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Carmelo Anthony has been the most prolific scorer in the London Olympics.
Carmelo Anthony has been a man possessed in the Olympics.

He’s scoring 48.2 points per 48 minutes in the Olympics despite never averaging more than 36.3 points per 48 minutes in any of his nine NBA seasons.

Most Points per 48 Minutes
Single Season in NBA History
1961-62 Wilt Chamberlain 49.8
1962-63 Wilt Chamberlain 45.2
1986-87 Michael Jordan 44.5
1981-82 George Gervin 42.5
>>Carmelo Anthony: 48.2 in Olympics
Only one player in NBA history has averaged as many points per 48 minutes in an NBA season as Carmelo is averaging in the Olympics. That was Wilt Chamberlain (49.8) in 1961-62.

He's making over eight 3-pointers per 48 minutes. He's never made as many as two 3-pointers per 48 minutes in an NBA season. The most 3-pointers per 48 minutes in a season in NBA history is 5.3 by J.R. Smith in 2007-08.

Keep in mind the FIBA 3-point line is more than a foot and a half closer than the NBA 3-point line.

But even if Carmelo was playing without a 3-point line and every basket counted as two points, he'd still be averaging 39.9 points per 48 minutes, which would still be more than every player in the NBA last season and 13th-most all-time.

Sure, one can argue the competition in the Olympics doesn't compare to the NBA. But Carmelo is averaging nearly 13 more points per 48 minutes than any other USA player. Every other USA player is around or below their per 48 minutes average from last season.

Why has been Carmelo been so efficient offensively?

He's shooting 53 percent on jump shots, tops of any Olympian with at least 25 attempts.

During the 2011-12 NBA season, he shot 35 percent on jump shots, which ranked 32nd of 37 players with at least 400 attempts.

Guarded Catch-and-Shoot Jumpers
Carmelo Anthony Last 3 NBA Seasons
FG PCT EFF FG PCT
2011-12 47.1 61.4
2010-11 40.0 51.9
2009-10 29.1 37.2
Similarly, Carmelo has drastically improved on guarded catch-and-shoot jumpers the last couple seasons. His percentage skyrocketed from 29 in 2009-10 to 47 last season, which ranked 5th of the 134 players with at least 50 attempts. Giving extra value to 3-pointers, he had the 3rd-highest effective field-goal percentage of those same 134 players.

Maybe he's shooting so well because he's getting a ton of open shots? Not really. Only 35 percent of his catch-and-shoot jumpers have been unguarded in the Olympics. In the 2011-12 NBA season, more than half of his catch-and-shoot jumpers were unguarded. But he shot just 28 percent on those shots last season, which ranked 194th of 199 players with at least 50 attempts.

Lowest FG pct Last Season
Unguarded Catch-and-Shoot Jumpers
Anthony Tolliver 19.0
Andre Miller 24.1
Derrick Williams 25.8
Amare Stoudemire 26.5
Lamar Odom 27.0
Carmelo Anthony 27.8
>>Min. 50 FGA
Perhaps the real reason Carmelo's been so efficient offensively in the Olympics is because he's scored his points within the flow of the offense. Last season, more than a third of his plays were isolation. He’s been the most efficient isolation player in the Olympics. But only 14 percent of his plays have been isolation.

Instead, more than half of Carmelo's points have come on transition and spot-up plays. Thirty percent of his points have come from catch-and-jumpers in the Olympics, whereas only 12 percent of his points were scored that way last NBA season.

If Carmelo can find easier ways to score other than isolation, the Knicks could reap the benefits of his best NBA season yet.

In the meantime, he and his USA teammates face Spain on Sunday at 10 AM ET with a 14th gold medal in sight.

Comment on this post
Tags:New York KnicksESPN Stats & InfoNBANext Level2012 Team USA2012 London OlympicsJ. R. SmithCarmelo AnthonyWilt ChamberlainKevin Durant

GodNa7ion wrote:This also has to do with who's setting Melo up

James/Paul/Williams make things easier

If Felton can expand his game and Melo begins to trust him then we can see a more efficient, deadlier Carmelo Anthony

Felton will be key to this. This is an aspect where he can help Melo better than Lin could.

"This is what I have envisioned for you in NY"!

