Paul George vs Carmelo Anthony?

[SuperCoolMayo]

Who do you think is the better player?

Who would you rather have on your team?

[MeloMIracle]

obviously Melo, try this thread again in a few years.

[therealbig3]

Melo is the better player.

But I'd rather have George, especially if I already have a player that's considered a "star". With Melo, I think you'd be compelled to build around him, and a team built around Melo has a pretty clear, non-championship ceiling imo. George otoh has a much more portable game imo, and for that reason, he could be a key piece to a potential title team without changing his game too much or forcing his teammates to change their game too much.

[tsherkin]

Melo is a better scorer. George appears to be better at everything else.

How you evaluate these guys depends a lot on how you value scoring. The situation you have will also play a role here. Obviously, you don't want to ask George to fill a scorer's role because he's bad at it and entirely over-reliant on the three. Better playmaker and defender, though, so he tends to fit into a broader variety of roles.

Melo can't really be anything but a #1 scoring option in the NBA context. He also seems to do best with point guard support moving him off-ball and since he relies so heavily on his J, he isn't much use when it isn't falling. Conversely, George is useful even when his personal O isn't clicking, which to me, enhances his utility.

They are polar opposites in terms of player type though, and as a result, a direct comparison is actually quite difficult.

[Not Bias]

I take Melo on this one quite easily. I know George is better at defense, but I just don't think he impacts a team the way Melo can. George's offense is so limited and it seems like when the Pacers are playing you often forget that George is actually playing. Gotta give George some more time before I can fully evaluate him.

[TheChosen618]

I'll take Paul George on my team. I'd rather have an all-around player that you could win it all as a #2/#3 than a one-dimensional, inefficient, black-hole scorer that is incapable of winning at any role.

[SweetTouch]

I'd take Melo if he took as many shots as PG did

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

This is a very loaded question for a few reasons.

1. Are we talking right now, as in this year or are we saying to have on your team moving forward?

2. Who else is on the team these guys would be joining. Their styles are so different, that each would be a better fit with different teams.

That being said, I feel like Paul George's game is more likely to win you games in the playoffs. Melo is one of, if not the best pure scorer in the NBA. Problem is, he isn't much above average at anything else. Paul George just turned 23 and is already arguably the best perimeter defender in the NBA. To go with that, he is a good playmaker, and the leading scorer(however pedestrian that may be compared to Melo) on a team that is advancing to the ECF. I agree, Paul George's offensive game needs work, but I can promise you that he will work hard on it over the offseason. He has already shown the ability to take over important games. An offseasons of work, plus the return of a huge scoring threat to the lineup(Granger), will just add to what he is capable of doing on offense in the future.

[daschysta]

I think George will be comfortably better in no more than 2 years. He's shown he can handle the rock and take guys off the dribble and make plays for himself and others. I think he'll score 22-23 ppg on above average efficiency eventually (this season he was around league average most of the year at least by TS% until his cold stretch of 8 or so games to close the season). If he's doing that I don't think the 6 or so points that melo would score over him outweigh the fact that he will be better at every single other aspect of basketball. Dude's a prototypical triple double threat and an elite defender, those don't grow on trees.

[E-Balla]

George isn't close to league average at 17.5 ppg right now. He's going to be very good but a superstar? Nah. He barely improved this year (just more minutes and higher usage). Only serious improvement I saw was his handles.

[daschysta]

George isn't close to league average at 17.5 ppg right now. He's going to be very good but a superstar? Nah. He barely improved this year (just more minutes and higher usage). Only serious improvement I saw was his handles.

League average TS for small forwards was 53.6% this season, George for the entire year was .531, that includes his horrific first month, which was a major outlier and the last 6 games, where he shot about 30%. For the majority of the season, and up until the last few games he was around 54. He's proving capable of getting to the line at a very nice rate in the playoffs, which is a consequence of his handles, which are more than adequate now to allow him to get to the rim at a high rate and with ease. He's averaging 19.1 ppg in the playoffs and 19.5 vs. New York and despite his shot being way off is still at .521% TS because he's got to the line 7.8 times per game. His shot isn't always going to be off, and it's easy to see how his efficiency will improve as a consequence of his improved handles and subsequent free throws. George comfortably outplayed Anthony in 3 of the 6 games, and honestly was better in one of the others too. Anthony got really hot in 2 of the games, but it led to the stagnation of the rest of NY's offense.

