The Truth About Carmelo Anthony

[roshan3ai]

Let me preface this by saying that I root for Melo to succeed each and every game and am a die-hard Knicks fan, regardless of how much I disagree with the moves they make. But I've noticed that it's basically taboo to say anything negative about Carmelo on this forum. It's either praise Melo, or you are a stupid, idiotic fan that should switch over to the Nets on here.

Carmelo has a fantastic skillset. He is probably a top 5 TALENT in the NBA. However, he has a ton of flaws, which is what those who criticize Melo see very clearly and those who don't criticize Melo refuse to see.

On the offensive end:

Carmelo ranks as one of the more inefficient volume scorers in the NBA. You look at the top scorers in the league, and Melo's efficiency just doesn't stack up.

Carmelo Anthony: 22.6 PPG | 52.5 TS% | 33.5% 3P% | 5.4-6.7 FTM-FTA | 3.7 OWS | 106 ORTG | 21.1 PER

Kevin Durant: 28.0 PPG | 61% TS% | 38.7% 3P% | 6.5-7.6 FTM-FTA | 8.5 OWS | 114 ORTG | 26.2 PER

LeBron James: 27.1 PPG | 60.5% TS% | 36.2% 3P% | 6.2-8.1 FTM-FTA | 10 OWS | 118 ORTG | 30.7 PER

Kevin Love: 26.0 PPG | 56.8% TS% | 37.2% 3P% | 6.90-8.4 FTM-FTA | 7.6 OWS | 117 ORTG | 25.4 PER

Russell Westbrook: 23.6 PPG | 53.8 TS% | 31.6% 3P% | 5.2-6.3 FTM-FTA | 5.5 OWS | 108 ORTG | 22.9 PER

Dirk Nowitzki: 21.6 PPG | 56.4 TS% | 36.8% 3P% | 5.1-5.7 FTM-FTA | 5.0 OWS | 110 ORTG | 21.7 PER

Chris Paul: 19.8 PPG | 58.1% TS% | 37.1% 3P% | 4.3-5.0 FTM-FTA | 10.4 OWS | 126 ORTG | 27 PER

Paul Pierce: 19.4 PPG | 56.7% TS% | 36.6% 3P% | 4.8-5.6 FTM-FTA | 3.3 OWS | 106 ORTG | 19.6 PER

Blake Griffin: 20.7 PPG | 55.7% TS% | 3.7-7.1 FTM-FTA | 6.6 OWS | 23.4 PER

Now, before you say that I chose to show these statistics in Melo's worst year in recent memory, his efficient has always been a downfall to his game.

2010-2011 Melo: 25.6 PPG | 55.7% TS% | 37.8% 3P% | 6.6-7.9 FTM-FTA | 5.4 OWS | 109 ORTG | 21.7 PER

2009-2010 Melo: 26.6 PPG | 54.8% TS% | 31.6% 3P% | 7.4-8.9 FTM-FTA | 5.6 OWS | 110 ORTG | 22.2 PER

The things that stand out to me are the OWS, ORTG, TS%, and PER. He's considerably worse than Paul, KD and LeBron when it comes to OWS, TS%, ORTG, and OWS. Even Pierce, in his one of his more inefficient seasons, surpasses Melo in terms of efficiency. Melo just doesn't take high percentage shots. I love it when he drives. He is great when he's going to the hoop. He's 3.5-6.8 per game at the rim, which is great, but he doesn't do it enough. You see that guys like KD, Love, LeBron, Rose, Westbrook, and even John Wall take more shots at the rim than Melo. He just needs to do that more instead of settle for jumpshots. From 16-23 feet, Melo takes 5.6 shots per game, but makes a putrid 1.9 of those. That's 35%, which is the worst among players who take at least 5 of those shots per game. It's just not a high percentage shot. I understand his midrange game opens up his driving game, but the chances of that shot going in aren't as high as say a 10-15 foot jumper or a drive. He needs to drive more, get his teammates involved more, and instead of settling for these long twos, he needs to take more threes, which is a much much more efficient shot than a long two.

Another problem is, that the team is not that much better with Carmelo on the floor on the offensive end. That's evident by his ORTG. Per 100 possessions, the team doesn't isn't as great as LeBron, Wade, CP3, KD, and Love are. This is even evident in his +/- numbers this year. The team is a 1 point better when he's off the court. Think about that! The squad performs a full point better when Carmelo Anthony, a supposed top 10 player, is off the floor. You never see that in superstars, or even stars. He should be making his teammates better, but he fails to do so and it's evident with these stats.

