Bippity10 wrote:Allanfan20 wrote:Bippity10 wrote:Killa4luv wrote:knickstorrents wrote:holfresh wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:Melo and Amare have to play hard on both ends of the court for a full season before making the top 15 club. Amare might be in the club now but Carmelo has to also shoot more efficiently and pass better.
Name 15 players better than Carmelo playing today..
Here are the players I'd rather have. There's 19.
Dirk, Tyson Chandler
Kobe, Gasol, Bynum
Westbrook, Durant
Marc Gasol
Deron Williams
Garnett, Rondo
Steve Nash
Josh Smith
Wade, LBJ
Chris Paul
Dwight Howard
Derrick Rose
Stephen Curry
OK I've gathered from this post that u r about 15 years old.
I'm surprised he didn't throw in Jerome James and Mardy Collins.
I have never been a Carmelo fan(although I warmed up to him after seeing him play with us). He's definitely not in the Kobe, Lebron, DWade, Howard class. But I still don't understand the abuse he gets. He's a damn good player, and right up there in that next tier down. In 30 games he literally carried us in about 10 of them. I'm not sure what league some of you guys are watching, but there aren't 10 guys in this league that can do that.
This knock against his offense is ridiculous. He is easily one of the top 5 offensive players in the game. You can realistically argue any one of those spots. He's not inefficient and he's not a high volume chucker. I will however concede that sometimes he does try to take over games and forgets his teammates. That's his offensive flaw.
The defensive end is another story. I still harken back to that great playoff game that he had. He's dominating the game and then somehow falls asleep on d and allows his man late in the game to sneak away for wide open dagger shots. If he wants a championship that can't happen. Guys like Dirk and Lebron adn DWade and KG and Pierce and Ray all get beat in key situations. They all get tired in key situations. They all make mistakes in key situations. They never fall asleep in key situations. Carmelo did that a few times and needs to improve in that area if we want to have any chance to win this thing. we can't have our role players kicking asse hustling at the end of games and see our Amare and Carmelo fall asleep. It's inexcusable.
All that being said, he's clearly a top player in this league. And like Amare(and pretty much anyone not named Kobe-and even he has the flaw of getting older), he has some flaws.
I haven't been a huge critic of Melos game. More so of the trade itself. However, you quickly brushed by one thing that's actually huge, IMO. He ignores his teammates A LOT and there are definitely times when he is a chucker. Maybe not always a three point chucker, but a chucker. How many times do you see the guy go coast to coast, completely ignoring his hustling teammates? It happens quite a lot. It's not one of his better attributes, and I don't care how good a scorer he is.
And his defense is way too inconsistent, as you mentioned. He gets up for LeBron, but after that, he falls asleep way too much.
I say this and I don't dislike the guy. I've mentioned how I enjoy a lot of parts of his game. However, his poor attributes are pretty glaring.
I dont' disagree with you. That is a flaw and at the championship level it's a big one. He needs to develop trust in his teammates and even though he's the star that needs to take the majority of the shots, he still needs to get his teammates involved and make sure his shots are good ones. That being said, people act like he's a 40% shooter, when his career percentage is higher then both Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen. Are they chuckers??? If your job is to score, you try to score. You will take bad shots so overall I have no issues with his shot selection and it's vastly overblown on this site. I do however have an issue with his shot selection in key moments of the game when he feels he has to take over the game(late, or when the team is struggling). This is the moment where the great players trust their teammates while also getting themselves great shots. He tends to over penetrate and force shots which of course hurts the team. How many late game charges did he commit in his 30 games here? Probably more then Ewing did in his career. He's still a great player, but this is what prevents him from being one of the best.
As for his D. I'm in 100% agreement. Lebron, DWade, Howard, Kobe they want to dominate their opponent in every way possible. They want to tear the other teams heart out. Only physical(and in Lebron's case mental) limitations prevent this. Carmelo tends to just say, well if you score on me, I'll just get you back on the other end. That fire to destroy you on the offensive end does not translate over to the defensive end. If you can lose your man and give a wide open three to the NBA's all time leading 3 point shooter in a cluth situation and then jog up court as if nothing happened then there is something wrong.
Now, the above may be harsh towards Melo, so I want to make it clear that if you take the other 10 players that are in his class, you could find just as many devastating faults. It's difficult to tear apart Wade and Kobe's game. But most of the players on that list have flaws just as glaring. Most of the glaring ones I can find, without even thinking.
Tyson Chandler-Come on
Gasol-Disappears for weeks at a time
Bynum-Can you rely on him to be healthy at anytime during the season
Westbrook-Shot selection is horrendous and can't make the one's he takes(41% for a penetrating guard???)
Marc Gasol-Come on
Deron Williams-Tough one, haven't seen him play enough to find a glaring one
Garnett-Age. Cannot carry his team anymore
Rondo-Can't shoot outside of 15 feet, free throw shooting takes him off the court at key moments
Steve Nash-No defense. Age
Josh Smith-Poor shot selection and up and down effort
Wade, LBJ-Wade, can't think of one. Lebron has shrunk in the clutch at least 3 times in huge situations in his career
Chris Paul-Tough one
Dwight Howard-No offense until this year. He himself has said that he needs to focus on the game and develop a killer instinct.
Derrick Rose-Shot selection down the stretch of big games is as questionable as Carmelo. As many dominating game winning plays he has made, he followed it up with poor shots as well.
Stephen Curry-Has he ever carried a team to a winning record as their number one player. He's at best the number 2 player on his team and has not led his team to a winning record. Let's let this guy grow and improve before we put him on any type of list.
You know what kills me about this on going discusion, when a star player shoots to much, he gets critic, when he doesn't shoot and tries and gets his mates involve, he gets it's again for not taking over...when Jordan drops 55 pts but takes 45 of 79 total fg, his unstoppable..really.
Like Jeter said, Great comes from being consistant and staying relatively healthy for your career..
Melo is very good becuase of those two aspects of his game...for every f*** up there's atleast 2 to 3 clutch plays he will make..
It seems like when a player (of super star status) is so use to coming through time and time again, the minute he doesn't in a big situation he gets killed..
For all of Patrick Ewings heroics, one of the things that sticks out amongst every thing, was his miss layup to beat indi in that playoff game..like that sht is locked into every single knick fans head..especiaaly since he nver got a ring..
It can take 1 big game, or one big shot in a big game to make a player legendary, role player or super star..but it works both ways.. love john starks..but the 2-18 in game 7 of the finals is what sticks out the most..that and his left hand dunk over grant and jordan..
As good as lbj is, his constant failure in the 4th qtr in big playoff games can not go unnoticed..If he never gets a ring he will be remembered for being a 4th qtr flop, despite his constant domiation during the regular season..
l
6/10/2011 11:37 AM