Carmelo Anthony: We Need The Westbrook That Doesn't Defer

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:39 pm

Russell Westbrook had 30 points, eight rebounds and 13 assists in Oklahoma City's 124-107 win over the Raptors on Wednesday. Westbrook has begun to play like his MVP self of late and has a PER of 39.1 over his last five games.

"I think the fact that Russ is just playing -- not trying to defer to anybody, to any one of us -- just playing his game and letting us play off him ... I think he's much more effective by doing that rather than deferring to myself or Paul (George)," Carmelo Anthony said. "We know what we bring to the game. We understand it. We accept it. And by that, he's able to just play his game, relax and do what he does best. We need that. We need that Russ out there. Not the one who defers to us. Let us figure it out."

Anthony has slid to a more auxiliary role.

"It takes time to get used to one another," Anthony said. "I said this early in the season: Nothing happens overnight. It takes time for everybody to figure it out. This was all new, and it's still all new, but the more time that goes by, the more we're able to figure it out. Learning each other, figure out each other's tendencies. But I think the most important thing is we're starting to accept what we bring to the game and what we bring to the team, and everybody's honoring that."

Via Royce Young/ESPN

Hoopzilla · Post #2 » by **Hoopzilla** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:21 pm

Melo is realising if he wants to be successful, he needs to defer and ride coattails. It seems like he finally understands he is not an alpha. Too bad the fans of New York had to watch him live in denial for so many years... Maybe if Melo came to that conclusion during his time in New York he could have been a good complementary piece around Porzingis, like Phil envisioned.

Greenie · Post #3 » by **Greenie** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 4:47 pm

Hoopzilla wrote:Melo is realising if he wants to be successful, he needs to defer and ride coattails. It seems like he finally understands he is not an alpha. Too bad the fans of New York had to watch him live in denial for so many years... Maybe if Melo came to that conclusion during his time in New York he could have been a good complementary piece around Porzingis, like Phil envisioned.

The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Chris3323 · Post #4 » by **Chris3323** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:52 pm

Everyone jumped on the Thunder early, forgetting they need to figure it out.

Now they are on a winning streak.

The West is gonna be tough!

Chris3323 · Post #5 » by **Chris3323** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:53 pm

Greenie wrote:
Hoopzilla wrote:Melo is realising if he wants to be successful, he needs to defer and ride coattails. It seems like he finally understands he is not an alpha. Too bad the fans of New York had to watch him live in denial for so many years... Maybe if Melo came to that conclusion during his time in New York he could have been a good complementary piece around Porzingis, like Phil envisioned.

The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Rollie · Post #6 » by **Rollie** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:53 pm

Chris3323 wrote:
Greenie wrote:
Hoopzilla wrote:Melo is realising if he wants to be successful, he needs to defer and ride coattails. It seems like he finally understands he is not an alpha. Too bad the fans of New York had to watch him live in denial for so many years... Maybe if Melo came to that conclusion during his time in New York he could have been a good complementary piece around Porzingis, like Phil envisioned.

The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Don't mind that herb. He's delusional.

Barcs · Post #7 » by **Barcs** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 7:24 pm

Um, OKC has 3 superstars. When have the Knicks ever had close to that?

Hoopzilla · Post #8 » by **Hoopzilla** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:59 pm

Chris3323 wrote:
Greenie wrote:
Hoopzilla wrote:Melo is realising if he wants to be successful, he needs to defer and ride coattails. It seems like he finally understands he is not an alpha. Too bad the fans of New York had to watch him live in denial for so many years... Maybe if Melo came to that conclusion during his time in New York he could have been a good complementary piece around Porzingis, like Phil envisioned.

The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... :lol:

Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him. You blame Melo for New York's inability to get free agents, because Melo was the reason nobody wanted to go there.

17.6 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 17.6 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches. When a player averages almost 25 ppg for his entire career and then drops to 17.6 ppg, he is deferring and riding coattails. That is a massive drop.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively. :lol:

NYKnickerbocker · Post #9 » by **NYKnickerbocker** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:08 pm

Hoopzilla wrote:
Chris3323 wrote:
Greenie wrote:The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him.

18 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 18 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively.

maybe for the first time in his career, he's on a team with not just 1, but two players clearly better than him now

the rest of this post is lol worthy

Hoopzilla · Post #10 » by **Hoopzilla** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:12 pm

NYKnickerbocker wrote:
Hoopzilla wrote:
Chris3323 wrote:Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him.

18 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 18 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively.
maybe for the first time in his career, he's on a team with not just 1, but two players clearly better than him now

the rest of this post is lol worthy

Going from 25 ppg for an entire career and then dropping to 17.6 ppg shows he is riding coattails and deferring to others whether you want to admit it or not, it is a fact. Dropping that many ppg and seeing the team finding success says a lot about his game. The less of him you see, the better your team is. The Knicks are now a prime example of that, they got better by simply letting him go.

macNcheese3 · Post #11 » by **macNcheese3** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:49 pm

We need you to actually do something besides shoot

ChokeFasncists · Post #12 » by **ChokeFasncists** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:06 pm

Hoopzilla wrote:
Chris3323 wrote:
Greenie wrote:The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him. You blame Melo for New York's inability to get free agents, because Melo was the reason nobody wanted to go there.

17.6 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 17.6 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches. When a player averages almost 25 ppg for his entire career and then drops to 17.6 ppg, he is deferring and riding coattails. That is a massive drop.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively.

Ya, look how successful MDA is now. What might have been. If only he was mature sooner.

