Melo is still washed

[Roy The Natural]

Melo was awesome tonight. Not only with his threes and midrange, but with his passing. He really trusts his teammates and Gary Trent Jr looked good because of it.

Melo was AWFUL, capital A, AWWWWWWWFFFFFFFULLLLLLLLLLLLLL for 3 quarters. He came through in the 4th. But you're not being honest here. His defense was abysmal. He was effective in the 4th and did contribute to the win. But he was a far cry from "awesome."

He didn't get off to a great start shooting wise but he got it going well before the 4th quarter. And he was leading the team in +/- for most of the evening.

Single game +/- is less than useless. I like Melo, I thought he was "okay" tonight. But honestly, his defense was abysmal, and he wasn't providing any positive value until the 4th quarter.

[BigtimeNBAfan]

Melo made some big plays tonight. I actually agree he shouldnt be a starter, but the level of hate for him is just unreal. The worse you can say about the man is being compared to LeBron early in his career made him overrated later in his career. Yeah he isn't on the kobe LeBron level but he always has been a goodbteammate and handled himself with class.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Melo was awesome tonight. Not only with his threes and midrange, but with his passing. He really trusts his teammates and Gary Trent Jr looked good because of it.

Yeah I like that pass to trent in the corner for an open three. Seemed particularly unselfish for Melo. Occasionally he can whip out some somewhat crazy pass that really sets someone up for a nice open shot.

I feel like every 2 point shot he hit tonight was a jabstep into a contested two...or some kind of fake from outside into a few steps into a pretty contested two. Not good for the ole' TS% with the kids and the analytics and the shebapboopbapadee.

RIP KOBE.

[Nutty Nats Fan]

Time for a bump. Melo is 19/64 from the field and 5/18 from 3 over his last 5 games. Negative BPM, negative VORP, and negative RPM. 12.4 PER, .03 ws/48, and 51% TS. He was shooting well from 3 for a while, but his percentage has dropped to 36%.

Wow, you really are a sick person aren't you?

Melo hasn't been playing well since Kobe's death, but sure, go ahead and bump your idiotic thread. You just seem to relish in kicking this person when he is down and grieving, huh?

The amount of Melo vitriol might not be warranted but this is a really bad faith argument in poor taste. Defend Melo with facts and logic instead of exploiting a tragedy to paint another poster as some sort of heartless villain.

The only one trying to exploit the tragedy was the OP.

If you look at Melo's season, the four games after Kobe's passing, were his worst of the season shooting wise. Even much worse than his first four games of the season. So it's very reasonable to believe he was taking the death of his friend really hard and it was affecting his game. For the OP to choose to bump the thread, with no sensitivity to that, was in very poor taste.

But I get it, some people just hate players and think they are robots with no emotions.

Glad to see he played better tonight, at least. Hopefully he's healing.

[KrisKringle]

After becoming the 6th player in NBA history to make 1 or less FGs on 15+ attempts without a single assist, Melo's advanced stats split for the season looks like this:

TS %: .500 (190th out of 203 qualifying players)
WS/48: .018 (188th out of 197)
BPM: -3.9 (189th out of 197)
VORP: -0.6 (490th out of 506)

He's being paid nothing but to me, consistent with what I believed before he was signed, I'd rather spend a roster spot on a young player who could potentially develop if I'm getting horrendous production. Melo at nearly 36 is only "developing" in the wrong direction. Most of the other players at the bottom of the stats above are young players who could one day develop as you'd expect.

[Roy The Natural]

I'm going to bump this, and eat my crow. Melo doesn't belong in the NBA. He's reverted all around to just being awful at every facet of the game. His defense is just completely unbelievably horrible. It's unconscionable how bad he is on that end. On offense, he's not playable over a full NBA season anymore. He needs VERY low minutes or multiple days off to get his legs under him. He's not really an NBA player anymore.

I'll accept my crow. Any team that has him on it next year will regret wasting the money. He's awful.

[bdp31770]

I'm going to bump this, and eat my crow. Melo doesn't belong in the NBA. He's reverted all around to just being awful at every facet of the game. His defense is just completely unbelievably horrible. It's unconscionable how bad he is on that end. On offense, he's not playable over a full NBA season anymore. He needs VERY low minutes or multiple days off to get his legs under him. He's not really an NBA player anymore.

I'll accept my crow. Any team that has him on it next year will regret wasting the money. He's awful.

I don't understand why they play him so many minutes when he's the oldest, or close to it, starting power forwards in the game. I know they don't have much depth, but with Ariza there now he can slide to the 4 when Carmelo goes out. Cut his minutes back slightly, give him some games off on some back to backs, and he'll play a little better. Still not starter worthy, but better.

[Drygon]

Since NBA resumed, Melo has averaged 16.3pts, 7reb, 1ast, 1.3stl, 0.7blk on 57.8%TS or a 45/50/80 split in 35.6mpg in 3 games inside the bubble. 7/14 from the 3pt to keep the floor spaced for the Blazers.

I never was a Melo fan, but love seeing him proving his haters wrong after what people said about him.

[Pg81]

Since NBA resumed, Melo has averaged 16.3pts, 7reb, 1ast, 1.3stl, 0.7blk on 57.8%TS or a 45/50/80 split in 35.6mpg in 3 games inside the bubble. 7/14 from the 3pt to keep the floor spaced for the Blazers.