Melo goes iso 35.4 percent of the time, according to synergy. Now, he goes iso well, ranking 59th in the league, with .84 Points Per Possession on those plays. However, going iso that often just isn't team basketball. When a player goes iso that long, the offense stagnates, and there's no rhythm or flow. We saw Melo at his best last year with Billups when he was spotting up from deep and hitting threes at a crazy rate. He was unguardable when he's hitting threes, because it opens up his penetration game and he's good at finding cutters. He just needs to play in the flow of the offense more. Too often do we see our PG just dump it off to Melo while the 4 other players watch him go to work.

As for the defensive end, he's definitely improved, but he's nowhere near above average. He's still ranked 240th defensively according to synergy, giving up 0.86 Points Per Possession. His problem lies with spot up shooters. He tends to get lazy and leaves shooters too open, which is why he ranks 344th in the league defending spot-ups, giving up 1.13 PPP, and giving up a 44.4% Score rate. His isolation defense is very good, and his post up defense is fantastic. It seems like an effort issue on that end, more than anything. He has the skillset, and he's shown he can play some very good defense.

Again, this is a thread I created just to spread knowledge, not to hate on the guy. I root for him day in and day out.

[roshan3ai]

Please don't merge this. When I post these stats in threads, they go unnoticed while the stupid, baiting posts get responses.

[29$JerZ]

Great thread Rosh.
Let's see if it stays like that.

[roshan3ai]

Thanks JerZ, hopefully it does

[AIMelo=KillaDUO]

Taboo to say something bad about Carmelo?

I thought it was taboo, to say something good about him... That's why y'all rarley see me comment on threads that hafta do with him.

[NY007]

I'm not a guy who lives and dies by the numbers, specially stats that go this deep. Here's what I know, Melo is one of if not the best offensive player in the game. He's a good rebounder and his defense has improved. Most importantly of all he's the most clutch player in the game. He's what 2 game winning shots behind Kobe and Kobe basically has double the amount of shot attempts.

The truth about Melo is he's the best player we've had since Ewing and just like Ewing he constantly gets criticized. Media always twist **** and they make him to look out like a bad guy and people buy into it just like Ewing. When will you guys realize all the media hates Dolan, and he deserves it but his employees do not.

If anything it's Stat that deserves a lot of the criticism, not Melo yet Melo is always the target.

[Da Knicks]

The truth about Melo is either you love him or hate him no inbetween. Sorry for the haters Melo fixing to shut everyone up...

[roshan3ai]

What I wrote out shows why he's not one of the best offensive players in the game. He's a top offensive talent, a great rebounder for a SF, and a clutch player. But there are a good number of deficiencies in his game

[Kashmir13579]

I don't like his game, his attitude, or his contract. I halfway expect us to have a great season, and i think 'Melo will have his best season as a Knick. But i don't expect him to give us what we want. Guys like Kobe and Jordan can get away with being narcissists, because they are just that good. 'Melo isn't that good.

Regardless, we're locked into the 'Melo show for a few more years. Lets see what he can do for us.

[trout1627]

I guess if these stats prove that by certain criteria he is 10th in offensive talent in the NBA, then, ok. I'll take tenth.

[roshan3ai]

I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall. Did you guys even read the stuff I wrote? The blind love is unreal.

[AIMelo=KillaDUO]

What I wrote out shows why he's not one of the best offensive players in the game. He's a top offensive talent, a great rebounder for a SF, and a clutch player. But there are a good number of deficiencies in his game

Lol. So let me ask you this...

When you watch Carmelo play... You don't see one of the best offensive machines in the game? GTFOH.

[D-Leethal]

There is no middle ground with Melo thats for sure. I try to acknowledge both the things he does great and the things that are holding him back from being top 5 player material.

Best offensive skill set in the league, most clutch player in the league, unguardable when hes in a groove, defensive can be more of a plus than a minus, can be the best player on the floor any given night no matter who is out there, has shown he can outshine the best players in the league during the Olympics.

Takes some questionable shots, does not score as efficiently as he should, hasn't shown the ability to dominate in a team oriented game in a Knick jersey, hasn't shown he can make his teammates better, teammates have a difficult time playing alongside him, defense is only a plus when he wants it to be.

[29$JerZ]

Lol. So let me ask you this...

When you watch Carmelo play... You don't see one of the best offensive machines in the game? GTFOH.

You simply ignored what Rosh posted.

[javsvt]

Most threads are negative about Melo, so we will put it next to the rest of them.