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Carmelo Anthony is wildly overrated. If he wasn’t a part of the same draft class as LeBron & D-Wade , he’d be viewed on a level similar to Joe Johnson. He had no business making the top 75. His inclusion was pure politics. Dwight Howard is/was levels above Melo. Tracy McGrady, as well. Melo wasn’t GREAT at anything! Not even scoring. Wasn’t efficient. Couldn’t get his within the flow of an offense. And never once did he average 30. IMO, Gilbert Arenas was a better scorer (peak for peak). Nothing about his NBA career was memorable. No chips, no MVPs, no All-NBA first teams. He did nothing special in Denver or New York. Chauncey Billups was the best and most important player on that WCF team. And Linsanity was the most memorable thing to happen during his tenure with the Knicks. The fact Melo couldn’t take his game to the next level , under an offensive friendly coach like D’Antoni, says a lot. Amare pre-Melo > Melo at any point post-trade. I’ve said for well over a decade that Deron Williams was the move to make at the time. A tandem of D-Will + Amare (under MDA) would’ve generated way more success and overall entertainment for Knicks fans. There are probably over 100 players in league history that peaked higher than Melo. And 25 currently playing, who are already better than he’s ever been. Jalen Brunson being one of them. Call me a hater or whatever, but dude just wasn’t like that. He wasn’t a scrub by any means. He just doesn’t deserve this superstar “All-Time Great Scorer” reputation. He was a zero impact player. His ties to Bron, Wade, and CP3 are what keeps him relevant. If he wasn’t for the ‘culture’ if he wasn’t apart of the ‘brotherhood’ he would simply be forgotten.

I was a huge critic of Carmelo when he was playing. I even called into the WFAN and said he would be best in a 6th man role off the bench as an individual scorer and got told by Craig Carton I clearly "knew nothing about basketball"


All that said. I don't think we need to throw shade at him anymore. It's over and he honestly has about the reputation he deserves as I bet it shows in the responses here.

I used to think Corey Maggette was good as well. I was young and stupid.

Carmelo never played on a super team, so it’s not fair to judge his accomplishments to the other stars he was drafted with

I’ll say he was a great basketball politician. He held NY Knicks hostage for a time until he outlived his usefulness.

Fadeaway_Jumper wrote:Carmelo never played on a super team, so it’s not fair to judge his accomplishments to the other stars he was drafted with

i respect him goin for it as the man in an era where guys around him were giving up and admitting they didn’t have what it took

Fadeaway_Jumper wrote:Carmelo never played on a super team, so it’s not fair to judge his accomplishments to the other stars he was drafted with

For real. Look at the players LeBron and Wade played with, then look at Carmelo. It's not even close.

Melo had plenty of flaws, and he was never my favorite player, but it's hard to make a comparison and look at success when they were awarded completely different rosters.

LeBron:
Wade, Kyrie, AD, Bosh, Love, were all All-Star/All-NBA level guys in their primes.
Also played with Shaq, Ray Allen, Jamison, Ilgauskus, Westbrook, Rose, Mo. Williams, Thomas, Hughes, Battier, Miller, Boozer, Kuzma, Ingram, KCP.

Melo: Iverson, Billups and Tyson Chandler are the only guys he played with when they were All-Star level players in their primes.
Also played with JR Smith, Amare Stoudemire, Kenyon Martin, Andre Miller, Porzingis, Nene, Felton

It's comical how close it is.

Scalabrine wrote:

Fadeaway_Jumper wrote:Carmelo never played on a super team, so it’s not fair to judge his accomplishments to the other stars he was drafted with

For real. Look at the players LeBron and Wade played with, then look at Carmelo. It's not even close.

Melo had plenty of flaws, and he was never my favorite player, but it's hard to make a comparison and look at success when they were awarded completely different rosters.

Y’all both know LeBron and Wade were both more individually better and more accomplished in terms of team success than Melo way before they ever teamed up. LeBron made the finals and was statistically a better player than Melo ever was by the time he was 22.

You don’t have to look at the trophy case to see they were tiers ahead of him. This isn’t a case of similar players and the difference being the roster… and it’s not a difficult comparison at all. It’s super easy.

He is three times Olympic Champion, so I think his spot as a top 75 NBA player is accurate.

Stop. He was way better than Joe Johnson. That's going too far.

SpreeChokeJob wrote:I’ll say he was a great basketball politician. He held NY Knicks hostage for a time until he outlived his usefulness.

Guy was smack dead in his prime and missed the playoffs 4 consecutive seasons in New York … Doesn’t get enough backlash for this.

The casuals rate him higher than he should be. The fans that know rate him about right. He was sort of the star version of JAG

txusto wrote:He is three times Olympic Champion, so I think is spot as a top 75 NBA player is accurate.

We judging NBA honors off success outside the NBA? If that’s the case Manu should’ve been a lock.

The Melo slander has been high as of late.

Melo>Reggie Miller

Nice jab step but overall not worth what he was paid.

Optms wrote:Stop. He was way better than Joe Johnson. That's going too far.

He was better at jacking up shots , not being clutch and making plays for teammates

Getting Deron to pair with Amare probably would’ve been the best move thing to do. Amare missing half the season and Deron going from all star to mediocre would’ve really helped our draft position. More top 5 picks sooner for sure.

JustBuzzin wrote:The Melo slander has been high as of late.

Melo>Reggie Miller

I actually agree. Reggie was the biggest atrocity on the 75 list. His legacy is greater than Melo’s tho.

NYKnickerbocker wrote:Getting Deron to pair with Amare probably would’ve been the best move thing to do. Amare missing half the season and Deron going from all star to mediocre would’ve really helped our draft position. More top 5 picks sooner for sure.

Y’all literally missed the playoffs Melo’s last 4 seasons with the team. And Dude wasn’t even injured LOL. Maybe y’all were just destined to be lottery bound.

uncleduck13 wrote:

Optms wrote:Stop. He was way better than Joe Johnson. That's going too far.

He was better at jacking up shots , not being clutch and making plays for teammates

Jacking up shots and making more shots. You think if Joe (or any player for that matter) was jacking up more shots = maintaining the same efficiency? It doesn't work that way.

Melo was a legit franchise player, even if he could only take the Nuggets to the WCF, and nothing else. He did that in a loaded West btw. No NBA team was building around Joe, not then and not presently.