His handles being improved is HUGE, they were the one question about him before this season, and aren't an issue anymore, before this year it was always, yeah, he has everything you could want in a star player, but too bad he can't create his own shot and dribble the ball. Well, now he can do both of those things. He isn't a great offensive player by the standards of star offensive players, but that doesn't mean that he isn't a pretty good offensive player overall, and he has tons of room to improve. He'll probably get to the line at least 6-7 times a game next season, and even if he makes NO improvements other than that to his game, it will probably give him enough to hit 20 ppg on average to above average efficiency. Once that happens it becomes much, much harder to justify 4-5 ppg being more valuable than everything else George brings to the table. You watch him now and he routinely knifes through defenses to get to the rim and score or be fouled, he also can create his shot from mid range pretty easily utilizing his height, he did it quite a few times last night vs. New York.

Offense also isn't just scoring yourself, George is also a gifted passer for a Small forward, just in the NY series George has had games of 4, 8 , 7, 6 and 4 assists, compared to Anthony would struggles to average 1 per game, and this is before even considering the massive defensive and rebounding advantages George has.

A player like George doesn't need to score as well as a primarily offensive star to be as good or better.

[E-Balla]

Your right his TS was way higher than I thought. Also bringing up the NY series (where he averaged 4.5 turnovers and shot on 49 TS) isn't a positive IMO. I still don't see him scoring 20 efficiently though. Maybe he can improve that much because I personally never thought he'd get handles but idk. Also Melo has over 10 more ppg. Not 4-5. This season Melo was better. Going forward I'd like to see if Paul improves again before saying I'd take him over Melo.

[daschysta]

Your right his TS was way higher than I thought. Also bringing up the NY series (where he averaged 4.5 turnovers and shot on 49 TS) isn't a positive IMO. I still don't see him scoring 20 efficiently though. Maybe he can improve that much because I personally never thought he'd get handles but idk. Also Melo has over 10 more ppg. Not 4-5. This season Melo was better. Going forward I'd like to see if Paul improves again before saying I'd take him over Melo.

Yes, now melo has about 10 pts on him, I was talking about the hypothetical that I believe George can reach next season (21-23 ppg). Melo is better now, I won't argue he isn't. I was talking 1-2 years down the line. When I look at George I see all the tools, he proved he can shoot 3's during the season, but they are off in the playoffs. He's proving he can get to the line at a similar rate to other stars in the playoffs, but wasn't always that aggressive in the RS etc... I attribute it to youth though, he wasn't expecting to be a #1 option coming into this season, and I believe he'll put the offensive side together consistently next year. I believe this because he has a great work ethic and has come back after each offseason with a massive improvement to his game (his second year he improved his 3 ball from 29 percent to almost 39 percent, this year he's improved his handles from pretty bad to pretty good), so next offseason isn't even about adding a brand new thing as much as it is implementing consistently all of the things he's proven capable of doing night in and night out. I think he can do it, we'll see though of course.

[Blkbrd671]

can we say knee jerk? George is playing out of his mind, but he has yet to show he can be consistent over multiple seasons. Until he reaches that point, its Melo by far

[MeloMIracle]

can we say knee jerk? George is playing out of his mind, but he has yet to show he can be consistent over multiple seasons. Until he reaches that point, its Melo by far

Agreed, anyone selecting George are simply delusional melo haters.

[Doctor MJ]

can we say knee jerk? George is playing out of his mind, but he has yet to show he can be consistent over multiple seasons. Until he reaches that point, its Melo by far

Agreed, anyone selecting George are simply delusional melo haters.

I'd like to have a button that would prevent posters with X in their name from ever labeling else as "X haters".

[E-Balla]

can we say knee jerk? George is playing out of his mind, but he has yet to show he can be consistent over multiple seasons. Until he reaches that point, its Melo by far

Agreed, anyone selecting George are simply delusional melo haters.

I'd like to have a button that would prevent posters with X in their name from ever labeling else as "X haters".

Sig worthy.

[john248]

Hopefully things open up a bit more when Granger returns. George has definitely been improving. Wish I could've seen more of him, but his game looks great. You have to like the fact that he's at least attacking the basket and aware enough to look for teammates.

[bondom34]

Agreed, anyone selecting George are simply delusional melo haters.

I'd like to have a button that would prevent posters with X in their name from ever labeling else as "X haters".

Sig worthy.

Agreed

[JordansBulls]

Not sure how this is close? Melo is a franchise player while George is a borderline allstar.