Melo is not a top tier star, but he is extremely valuable. One of the things that I think makes Carmelo very good (i dont know about "that great") is the fact that it is so easy to build around him.
Because he is so good at scoring from all over the court (posting up, mid range, facing up, off the pivot, jab step, fast break...the only thing that he isnt great at is 3 point shooting) and well above average at everything else (sans defense when he gets lazy) it is easy to surround him with a number of different type of players and have it work. You look at who he has played with at PG:
Andre Miller: A guy that couldnt shoot worth ****, dominated the ball, and passed a lot as a playmaker
Allen Iverson: A guy that could kind of shoot, dominated the ball, rarely passed and shot a lot
Chauncey Billups: A guy that can shoot, doesnt dominate the ball, both passes and shoots
He was able to thrive playing alongside all three of those guys with extremely different playing styles. I dont think Dwyane Wade or Lebron James, for example, could fit in so seamlessly with such different players.
I like Melo for the Nets because they seem to have no direction right now. Nothing solid to build around, Harris seems to be out the door, Brook is good but not great. Melo at least gives them a cornerstone to build off of, and a cornerstone that will be easy to build off of.[/quote]
Melo isn't easy to build around what so ever.
All the examples you gave and he only made it out of the 1st round once with a roster tailor made around him.
You make a prime Andre Miller sound like a scrub.
The part about Wade and Lebron. Absolute and udder nonsense. I don't even care if it's somewhat true, Lebron carried a group of D Leaguers to the Finals and multiple deep playoff runs with 50+ wins for years.
Wade carried a team to the title with a bunch of AARP members and a half crippled Shaq and has been carrying his teams to above .500 playoff births pretty much every other season where the second best player was Udonis freakin' Haslem.
You cannot be serious?!
The Cavs are the NBA's worst team, a historically bad team without Lebron and the Heat went from a 44 win playoff team to the worst team in the league with 15 wins with Wade down for most of the season.
Melo does not compare with these other two in the least.
They are superstars.
Melo is not.
Melo is a superstar in name only.
The only thing he shares with Lebron and Wade is the same draft class and marketability.
Melo is a low level franchise player.
Not a 1st option on a Finals team.
You don't build around Melo, you build with him, as a 2nd option. He's the wing version of Pau Gasol.
This deal as reported will cripple the Nets into mediocrity if NJ doesn't add Chris Paul, Deron or Dwight all while keeping Brook Lopez or turning him into a third stud.
A team with Melo as the best player is not going very far.
You clearly forgot to mention who the nuggets faced those yrs in the playoffs
Let see Melo's rookie year he faced MVP kg, spreweel, and cassell they made it to the western conference finals,
Second yr he faced the world champion spurs
Third yr faced a clippers team who actually tanked to get in the 5 spot to play the nuggets the second best player on that team was demarr johnson ( remember him), Kmart got suspended
fourth yr world champion spurs once again
fifth yr Lakers who went to the finals
seventh yr jazz who I admit the nuggets should have beat and Melo should take the blame for that even though he avg 30 8 and 3 on 48% shooting because he is the star
Stop acting like Melo had a cake walk, 4 out of the 6 times he was eliminated by the world champs or western conference finals reprasentative
As I can see though from every one of your posts you clearly have a problem with Melo

its ok though everyone is entitled to there own opinion I just think about 99% of the baskeball world disagrees with you