For some strange reason I feel like Harden is going to lead this team in scoring, but we've got a Big Ole' Fab Five now so the battle for who is second in scoring is on like Donkey Kong. Candidates: 1) Melo - 16.2 ppg last year but 24.1 ppg for his career, likely starting PF and coming off a career low in shot attempts. Will the distributors deem this future HOF'r worthy of more attempts out on the perimeter? 2) CP3 - 18.6 ppg last year, 18.7 for the career. This number is unlikely to change very much, but can anyone from the big 5 surpass him? Maybe. Or maybe it'll be like non. 3) EGo - 18.0 ppg last year, 16.7 for his career. Is EGo going to have a resurgence in his game in year 3 under MDmA and go back to his early dominant years where he could put up 20 ppg on the reg? Let time tell us. 4) Cap - 13.9 ppg last year, 10.6 ppg for his career. This 5th year player being part of a Big 5 might be left open more often this year. Perhaps the league will be frightened of leaving Harden, CP, EGo and Me7o open and he'll be the poison they pick? Maybe he'll score 22 ppg when his adversaries underestimate him. Who will it be when we roll out this roster against the Washington Generals night after night? Who will pull the Os Trigger most often? Who will be the one that believes they're Clutch? Who will be that Bima Thug on the court that decides to make it happen? Who will be the top of the top five? Tha Dude.. the BigDog63 of the bunch? Who will DonKnock down the shots for us? Will Melo DayWalk all over teams or just be Another Brother on the CourtofDreams?
The Big Ole Fab Five averaged 97.1 ppg last year and our team averaged 112.4 ppg. That leaves 15.3 ppg for Gerald Green, Ryno, Nene, PJ Tucker, MCW and Ennis to split. Perhaps they'll just have to raise the averages. (Or perhaps I'm missing something about how averages actually work in relation to one another.)
i think ego will benefit most from melo's additional scoring output. too often the past couple seasons ego had to carry a load that simply wore him out -- playing PG, defending the other team's best guard on the floor when CP3 sat or was injured, and carrying the scoring load when harden sat. now his legs will be fresher and he won't go into those long shooting slumps, or at least not as often
This is such a good problem to have. I am hoping it changes on a nightly basis according to the other team’s weaknesses. I also hope Green, Anderson and Melton are in the mix sometimes as well.
Awesome post, Don. Well done. Made me smile. Wondering if there might ought to be one more option, though. We'll see how that pans out.. For now, it's a tough call...really tough. On one hand, I see Chris being more of a facilitator considering what the final composition might very well look like. But, he's also our leader, and is done deferring as much...ready to take over more often..and when needed. If for some reason we don't add another "name", which I believe we will, I see him being the guy. Melo is going to put up #'s, but not just scoring..... EG should be more efficient, but I don't think he's #2 in scoring. Now, I expect CC to be an animal out there...Points and rebounds galore...But, are his point totals going to be enough. hmmm.. Again, for now, I give the nod to CP3, but that is subject to change.
That guy needs to be fired ... dressing up like 007 and he can't serve a glass of wine how it's supposed to be. Keep your hand at the bottom of your bottle, dude! If Melo asks which wine it is, you can't even show him the ticket of the bottle.
I'm gonna go with CP3 with Gordon at 3 and Melo at 4. But if Melo is #2, then that means he's making shots. I'll take that any day of the week.
Well said pdg, I haven't thought about that angle. I've gotta love this site for all the insight I missed myself. ...Usually it's volume of the stuff. Isn't the MVP the obvious 5th? Then there's that first sentence that gives a strong clue just in case it wasn't obvious. I can't wait to see what Melo does to our already superior team rebounding. I know it's not sexy, but rebounding IS dominant (if you can make buggetz).
