CJackson wrote:dakomish23 wrote:CJackson wrote:
Yep. There are guys who think saying Melo is of average intelligence is some kind of slander when it is a legit statement based on his too often mediocre judgment on the court. We all know he CAN pass well and play IN RHYTHM, but the amount of times when he needlessly plays inside a bubble of his own making balances out the more intelligent playmaking he is capable of.
The real point is he has the kind of squad he was begging for and now that he has got it does he adapt and play more selflessly or does he still play the same way?
Considering all of the flapdoodle and mumblemush spoken by the players and Melo in the off-season about this great new beginning it is perfectly natural for some of us to expect him to set the proper tone out of the gate. THAT'S CALLED LEADERSHIP. Melo is an average leader at best just like his brain.
Call out the riot cops now. The Melo police are coming.
It's not that the IQ comment is slander. It's that the IQ comment is false.
There's a huge difference between having the ability to be a high IQ player but being selfish at times versus not having the ability at all.
No one has or ever will confuse Melo for always playing like a high IQ player. These blanket statements are made by folks who have an anti Melo agenda for years. We have a ton of evidence to the contrary, but after he has a bad game, that evidence doesn't exist.
I'm a Melo supporter. I said he had a crappy game and forced the issue. I also know that won't be the case most of the season.
Why is ok to ignore the overwhelming mountain of evidence and have the soapbox squadron have a field day but if you defend the one constant good player we've had for 5 years it's the Melo police?
I never understood the emotional seesaw some folks have seemed to always have with our stars.
There is no see-saw here. As you may have noticed, I and plenty of others gave Melo an enormous amount of slack by accounting for a lack of supporting cast thus perhaps justifying his higher usage rate and volume shooting.
And you also see that I explained EXACTLY why I might have an eagle eye on how he adapts to a new roster that gives him ample support even from the very first pre-season game, because I personally do EXPECT MORE from him, not less. I expect him to lead by example from the very first game. So I'm putting him a higher standard and not accepting mediocrity. He CAN be a superior teammate as shown by his actions on the floor (not his words), but I have reasons to doubt his ability to be consistently aware of his new context. So I will put his feet to the fire precisely because I expect him to lead by example.
You can't have it both ways. Either you hold someone to a higher standard or you don't. Some guys always want Melo treated like a pet when he should be treated as the one who is expected to do more and be more because that is what he is here for and what he is paid for.
And, no, Melo has not been a constant in terms of greatness for 5 years. He's been good at doing Melo, but now we'll see if he is good at being an A-Level ball player for real and not just a scorer who gets tunnel vision at the wrong times.
TBH, I didn't necessarily think Melo's ISOs were bad IQ plays. He sees Ryan Anderson, a slow white guy he can blow by. He sees Corey Brewer, a guy who weighs 180 lbs soaking wet and he can bully. Then there's Sam Dekker, and that's like facing Ron Baker in training camp. Throughout his career, he has DOMINATED these scrubs. It's just that I think we're at the juncture at which I think Melo's body is starting to betray him. Normally, I'd give him a pass since it's the 1st preseason game, but he just played in the Olympics in the summer so he should be ready to go. You could see it some of it last year...the first step was there most of the time, but only when he dug in...and his lift at the rim was mediocre. Last night, it was even worse, and he was getting his shots thrown back like he was a D-Leaguer.
xNewYorkMadex made the best analogy. Paul Pierce was once known as a lower efficiency black hole just like Melo. But Doc pulled him aside and told him they needed him to work on becoming a great 3-point shooter, in catch-and-shoots and spot-ups. The rest is history. Pierce transformed himself into someone who wasn't just great at basketball...but great at team basketball.
This is not me saying that Melo should just abandon ISO's. The fact is we'll always need his entire offensive repertoire for a variety of situations. My hope is that with he starts doing more of the efficient things and less of the inefficient things as he meshes with his talented supporting cast. He did more of it in the first half of last season, but old habits die hard.
