RealGM

There have been a lot of comparisons lately for Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthonys games.

I never thought Paul Pierce was as good as Carmelo but comparing their game styles and move sets is inetereting

Feel like Melo over Pierce would is like a hot take here.

Overall and as an offensive player Paul Pierce for sure - scoring variety it becomes a closer comparison.

I think this will be coloured by the fact people won't recall how dynamic young Paul Pierce's offensive game was, whereas his game around 2007 onwards slowed down and was refined. For me, Melo's advantages would be:

• Face up and back to basket game on the baseline or at the knuckle. Primarily as he had a bit more explosion off the first step and an elite gather (debateable with early career Paul) which he used this well in his baseline spin moves, lowering the shoulder and with pump fakes.

• This gather and higher centre of gravity was used to good effect in his verticality around the rim too e.g. tips, put backs.

• Beyond that, I (and the statistics) would take Paul at all 3 levels of shooting, including drawing contact. Paul’s body control and use of different paces off the dribble were superior and allowed him to get a wider variety of shots off - largely by necessity due to the fact he couldn't rely on rising over defenders like Melo.

Paul was more methodical in getting to his spots whilst keeping his dribble alive. It didn’t really matter what archetype of player was guarding him, he used this pace/footwork to get the separation needed and once at the midrange have them in two minds of whether he was continuing down hill, pulling up or fading away.

Whereas Melo always seemed in a rush to beat the defender to his predictable scoring spots and it was generally a safe assumption you're defending a pull up or pump fake, as he wouldn't be passing out of the triple threat. I think that subtle difference also made Paul a more effective and unpredictable isolation player.

Bag of moves? Carmelo seems to be the obvious choice

JimmyPlopper wrote:Bag of moves? Carmelo seems to be the obvious choice

Bag of moves isn't the same as on-court efficacy, though. It's just aesthetics at some point if the moves don't translate to superior effective play.

Paul Pierce and its not close
Carmelo was a lot of jab step from 15 ft and putting his shoulder into guys
Pierce was footwork, spin moves, misdirection
Pierce's bag was way more advanced, it's just that Paul was slower and, even in his young prime, less athletic