Of course lets be real, he is playing with an all star cast including Lebron and gets to sub in for Durant who is also having a real good time shooting. Nobody is playing big minutes and none of these teams are really posing a threat. They have one game in front of them today that might test them a bit with size.

USA can lose if the perimeter goes cold and they have to bang it in against Gasolx2 and Ibaka and they not in foul trouble.

Team USA is so talented that they can when relaxed can extend a lead quickly. In a tight game the chemistry has to be there if talent alone prevents them from pulling away under pressure.

Nalod wrote:
Im sure MDA just yells at melo during time outs and says:

"This is what I have envisioned for you in NY"!

Of course lets be real, he is playing with an all star cast including Lebron and gets to sub in for Durant who is also having a real good time shooting. Nobody is playing big minutes and none of these teams are really posing a threat. They have one game in front of them today that might test them a bit with size.

I would say that many on this forum swore that Melo couldn't be a catch and shoot player and that it was preposterous to expect him to excel in that kind of role. Funny how he's doing so well with it and still being able to post when he needs to, just what MDA was trying to get him to do. The real difference is willingness to do it. BUYING IN! There was more incentive for Melo to do well on the world stage. So it's fine to change your role for the Olympic team but not for the Knicks?

What's gonna happen this season now when he has to play in Woody's style and isn't surrounded by the same level of options and better defensive players? He's going to find himself in different scenarios and i'm hoping he will still be able to be efficient. A lot of it is up to Woody and what he has in store for this team offensively. Will he open it up and use some of the stuff he learned from MDA or close it down like he did in the late season and playoffs. I think things worked best when he mixed in some of his stuff with some of MDA's stuff.

There are many on this forum that want STAT to go to the bench so that Melo can play as a PF and with a spread floor which we saw him find a ton of success last year. Again this is a D'Antoni principle. It's what the Heat use since they don't have a post bigman. Rather they'll flash Lebron into the post with a spread floor and tons of shooting around him. Then they'll have guys make cuts for Lebron to pass to and send 3pt shooters in motion so that they can get open on the perimeter. Basically over and over again the basic principles of what MDA wanted Melo to do keep being proven to have merit. There is a reason why Coach K wants MDA to run the offense. If he was some scrub or fake no one would want him involved.

nixluva wrote:Yeah Melo is doing now with the Olympic team some of the very things he was being asked to do for the Knicks under MDA. He's drawing all this praise for doing the exact things MDA wanted him to do in the 1st place.

There are many on this forum that want STAT to go to the bench so that Melo can play as a PF and with a spread floor which we saw him find a ton of success last year. Again this is a D'Antoni principle. It's what the Heat use since they don't have a post bigman. Rather they'll flash Lebron into the post with a spread floor and tons of shooting around him. Then they'll have guys make cuts for Lebron to pass to and send 3pt shooters in motion so that they can get open on the perimeter. Basically over and over again the basic principles of what MDA wanted Melo to do keep being proven to have merit. There is a reason why Coach K wants MDA to run the offense. If he was some scrub or fake no one would want him involved.

CrushAlot wrote:

ShellTopAdidas wrote:

nixluva wrote:Yeah Melo is doing now with the Olympic team some of the very things he was being asked to do for the Knicks under MDA. He's drawing all this praise for doing the exact things MDA wanted him to do in the 1st place.

There are many on this forum that want STAT to go to the bench so that Melo can play as a PF and with a spread floor which we saw him find a ton of success last year. Again this is a D'Antoni principle. It's what the Heat use since they don't have a post bigman. Rather they'll flash Lebron into the post with a spread floor and tons of shooting around him. Then they'll have guys make cuts for Lebron to pass to and send 3pt shooters in motion so that they can get open on the perimeter. Basically over and over again the basic principles of what MDA wanted Melo to do keep being proven to have merit. There is a reason why Coach K wants MDA to run the offense. If he was some scrub or fake no one would want him involved.

+1 Dolan knows a lot more about Basketball than coach K obviously....Smh.

After almost 4 years of losing Dolan made dantoni resign?

The team was in total disarray when Dantoni got here. Him and Walsh bust their tales to building a respectable and competition team a d Dolan blew it up. I couldn't work for a boss like that, and I'm sure a lot of others couldn't either including P Jax.