Rookie Season: Carmelo Anthony vs. Kevin Durant

RJM · Post #1 » by **RJM** » Tue May 27, 2008 6:59 pm

As rookies, who was better? Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant? I know stats aren't everything, but check this out...

Melo's Rookie Year - 21.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.8 APG, 42.6% FG

Durant's Rookie Year - 20.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 43% FG

Pretty much even in my eyes.

Silk Wilkes · Post #2 » by **Silk Wilkes** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:04 pm

Melo, he even led his team to the playoffs. Also, even though LeBron was undoubtedly gonna be the better player, I thought that Melo was rookie of the year. Much like Horford should have been over Durant.

Malinhion · Post #3 » by **Malinhion** » Tue May 27, 2008 8:06 pm

Youngblood wrote:Melo, he even led his team to the playoffs. Also, even though LeBron was undoubtedly gonna be the better player, I thought that Melo was rookie of the year. Much like Horford should have been over Durant.

Agreed.

IMO, Melo was a better freshman prospect and had a better rookie year, in terms of statistics and team success. But only marginally.

Baller 24 · Post #4 » by **Baller 24** » Tue May 27, 2008 8:20 pm

Its close, but Melo gets it, he led one of the worst teams the previous season to the playoffs with the 8th seed. But in terms of what each player will do in the future, I think Durant is going to turn out to become the better player.

RJM · Post #5 » by **RJM** » Tue May 27, 2008 8:35 pm

I personally believe that it also depends on the state of the Conference in question in comparison to the year before said players acquisition. The Nuggets were different because they had some new talent on the team compared to the year before. Durant's team was completely bombed out and depleted compared to the year before.

Baller 24 · Post #6 » by **Baller 24** » Tue May 27, 2008 8:52 pm

Iceburg Slim wrote:I personally believe that it also depends on the state of the Conference in question in comparison to the year before said players acquisition. The Nuggets were different because they had some new talent on the team compared to the year before. Durant's team was completely bombed out and depleted compared to the year before.

Thats true, things like that can also be taken into account. Denver was missing a player that could score, and thats what Melo brought. Melo came onto the Nuggets that had a starting lineup of Andre Miller, Voshon Lenard, Melo, Nene, Camby. Talent wise is MUCH better then the Sonics. I'm pretty confident if Durant had that type of talent around him, he could get his team into the playoffs to.

blazersmaniac8 · Post #7 » by **blazersmaniac8** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:11 pm

Baller 24 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Thats true, things like that can also be taken into account. Denver was missing a player that could score, and thats what Melo brought. Melo came onto the Nuggets that had a starting lineup of Andre Miller, Voshon Lenard, Melo, Nene, Camby. Talent wise is MUCH better then the Sonics. I'm pretty confident if Durant had that type of talent around him, he could get his team into the playoffs to.

Doubtful he could this year in the west but agreed.

A.J. · Post #8 » by **A.J.** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:25 pm

yunggunz · Post #9 » by **yunggunz** » Thu May 29, 2008 12:27 am

Melo easily. He should have taken the ROY, but it was decided before the season began that Bron would win.

shawngoat23 · Post #10 » by **shawngoat23** » Thu May 29, 2008 1:28 am

Melo was better as a rookies than Durant, but I'd rather have the latter. I think he has better upside and will be easier to build a contender around (assuming Seattle gets its act together).

killbuckner · Post #11 » by **killbuckner** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:06 pm

Carmelo was the first rookie to lead his team in scoring and make the playoffs since David Robinson. (I don't know if anyone has done it since) He did it in a brutal division where every team was over .500. Its not even close- Carmelo was much better.

conleyorbust · Post #12 » by **conleyorbust** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:13 pm

Well Melo but not because that team made the playoffs. Melo had the 3rd best PER on his own team that year, not a perfect stat but that team had guys to fill other roles.

Melo happened to be better than Durant anyway but not because his that.

Baller 24 · Post #13 » by **Baller 24** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:41 pm

Melo provided scoring on that Denver team that had it all. I also thought he deserved rookie of the year, but the guy also had Andre Miller, Veshon Lenard, Nene, and Camby around him in his starting lineup. While Durant has nothing and no one, and even out of those guys Melo played with, none of them were big time scorers, that are capable of putting up 20ppg.

Malinhion · Post #14 » by **Malinhion** » Thu May 29, 2008 6:39 pm

Nene was only in his second season, and still unproductive.

Camby misses 10-35 games every season.

Lenard was pulled off the scrap heap, and shouldn't have been.

Andre Miller is a slightly above average point guard...nothing more.

Baller 24 · Post #15 » by **Baller 24** » Thu May 29, 2008 6:43 pm

Malinhion wrote:Nene was only in his second season, and still unproductive.

Camby misses 10-35 games every season.

Lenard was pulled off the scrap heap, and shouldn't have been.

Andre Miller is a slightly above average point guard...nothing more.

I was just pointing out that even as a rookie Durant still didn't have any of those guys compared to Melo. Obviously Melo had the better rookie year, and IMO should have won ROY over LBJ (sigh who knows why).

conleyorbust · Post #16 » by **conleyorbust** » Thu May 29, 2008 7:08 pm

Malinhion wrote:Nene was only in his second season, and still unproductive.

His second season was before he became unproductive

Camby misses 10-35 games every season.

That season he played in 72 games, not enough for his injury history to make a difference.

Lenard was pulled off the scrap heap, and shouldn't have been.

Wasn't a great player but was a dependable 3pt shooter, Nuggets probably with they had that still.

Andre Miller is a slightly above average point guard...nothing more.

As shown with the 76ers this year, Dre' can be a huge asset. That season he led the Nuggets in PER.

Like I said, Melo was better but team success alone isn't a good way to justify that since he had much better players around him.