Why I Don't Want Carmelo Anthony

Because it takes an even handed approach at assessing the pros and cons of Carmelo’s game…and mostly comes away realizing that:

• he’s a great player
• the best player’s, coaches, and GM’s in the world recognize how great he is; and
• his contributions to team wins require an appreciation of contributions beyond his box score stats (like shooting efficiency).

Here are some key points you evidently missed (mostly quoted verbatim from the article):

1) He’s the best scoring small forward in the world

He’s the best pure scoring small forward in the world," says [NBA coach] Thorpe. “By pure scorer, I mean, if you just have one possession, he’s the toughest matchup for a defender. He can shoot a 3. He can pull up. He can dribble drive. The triple threat game is very sophisticated. He’s dynamite once he gets in the lane. And unlike LeBron James or Kevin Durant, Carmelo has a mature and reliable post game. LeBron is a better all-around player, but Anthony’s the better bucket getter.”

2) His teammates are better because of him

Nate Silver published a quick analysis of Anthony on The New York Times site that pointed out that while Anthony might not pass the ball to his teammates all that much — his assists are few and far between — he is evidently still helping them score….this makes some sense. There are a limited number of ways to get an NBA defense seriously discombobulated. One of them is to draw a double teams, [another is to make defenders account for you, and focus less on guarding their man, other players, passing lanes, etc.]

Anthony can help his teammates score even when he’s on the bench, by drawing the fouls that not only earn his team points, but also help the Nuggets get in the bonus. The Nuggets are very near the top of the league in time spent in the bonus this season.

Think Wilson Chander and Landry Fields look this good with last year’s cast of Knicks around them? Oh, and if you look at player stat’s on the Heat this year, almost all of the role players on that squad are having career years for "statistical efficiency."

3) The most powerful stat geek in the NBA loves Melo

[Rocket’s GM (and MIT alum)] Darryl Morey has repeatedly spoken about how elite scorers are necessary to win titles. It’s also worth noting that Morey has reportedly been dogged in his pursuit of Anthony. If true, it’s a powerful message that at the highest levels of statistical analysis, Anthony can indeed be seen as worth a maximum contract.

4) The best basketball players in the world love Melo

NBA players know basketball as well as anyone, and it’s hard to find players calling Anthony anything other than an elite force.

Players revere Anthony’s skills. Anthony has credibility with top free agents.

5) His defense has shown consistent improvement and seems highly underrated

On defense, he’s gone from 5.2 points worse per 100 possessions four years ago to close to neutral to, now, making the team 5.4 points per 100 possessions better on defense.

People’s criticism of Melo’s D seems very similar to everyone saying how Amar’e plays "horrible defense." Yet this year the Knick’s are giving up fewer points per possession than last year, while the Sun’s are giving up more. On offense the reverse is true…but everyone expected that.

6) Melo has quietly become literally the best rebounding small forward in the NBA

7) Melo is both a champion and a GREAT player

He’s already won a championship for NY in his only year at ‘Cuse…and brought the Nuggets from a 17 win team the year before he arrived to a playoff team every year since.

The ESPN article summarizes it well:

it’s clear that anyone who can [do what Melo does] must have both a massive capacity for work, and a certain brilliance in making exceptionally quick reads and decisions. Anthony’s career has demonstrated time and again that he has all of that, which can be deployed in many aspects of basketball: scoring over double-teams, drawing fouls, winning rebounding battles and more.

Now, as you sometimes hear Amar’e say right after a monster block (and right before getting a Technical ☹)

Get that weak shit outta here!

Who knows if MDA is even going to play those picks. His control freak ass.

The draft is extremely weak with the new CBA looming. I know that 3 picks in one draft sounds good, but we probably wouldn’t get a single starter from the draft.

Second, you don’t know what it’d take to get Melo. He might resign in Denver, they are playing well. Or, the Nets might get fed up with Uriji’s back and forth and decide to back out of the sweepstakes (highly unlikely, but still possible). What then? If Melo tells Denver he won’t extend anywhere BUT NY, then I doubt we trade Gallo, Fields, Chandler and 3 1st round picks to get him. I doubt it’d take that now.

But here’s the ultimate question. Would you want Melo if he was a FA, and would come with a max deal? I personally love him, and I think he would add a whole new dimension to our offense, making us a top 4 team if Donnie plugs some holes next offseason (which he will have the money to do despite the deal, trust me). Because if Melo comes, it makes Chandler and Gallo expendable (we wouldn’t resign Chandler, and Gallo would be relegated to the bench. He’d be nice to have on the bench, but it’d be as a back-up for Melo). Sprinkle a couple extra pieces and you have the deal that many of you are reluctant to do.

See here’s my thinking. We are waay too reliant on Amar’e. Picture a scenario where Amar’e is out for a longer period of time. How would we look then? We’d be marginally better then we were last season. Every top team in the NBA would be able to survive a couple of weeks without their star (maybe the Heat are the exception to the rule). Garnett goes down? Boston is worse, but still fine. Kobe misses time? The Lakers would be easier to beat, but they’d still be a good team. That’s my argument for getting Melo.

moose: you will now herein be referred to as “Nostradamooose.”

fumblesnout: leave as is!

i love this place.

We don’t know what will happen or what it will take but things are looking better for Knicks if that is where Melo wanna go. I don’t think it will take too much and there are many options. Melo could play the season in Denver or elsewhere and then come to NY or the Nuggets can trade him now to the Knicks for whatever is offered and it would be solid. We do need Melo but we also need a big and some bench scoring unless TD gets healthy again and steps up or others become more consistent. And I agree totally with Moose on what he said. We can’t rely on one player. Gallo is not consistent and Chandler is having slump also. We need rebounding and Melo is underrated as a rebounder because he grabs over 8 boards per game as a sf.

I would love to see someone like Marcus Camby, Tyson Chandler or even a Brandon Haywood, who is from NY anyway. It has to be a big that can play fast type of ball like the Knicks play and the above would work fine. This would allow Stat to be a pf again and having a Melo and others will be great. I don’t think we would have to give up Chandler, Gallo, Fields, Curry’s contract, 2 draft picks etc to get Melo but I honestly would give up Gallo or Chandler in a package unless we could get him this summer as a fa. We’ll see what happens but we can’t just stick with this team. If we did get Melo in fa, Chandler could be our best bench player along with a healthy TD Shawne, etc. Then if we get a center, Turiaf would be a solid backup for us and he could play both pf and center just like Chandler can play sf/pf. Gallo is a different story though because he can heat up at times but then is very inconsistent a lot of times. They can’t just stand around and watch Amare do everything. They gotta move around, get involved etc.