Who knows what that group could have accomplished? One thing is for sure tho, if he hadn't done that, his reputation would be much better.

dice · Post #13 » by **dice** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:13 pm

Barcs wrote:Um, OKC has 3 superstars. When have the Knicks ever had close to that?

the definition of a superstar gets diluted by the day

dice · Post #14 » by **dice** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:14 pm

there's a westbrook that DOES defer? where was he when Durant was in town?

dice · Post #15 » by **dice** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:16 pm

Hoopzilla wrote:Melo is realising if he wants to be successful, he needs to defer and ride coattails. It seems like he finally understands he is not an alpha. Too bad the fans of New York had to watch him live in denial for so many years... Maybe if Melo came to that conclusion during his time in New York he could have been a good complementary piece around Porzingis, like Phil envisioned.

at what point did phil begin to envision that? it certainly wasn't when he drafted porzingis

he should've envisioned whether melo would be ok playing second fiddle to some euro kid. 'cause he certainly wasn't

Chris3323 · Post #16 » by **Chris3323** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:30 am

Hoopzilla wrote:
Chris3323 wrote:
Greenie wrote:The hell is this?
Too bad the Knicks never made Melo a part of a good roster for more than 1 season.

Dalembert
Smith
Melo
Shumpert
Calderon

Never forget.

Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him. You blame Melo for New York's inability to get free agents, because Melo was the reason nobody wanted to go there.

17.6 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 17.6 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches. When a player averages almost 25 ppg for his entire career and then drops to 17.6 ppg, he is deferring and riding coattails. That is a massive drop.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively.

1. The man is 33 years old. 17ppg with 2 other all-stars is good enough. this isnt LeBron witht he Heat.
2. Lin.. really? get off that horse already. He has bounced to 4 different teams since the knicks, dont blame Melo for his lack of stability and constant knee injuries.
3. you can hate on Melo all you like, but he will be in the playoffs in the west, while the Kicks may or may not.

Chris3323 · Post #17 » by **Chris3323** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:32 am

NYKnickerbocker wrote:
Hoopzilla wrote:
Chris3323 wrote:Exactly.. Melo had 1 good roster. OH and guess what, he was 3rd in MVp that year. These haters gotta stop hating. How is 18ppg "Riding coattails" ? Actually Watch basketball and stay off twitter

Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him.

18 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 18 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively.
maybe for the first time in his career, he's on a team with not just 1, but two players clearly better than him now

the rest of this post is lol worthy

It took Melo to be 33 years old for a player to be better than him on a team.

The guy can still play.
its PG who should be averaging 25ppg minimum. Trash that dude

Chris3323 · Post #18 » by **Chris3323** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:33 am

Hoopzilla wrote:
NYKnickerbocker wrote:
Hoopzilla wrote:
Listen to Melo's words, have you ever heard him say in his entire career that another player on his team needs to dominate more? It must have killed Melo to say that. Anytime any other player has shown the ability to play, Melo makes sure he gets the ball more than that guy, period. Maybe Lin would have stuck around longer and been more successful if Melo didn't sabotage him. Melo was the only one in New York that wasn't feeling "Linsanity", because it took away from his touches. Melo had no problem driving teams into the ground so he could score points, which is also a good reason why New York couldn't put together a good roster, nobody wanted to play with him... Not a single player of worth ever showed any interest in teaming up with him and that says a lot about him.

18 ppg is riding coattails when you go from being the number one option on offense your entire career to publicly admitting you are now best used as a catch and shoot player, because he is now deferring to someone else for the first time in his career. He knows he has to do this if he wants to be part of a winning team. Melo didn't come to the Thunder and make them better with his overall game, he now realises for this team to be successful, he will get fewer touches, sometimes next to none. 18 ppg is a career low for Melo, which shows he had to leave behind the player he had been his entire career, showing that he is deferring to others and hence riding their coattails and being happy with the scraps he is given in the way of touches.

You should open your eyes to the obvious and not buy into everything people say on Twitter. Watching the games would show you that Melo is riding coattails and the Thunder win more games when Melo is less involved offensively. We all know Melo has less than nothing to offer defensively.
maybe for the first time in his career, he's on a team with not just 1, but two players clearly better than him now

the rest of this post is lol worthy

Going from 25 ppg for an entire career and then dropping to 17.6 ppg shows he is riding coattails and deferring to others whether you want to admit it or not, it is a fact. Dropping that many ppg and seeing the team finding success says a lot about his game. The less of him you see, the better your team is. The Knicks are now a prime example of that, they got better by simply letting him go.

Thats like saying the Lakers got better by kobe retiring. yes, of course it does when you completely rebuild you will see sparks from your high draft picks.

lol @ referncing career numbers. He's played for well over a decade, ofcourse his numbers will dip with age

Chris3323 · Post #19 » by **Chris3323** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:41 am

Yall should enjoy the vets that still play instead of bashing them.

imDatknicksTape · Post #20 » by **imDatknicksTape** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 1:57 pm

I don't get how ppl say melo got Lin out of town. If I remember correctly, Knicks were still fighting for a playoff spot in the east WITH Lin. Melo came from injury, the offense ran through him , we won games and Melo got the Player of the month award for April for pushing knicks into the playoffs and face the heat. Meanwhile, Lin p**Sy a$$ was in street clothes and said I'm 85%!! Amare was out there playing with one hand in the playoffs against the heat.

We all know Lin was terrified because he got owned by Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers in a regular season game with the heat, so he and his agent knew if he played against the heat in the playoffs, it would decrease his Free agent value and also be embarrassed at the same time.

So please you Lin D-riders get off Melo's jock with that! I'm tired of hearing that again and again.