Melo is basically the early career Allen Iverson. Prolific scoring? check Average efficiency? check Personal issues that make it hard for him to lead? check Issues about defense? check Hype? check Melo's only other plus ability is his rebounding which is above average but nothing like elite. In comparison, Iverson was among the top few players in steals. Iverson was also a considerably better passer than Melo. Sure these guys are good players, but they have the kinds of flaws that sound easy to correct but really take something like a religious conversion to fix: difficulty getting excited about defense, inherent selfishness that keeps them from sharing the ball, personality problems that keep them from being a leader. Even Hakeem said he couldn't make the leap until he became devout about Islam. Anyway, the most realistic scenario for Melo is that he'll help a team about as much as Iverson did. Philly had a couple of good seasons when they designed their team completely around him, and when Larry Brown pulled some psychiatric interventions on him. But Iverson freaked out and they quickly plummeted. Then when he went to Denver, Denver really didn't improve at all.
In the 2009-10 playoffs, he was in the top 4 for efficiency out of 199 players, which ranks him at the 98th percentile. His efficiency was higher than the 2010 champs, Gasol and Kobe. It is deceiving to say that the 4th most efficient player in the playoffs has only average efficiency. http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/Efficiency.jsp
Just imagine a starting lineup of.... Kyle Lowry Kevin Martin Carmelo Anthony Luis Scola Yao Ming Seriously? GET THAT ISH DONE!!!
The list is growing short, folks, and the Rockets are running out of elite players to chase after. Carmelo and Yao makes us a top four team in the West. Get er done Morey!
people should be getting excited DD were rockets fans right? adding mello instantly makes us a top 5 team in the nba, and if we could some how obtain him without losing brooks or martin then i believe with a healthy Yao were just as likely to be holding up the trophy in june as the lakers and heat are. you might not like mello as a person but the fact is hes taking the nuggets further in the playoffs then brooks, martin, yao, and are favorite shemac has. were a very good team as is and if the cards were right we could maybe make a deep run with the current players we have which is better than 25 other teams so imagine how much better we would be if we added mello to the core? my answer is not just contender but overall favorites to win it all.
He only played 6 games, you got on me for doing the rebound per 48 minutes, rightfully so when it included people who barely played. Six games is not a great indicator, because he might have had a favorable matchup in those 6 games..... And to cherry pick just THIS last year's playoffs, a more apt deal would be to look at his entire playoff career etc, don't you agree? We are already top 3......why go down one? DD
carmelo had enough heart to lead his team to a ncaa champ, maybe he just needs the right team around him? i'd buy it.
I didn't see career playoff efficiency. I was also trying to compare him to the average player. Here is his profile. Do you? http://www.nba.com/playerfile/carmelo_anthony/career_stats.html He could have a had a favorable matchup, but there aren't that many playoff games for samples to begin with. You might have only 15 games, if team advances to the 3rd round. We will have to use the regular season for a large sample size. The regular season efficiency rankings shows that he is the 3rd most efficient SF in the league, behind Lebron and Durant. He is in good company at the 14th spot sandwiched between Duncan and Kobe. It seems that the meaning of average is different on clutchfans. Carmelo is knocked for being average, while his efficiency surpasses 428 players, and is only beat by 13 others.
Melo is a leader on that Denver team, he is young so he isn't a full leader yet, but I feel like he changed a lot since Billups joined them, he is learning how to lead and work hard. About your max money point: Has Yao won a title on his own, Yao isn't even the leader on this team IMO Battier does a lot of the vocal leadership. Nah lets make this a lot easier cuz Yao has excuses (injuries): Kobe, Lebron, Jordan have any of these guys done it alone? These Denver teams outside of Billups were super freaking average. Kobe needed help, Lebron hasn't won 1, Jordan needed Pippen. Would you not take these players either? Your points make no sense.
This is part of the reason why if the Rockets had a choice between trading for Carmelo or Iguodala, I'd prefer Iggy, especially if getting Anthony meant losing more of our core. I like Iggy's defense, the fact that he's a team player, the kind of player who makes others better, and I think he would just fit in with the Rockets' culture better. But I know I'm in the minority on this, and that Iguodala's probably not going to be available anyway.
Dude, how is DD going to keep arguing when you pull out facts that completely destroy his argument? Well, I guess he's DD, so he'll just ignore them and continue beating a dead horse. Dakota, it's unfortunate you have such a twisted view of nba talent. Half the time I actually agree with you. I too think Brooks is special. And I too have always thought magettes efficiency was under appreciated. But then u take it a step further, putting Brooks on a pedestal that would prevent trading him for a truly elite player like Melo or suggesting the rockets pick up magettes despite the ridiculous contract or complaining about Melos efficiency. Dude, your a tech guy. Looking up these basic stats and even the more useful advanced stats is a piece of cake. Melo is perfectly fine in efficiency. And a hel of a lot better player than Brooks, who also doesn't play d, and couldn't even if he tried. Oh, and this squad is not a championship contender, 3rd seed or otherwise.
Perfectly stated. DD you have good points at times, but your bias opinions that you try to skew as facts are just ridiculous. To honestly think that adding a player of Carmelo's ability could possibly make us a lesser team is just idiotic. Melo is probably the 2nd or 3rd most talented offensive player in the game, behind Kobe, and pretty even with Durant. Every time there is stats that disprove what you say, u just try n skew them or make up a stupid excuse. you are not counting melo's playoff stats bc of a potential favorable match up or just bc he only played 6 games??? thats stupid... ok how bout we take away everytime Kobe has a favorable match up, and dont count those stats....hmm... looks like thats every game except when he plays against Battier...... just deal with the Facts. Melo is a superstar in this league. Just because he hasnt won a title doesnt mean this isnt true. Lebron hasnt won a title yet, with ur logic hes not a superstar. Melo is a top 3 offensive player, probably top 5 player in the league. You also have to remember that Carmello was brought into the league with only one year of college, and then had Kenyon martin, jr smith, and Allen Iverson as his buddies... not the best crowd for a budding nba player. Who knows what his attitude will be like when he comes to clutch city and has players like Battier, Scola, Yao, and Hayes to talk to.
