I think people are mixing up class act with good person. There is no doubt in my mind Melo is a good person off the court. He has tons of friends in the league and does a ton of good for whatever community he is in. That unfortunately doesn't mean he's a constant professional. Melo lacks a certain amount of decorum. He can be childish, confrontational, and narrow-minded. We all have that friend we love, care about deeply, but wouldn't hire for our company if he needed a job. Melo is that guy. He is capable, but I highly doubt he has embraced his decline I hate to say this, especially on a Rockets fan forum, but this is what scares me about James in his old age. Right now he's still in his prime, but when he's not will he be self aware enough to step back a little? I'm not sure.
Carmelo Anthony is the last great American ball hog http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25459090/carmelo-anthony-last-great-american-ball-hog
I think the author is being too soft on Melo in the article. The main reason behind Melo's lack of success in the league is not his inability to adapt to the evolving game, it's his unwillingness to commit himself to winning basketball - by that I mean he never allowed himself to be coached, he never committed on the defensive end either mentally or physically, he has not looked into efficiency stats to improve his offensive game, and frankly he did not care enough about team success as long as he got his. I think of Melo along the same lines of TMAC, supremely talented physically and skill-wise, but it takes much more to win in this league.
TBH I made up my mind about him in 2014 (or whatever year it was) when he could have come here or Chicago and had a chance to do some real winning, albeit share the spotlight, and he re-signed with the Knicks. That told you everything you need to know about the guy. Deep down I was hoping he'd have a Rasheed Wallace to Pistons esque effect here, but that was never going to happen.
It doesn't take any "ability" to allow yourself to be coached, and it doesn't take any "ability" to commit yourself on the defensive end. The responsibility lies squarely with Melo, but the author makes it sound like he is somehow a victim of changing circumstances. Heck, Melo didn't even have to modify his shot selection much to help his teams win more games, just put in more defensive effort and follow the game plan instead of being a constant ball-stopper. To Melo's credit, I think he has handled himself very professionally during the stint with the Rockets, but it's too little too late. Not that he cares so much about winning to lose sleep over his legacy though...
For me, it was 2010 when he demanded to be traded to the NYK when Denver was still a very good team in the West and the Knicks were a below average team in a bad Eastern Conference. I knew he wasn't about winning when he made that demand.
It's possible James Harden will be a diva when he declines, but he wasn't really brought up in the same type of limelight as Melo. Players like Lebron and Melo must view the world in such a different light that they may never have developed a normal amount of humility or self awareness. Harden, on the other hand, didn't get ANY national recognition until he came to the Rockets. Before that, he was enjoying his time in OKC being third fiddle to Russ and KD. I would say that he's more in the mold of Wade than he is Melo. Wade is aging gracefully and without drama since he came from a small program in Wisconsin and no one even knew who he was until he won a chip with Shaq. Furthermore, Harden hasn't gotten any coaches fired that didn't deserve to be canned.
Has he gotten any fired? I mean maybe McHale, but I think his later seasons have shown that was the inability to work it out with Dwight than anything. It all boils down to self awareness. Melo lacks a self awareness because of the limelight, his success in college and his hype. Harden could adopt the same issues if he doesn't appreciate his decline in the next couple of years. You make excellent points about their differences, but I don't know how self aware Harden really is. His improvement season after season does show he has some if not a lot of awareness, but I can't be certain.
He didn’t need to come off the bench. The thunder statistically had one of the top starting 5s. It was because of the bench they struggled. Their worst lineup by far was PG with the 2nd unit.....and that lineup got significant minutes. Donovan isn’t that good of a coach also.
A class act? Melo literally had a problem with Jeremy Lin getting more media attention than himself in New York during 'Linsanity' His reaction to Jeremy Lin playing great while he was out and his reaction to the media attention Jeremy Lin got for playing great whilehe was out was as classless as classless can possibly get.
Looks like his banana boat mate doesn't want him on the Lakers Ramona Shelburne @ramonashelburne Can confirm this. Bron hasn't asked Lakers to sign Melo
Interesting that all these articles this week about how great Melo is and how the league has changed. Nevermind the fact that the main reason why Melo isn't in the league anymore is because he refuses to adapt or change with the league or to his teammates. Look at CP3 and Harden. Both ISO heavy players. Both players would have been great in the ISO league in the 90's and they are still great players today(when CP3 is healthy). Both players adapted to teammates and league rule changes, guys like Melo and Dwight refuses to adapt to teammates or rule changes and still say "GIVE ME THE DAMN BALL" like this is 1990's. Lost in the ESPN article is how great Harden is. Harden an iso heavy player is still thriving in the new NBA. This year, they made a new rule change so Harden couldn't get to the line, but he adapted and is having another one of the greatest offensive season EVER. Harden TS% is only behind Curry and Durant and ahead of Lebron. Harden peak TS% is only behind one other player in the history of the NBA, Curry. WE'RE ALL WITNESSING THE GREATEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER IN THIS ERA and here we are talking about MELO and how he's being left behind
Not to make any excuses for Melo who clearly isn’t a ‘winner’ at the level of Lebron, CP3, or even Harden, but I do think we use too harsh a measure for these guys whose primary fault is taking advantage of a CBA that specifically creates market inefficiencies for these guys that clearly deserve max contracts, but still aren’t top 5-7 players. John Wall. Dame Lillard. Kemba Walker. They will all take flak for making tons of $$$ when a team with them at the top has 0 chance at winning a title. Is it their fault, or is it the fault of the CBA that says Lebron, KD, and Curry aren’t allowed to take more than 25-35% of the total salary cap? Sure, I have Melo schadenfreude as much as the next bystander. But on top of his style of play which is totally averse to a supporting role, and makes Harden look like Prime Kawhi with his bullfighter defense, there is also this extra bit of hate he garners, unfairly in my opinion, because he refused to accept below market value on his contracts in his career.
