RealGM

who's the better player?

Mitch Richmond is one of my favorite players ever. I'm one of those people who say he's underrated and totally deserving of his HOF induction. Mitch was a SG that could really do it all:

-outside shooting
-create his own shot
-handle the PG when needed
-solid defense
-size and strength (hence the nickname, "the Rock")

Michael Jordan praised his overall game and he rarely compliments other guards that played against him:

"Mitch is certainly one of the best players in this game. I've always admired his game, and he's always gonna be a challenge, no matter how you look at it, and I respect that."

He was like the Karl Malone of SGs as he was very consistent and very strong. Today, I'd compare him to someone like Desmond Bane. Mitch was unfortunately stuck on a bad Kings team for most of his career. If he switched places with Drexler or Reggie Miller, he'd be much more praised today.

That being said...if this was a vacuum and I had to look at them objectively, I'd rate Carmelo Anthony higher on the ATG list. Carmelo was a generational scorer that you could build around. I prefer Mitch's game by a landslide as he could fit in any system, but you would need a very deep and talented team to win with him as the best player (ie 2004 Pistons, 1998 Pacers).

jojo4341 wrote:Carmelo was a generational scorer that you could build around.

For the bulk of his career, it was actually volume mirage. He wasn't generally an efficient scorer, wasn't an awesome postseason performer. It wasn't really until his second and third season in New York that he was more than just big numbers in the PPG column. "Generational scorer" is an EXCEPTIONALLY generous label.

Mitch didn't necessarily put up comparable volume apart from that one year in Sacramento, but he was a much more efficient player, didn't take 600 years to isolate every possession, wasn't garbage on defense, and was also a better shooter (though Melo certainly wasn't bad at all in that regard).

I'd rather put my money on someone like Richmond and flesh out the rest of my team than drop all my eggs in that basket and watch it fall apart from the aforementioned reasons.

tsherkin wrote:

jojo4341 wrote:Carmelo was a generational scorer that you could build around.

For the bulk of his career, it was actually volume mirage. He wasn't generally an efficient scorer, wasn't an awesome postseason performer. It wasn't really until his second and third season in New York that he was more than just big numbers in the PPG column. "Generational scorer" is an EXCEPTIONALLY generous label.

Mitch didn't necessarily put up comparable volume apart from that one year in Sacramento, but he was a much more efficient player, didn't take 600 years to isolate every possession, wasn't garbage on defense, and was also a better shooter (though Melo certainly wasn't bad at all in that regard).

I'd rather put my money on someone like Richmond and flesh out the rest of my team than drop all my eggs in that basket and watch it fall apart from the aforementioned reasons.

Yeah, no one calls Wade a generational scorer, yet his offensive scoring peak is better than Melos.

Regular season
Wade 08/09 30,2 pts 57,4 TS%.
Melo 12/13 28,7 pts 56 TS%.

Playoffs (Need a deeper run to qualify)
Wade 05/06 28,4 pts 59,3 TS%.
Melo 08/09 27,2 pts 56,4 TS%.

Playoffs within 1 year against same tough opponent in the Boston Celtics with Wade having a worse team (2010 Wade, 11 Melo)
Wade 5 games 33,2 pts 65 TS%.
Melo 4 games 26 pts 50,5 TS%.

I actually consider this to be the peak of Wade, but he sadly didnt have a team for a championship run which he was very very capable of leading them to. I dont think its an totally unfair comparison to Melo either as his best regular season scoring was with the Knicks in 12-13.

I thought Melo was better at 3 pointers then he actually was earlier in his career, so he just didn`t combine the best parts of his scoring in one season to make for a better peak scoring version of himself. When he was younger he was more athletic so he finished better, got better looks closer to the rim and got to the line more. When he was with the Knicks he was a better 3pt shooter with volume as well, and knew his spots better, but didn`t get as many easy baskets as the younger one.

MMyhre wrote:Yeah, no one calls Wade a generational scorer, yet his offensive scoring peak is better than Melos.

Wade was like two or three tiers better than Melo, and that's pretty much before we start discussing defense. He was a valuable playmaker AND a better scorer. His issue was more one of health than anything else, but of course, he also won a title as The Man even before the Lebron era.

I thought Melo was better at 3 pointers then he actually was earlier in his career, so he just didn`t combine the best parts of his scoring in one season to make for a better peak scoring version of himself.

Yeah, that was more a small-ball 4 version of him in New York than anything else.

When he was younger he was more athletic so he finished better, got better looks closer to the rim and got to the line more.

Well, that and he played in Denver, and they ran a lot.