percentage. But it's a relatively small sample size. He shot 36% on tight threes. He shot 25% on VERY tight threes, though thankfully didn't attempt many of those. Of particular note... Trevor Ariza ALSO shot 42% on wide open threes. He shot 35% on those with defenders 4-6 feet. He shot 27% on tight threes. And 0% on VERY tight threes with almost none of those attempted. In short, Ariza shot what Melo shot from three, or better. There's still the question of if Ariza just got the ball with better timing or more "in his pocket" or whatever than Melo, and the frequency of each type of shot. Certainly all else being equal one would expect (and the numbers bear this out as Ariza did indeed get more of those open/wide open shots as a % of the total threes he took) Melo to get more of those wide open shots than he did last year. But considering all else isn't equal, that's still up in the air, too. Because on this Rockets team, Melo's role is "probably" off the bench. And perhaps certainly to be more of a creator than Ariza was. So he won't exactly be getting those same frequency of open threes as Ariza did. Anyway... there's data for all of this. The only question AGAIN is can Melo TRULY change his mentality.
Carmelo Is a HOF player, not a role player. The offense and Point gods will put him in better positions to be successful. Even though Melo is a scorer and not a shooter, he still has one of sweetest jump shots in history. He’s going to get loose in this offense. I also do not believe the defense will take as big of a dip as people think. The thunder were one of the top defensive teams in the league with Melo starting before Roberson’s injury.
he's a role player at this point in time. what hes done before doesnt change who he is today and makes no difference on what he can bring to this team right now. you can believe whatever you want. these things have already been discussed in take your own pick in whatever melo thread you want
Life isn't all about stats. Players look at Melo differently than Ariza. No matter what they shoot from the field.
Not from three. Ariza in fact was probably viewed as the player you'd more likely NOT want to leave for three. I think players, much more so than fans, play defense with a combination of video review, stats, coaching, and what they know from being on the court. Especially good defensive players. They're not out there defending just what they see as the name on the back of the jersey. That's a fan thing. I promise you teams will be VERY happy to have Melo out there taking up offensive possessions in the mid range... cause that IS about stats. The same stats that got the Rockets SUPER CLOSE to taking down as dominant an NBA team as there's ever been in the modern era despite being at a severe talent disparity.
So your argument is a player will play Melo the same as they play Ariza? You think during the game they look out and see 36% 3 point shooter? Or do they see Carmelo Anthony?
Um, they absolutely see the % as much as they see the name on the back of the jersey. They're not playing a % or a name. They're playing a scouting report, %s, tapes, a defensive scheme, etc. You don't think defenders know what offensive players are good or bad at? That's insane. These are professional players earning millions of dollars a year, supported by a multitude of coaches, tape departments, scouts, etc. They're not going out there going "oh, that's Carmelo and he's a great scorer so I better stick on him like glue!!" That'd be crazy. I mean based on your position here I'm guessing you surely think Melo is a better player than say Kyle Korver. And you are therefor implying that a defender is going to be more attached to Melo because of his "gravity" as a historical offense player, then they would Korver, when it comes to a guy on the other side of the court ready for an open three. Which, again, is crazy. The Rockets aren't going to have a more open offense spacing because of Melo... UNLESS he becomes a better 3 point shooter than whomever he was replacing (which he wasn't last year and hasn't really been most of his career). As I've said many times, the main thing here will be about Melo's mentality. Can he come off the bench? If he can with the right attitude that's a potential real advantage for much of the season (against GSW in the playoffs... tbd). Can he accept even fewer shot attempts per possession? Will he dig in defensively? Will he MOVE THE BALL or make quick catch and shoot, or drive and create decisions? Or will he get sucked into the ISO action that Harden and CP3 do and CAN DO because they do it so efficiently? These are all the things that will matter to Melo being a positive impact on this team...
Are you now comparing Korver to Ariza? Because Korver isn't on the Rockets. Yes Korver has great gravity on the offensive end.
He's a role player that can still have superstar performances on any given nite. Let's not under well Melo
his ceiling is probably higher than your typical role player as far as offensively. still doesn't really change what i said.
I'm comparing one player to another player. Gravity of one player to another is entirely dependent on that players strengths and weaknesses. Nobody gets credit for what they used to do... especially as a season wears on.
I disagree. They will close out differently on each player. With Melo, there is a threat of him driving past you if you just run at him. There was no threat of that with Ariza. And these metrics don't account for Ariza receiving a perfect pass while Melo has to reach over his head to get a bad one, etc.
This is why you are the classic example of X-only-fan. You don't care about the team. You just root for one single player. We Clutchfans know this kind of posters in our history. It's not going to look pretty. This is a Rockets forum. We support the Houston Rockets. Different people like different players more. But we all love the team first and foremost. It's a shame you don't support the Rockets at all already.
I said it elsewhere. People keep talking about the 0-27 shooting in Game 7 as if those guys ALWAYS shoot like that in every game and Melo would have hit a few if he was there. This is crappy logic. You have to look at the larger percentage of accuracy, not just one game.
I really don't look at the 0-27 as much as the team needing one more playmaker in Game 6 or 7. Melo definitely would have helped alleviate pressure from Harden and Ego.
Meh not sure what the point of all of this is. Anthony is a better offensive player than Ariza. Ariza is a better defensive player. They aren't really replacing each other.
Really??? So you're telling you can't dump the ball off to Melo and have him facilitate mid range/block?
thats your idea of playmaker? wow. JJ does the same exact thing when they dump the ball off to him. that some great play-making. come on now
