ss_maverick wrote:Carmelo Anthony. They are both primarily pure scorers, and Melo does it better.
That's why Carter is posting the better eFG% (just like he did last year*)... Like Basileus said Carter is also the better passer and defender...
I guess Melo is the better rebounder although Carter is a great rebounder himself... If you're asking "who I would pick" I'd go with Melo though mainly because of his age, this year he's also taking it to the basket more than Carter (34% of his shots are taken around the basket while 29% of Carter's are)... For the last couple of years Melo has also held about +1 free throw attempt advantage over Carter, so it's not that huge but it should be noted...
*During Melo's 5 year career, Carter has posted a higher eFG% than him 3 times, Melo has had the higher eFG% 1 time, and Melo's rookie year when Carter was in Toronto they both had the same eFG% (well Carter's was slightly higher)
Getting back to who's the better scorer though, I'm not convinced that Melo is the better scorer than Carter. Melo's jumper isn't nearly as effective as Carter's and he's also not a three-point threat, he has a nice array of moves in the post but statistically speaking Carter is the better scorer, Melo may score more points (this year he's also taking 4 more shots than Carter), but Carter scores more efficiently.
If you want to bring in this clutchness crap go ahead and do so, but I just find it odd how Carter never gets any recognition for when he comes up clutch (like he did on multiple occassions during the Nets' recent win streak, or even prior to that in their game at Miami), but there are a select group of other players who have every one of their successes hyped to epic proportions while their failures in the clutch are just swept under the rug.
Just to reiterate I'd still take Melo because of his age. Well unless you were asking me who I would take for the Nets, then it's kind of tricky and I'm not really sure who I'd take to be honest... I'd probably go with Carter just because Jefferson is already at the Small Forward position and I'm not sure how Melo would fair at shooting guard. Losing Carter would also leave the Nets without a reliable long-range threat.