I never was a Melo fan, but love seeing him proving his haters wrong after what people said about him.

A handful of games after such a long break means very little. Next season he will turn 37 and I sincerly doubt he will any better than he was until march this year.

[limbo]

The standards are so low for Melo atm that if he averages 16 ppg on league average efficiency in 5 games while playing 35 mpg and providing little value aside shooting, people should start apologising to him like he hasn't been consistently a bum for at least 5 seasons now...

And this season there's no difference. He's still rated as a firmly below average level in pretty much every significant metric across the board... Can he still put up +20 points on good efficiency here and there? Sure. Can he do anything consistently outside of giving you a few occasional hot games? Not really.

[leolozon]

Since NBA resumed, Melo has averaged 16.3pts, 7reb, 1ast, 1.3stl, 0.7blk on 57.8%TS or a 45/50/80 split in 35.6mpg in 3 games inside the bubble. 7/14 from the 3pt to keep the floor spaced for the Blazers.

I never was a Melo fan, but love seeing him proving his haters wrong after what people said about him.

You really needed to bump that thread for 3 games and use the word "proving"? Is that trolling?

[dacrusha]

Nobody cares about Melo, especially defences that are trying to key on stopping Lillard and Nurc.

Praising Melo after a handful of exhibition games is like praising Dion Waiters for having a couple average games with the Lakers.

[Jabroni Lames]

Nobody cares about Melo, especially defences that are trying to key on stopping Lillard and Nurc.

Praising Melo after a handful of exhibition games is like praising Dion Waiters for having a couple average games with the Lakers.

Melo (and the Blazers resurgence) is all about Nurkic, tbh. Nurk is making everybody look better. A big man who can put pressure on the rim, but is skilled enough to pass out to shooters is gold. He's a rare big man who didn't get played off the court vs. the Rockets and he's not afraid to take the open 3. Obviously a microscopic size, but the advanced stats are crazy:

WS/48: .275
ORTG: 123 (on 28% USG!)
DRTG: 103
BPM: 8.7

That's prime Shaq right there.

[Bum Adebayo]

He still can contribute positively to a team, al least in some of the games, he is just not "very good" anymore. There is no need to exaggerate and say he is still amazing or that he is not an NBA caliber player, both are false.

[PistolPeteJR]

Nobody cares about Melo, especially defences that are trying to key on stopping Lillard and Nurc.

Praising Melo after a handful of exhibition games is like praising Dion Waiters for having a couple average games with the Lakers.

Melo (and the Blazers resurgence) is all about Nurkic, tbh. Nurk is making everybody look better. A big man who can put pressure on the rim, but is skilled enough to pass out to shooters is gold. He's a rare big man who didn't get played off the court vs. the Rockets and he's not afraid to take the open 3. Obviously a microscopic size, but the advanced stats are crazy:

WS/48: .275
ORTG: 123 (on 28% USG!)
DRTG: 103
BPM: 8.7

That's prime Shaq right there.

I'm not gonna agree on "prime Shaq", but Nurk is definitely the biggest reason for the Blazers' resurgence. I said it yesterday on another thread, but the Rockets absolutely do not want to see the Blazers in the playoffs. I'm not a betting man, but if I absolutely had to put money on that series, I'm going Blazers without thinking twice.

[Drygon]

[scrabbarista]

Melo is washed, but the "Melo!" drop from The Basketball Jones Starters No Dunks never will be!

[BNM]

It's laughable to see the haters whining about a small sample size when this thread was started based on a ONE GAME sample size.

In the bubble, Skinny Melo, in 8 games, has averaged 16.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.1 spg on 45.6/46.9/85.2 splits for a TS% = .575 (league average = .565). Those are solid numbers for a 4th option on a 6-2 team.

Funny how the goal posts continue to move. Originally, it was he doesn't belong in the league, then it became he's below average, now it's he's not nearly as good as he was in his prime. Keep in mind that on any given night, there are > 200 below average players on NBA rosters. Even if Melo is one of them (Skinny Melo isn't), saying he doesn't belong in the league is pure, irrational hatred. Those other 200 below average players belong in the league and so does he.

Honestly, I'd prefer Melo be coming off the bench as the #1 scoring option on the 2nd unit, but with Ariza not available, that's not really an option. POR needs Collins' defense, but he's a non-scorer. So, they need Melo out there to take some of the pressure off Dame, and Skinny Melo has stepped nicely into that role. He's hit some big threes and come up with a key steal in the 4th quarter of all their recent games. He's been a better than average player in the bubble (he has a positive net rating and a positive +/-, to go along with his above average TS%). Yes, it's only an 8 game sample size, be if he can be declared washed after 1 game, I can declare him not washed after 8.

[Buckets22]

Melo is crushing it, as I expected. He is a walking BUCKET,I don't care about his PER, PER36 TDSP3PT or whetever stat you can conjure, he is a BUCKET, you need a bucket - you pass it to Melo Man.
Without him Portland wouldn't have been on 8th position that is for sure.

[JRoy]

Folks are making it more complicated than it needs to be; Melo is playing as much as he is because the other other options are so damn terrible (Hezonja for example, total pantload)