Better Scorer: Tracy Mcgrady vs Carmelo Anthony

[macNcheese3]

Tmac. Was one of my favourite players and scorers

[Tracymcgoaty]

T.Mac

[Joao Saraiva]

Carmelo. For sure.

T-Mac is kind of a myth. His scoring wasn't actually very efficient, and even if Melo's wasn't elite either he was more efficient than T-Mac.

If we take longevity into account... it's Melo and it's not even close.

With that said, during T-Mac's prime he was the better offensive player because his playmaking skills were much better. But not as a scorer.

[SoulJah]

Melo to me is more comparable to Glen 'Big Dog' Robinson. He was a pure scorer, especially from mid-range. TMac in his prime could carry a team by himself and can do it all on the court, defend, rebound, score, and was athletic as hell. If not for his back issues, he could've been talked about in the top 10 to play the game.

[Blazing_royale]

T-Mac over Melo. T-Mac was way more dynamic as a scorer

[NO-KG-AI]

T-Mac definitely peaked higher, guess it depends on if you think that was fluke, hot shooting season though.

[letsgobulls23]

OP obviously didn't watch peak T-Mac. He was up there with peak Kobe in offense and was actually better than Kobe offensively in 2003.

I watched peak Tmac lol

Then you should definitely know it's T-Mac hands down, no disrespect to Melo.

[Shock Defeat]

Offensive player wise T-Mac is better cause you are including handles and playmaking too.

But on a scoring basis, just scoring buckets, give me Melo. More efficient, better spot up shooter, has a post up game. T-Mac has an argument for like 2 of his seasons.

[XTC]

I can’t wrap my head around this. First I want to state this isn’t my opinion who was a better basketball player, this is simply a comparison of the two as scorers. While I can get behind the fact of TMac peaking higher than Melo(which he certainly did), but that was literally only for ONE season. Is the Melo hate that strong that we truly can’t appreciate what he has done?

Let’s take a look at their years where they scored 20+ PPG and compare their efficiency.

TMac
PPG/FG%/TS%
26.8/45.7/52.1
25.6/45.1/53.2
32.1/45.7/56.4
28.0/41.7/52.6
25.7/43.1/52.6
24.4/40.6/49.4
24.6/43.1/51.5
21.6/41.9/48.7
Peak
32.1 PPG, 45.7 FG%, 56.4 TS%
Average
26.3 PPG, 43.6 FG%, 52.8 TS%

Melo
PPG/FG%/TS%
21.0/42.6/50.9
20.8/43.1/52.6
26.5/48.1/56.3
28.9/47.6/55.2
25.7/49.2/56.8
22.8/44.3/53.2
28.2/45.8/54.8
25.6/45.5/55.7
22.6/43.0/52.5
28.7/44.9/56.1
27.4/45.2/56.0
24.2/44.4/53.1
21.8/43.4/53.0
22.4/43.3/53.5
Peak
28.7 PPG, 44.9 FG%, 56.1 TS%
Average
24.8 PPG, 45.2 FG%, 54.9 TS%

IMO My top 10 would be
1. 03 TMac
2. 13 Melo
3. 14 Melo
4. 07 Melo
5. 10 Melo
6. 06 Melo
7. 08 Melo
8. 11 Melo
9. 04 Tmac
10. 02 Tmac


In the grand scheme of things 03 does look like a outlier more than anything for Tmac, while Melo has been relatively consistent. Simply put Carmelo did it better for longer, while Tmac peaked higher (To be fair Tmac probably have a top 10 peak in NBA history). Tmac was only a star caliber player for 8 seasons. If I was to correlate Melos 8 best scoring seasons they would be the following:

26.3 PPG, 45.8 FG%, 55.2 TS%

Carmelo almost doubles the amount of sheer quantity scoring season he has over Tmac. Tmac certainly peaked higher in 2003 as a scorer, but the rest is Melo and its not even close. Tmac was relatively inefficient other than 2003. You can knock Melo for many things... defence, playmaking, effort, but you can’t knock the man as a scorer. Simply put he had one of the most complete scoring games in NBA history, and if he had simply taken a step back the past couple years it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see him in the top 5 scoring leaders in NBA history.

[NY 567]

Tmac peaked as the better scorer, but Melo was more consistently the better scorer over their careers.

[SmashMouthRod]

Both were very good scorers but T-Mac was a more well rounded scorer. Mac carried a Magic roster with several lemons to the playoffs several times. Melo for almost his whole career had more talent around him (especially in Denver). Buckets can be easier to get with more talent around. T-Mac was supposed to be paired with Grant Hill but he couldnt get healthy for most that time. So I give the edge to McGrady.

[spacepimp]

Easily t-mac. Had multiple runs with 30+ point in the po, Carmelo never barely had one.

That’s not impressive when you are one round and out.

[3toheadmelo]

Lets not forget when Melo dropped 50 on all jumpers. With Shane Battier draped all over him.

Watch on YouTube

[XTC]

Both were very good scorers but T-Mac was a more well rounded scorer. Mac carried a Magic roster with several lemons to the playoffs several times. Melo for almost his whole career had more talent around him (especially in Denver). Buckets can be easier to get with more talent around. T-Mac was supposed to be paired with Grant Hill but he couldnt get healthy for most that time. So I give the edge to McGrady.

Melo never played next a player as great as Yao, yet in his first season in Houston (before the back injuries) a 25 year old TMac shot 43.6% with a TS% of 52.6

And I disagree about your claim that Tracy was a better all around scorer than Melo who could score inside and out with the best of them, and the efficiency difference backs up my claim.

[XTC]

Lets not forget when Melo dropped 50 on all jumpers. With Shane Battier draped all over him.

Watch on YouTube

Let’s not forget how much of a beast Melo was in the post either

Watch on YouTube

[3toheadmelo]

Lets not forget when Melo dropped 50 on all jumpers. With Shane Battier draped all over him.

Watch on YouTube

Let’s not forget how much of a beast Melo was in the post either

Watch on YouTube

Yeah he was basically unguardable in the post in his prime.

It's just a damn shame the Knicks couldnt get him any help. Sigh

[Bornstellar]

T-Mac. I'll never forget watching him stun my Spurs by scoring 13 points in 30 seconds. **** Devin Brown for slipping and turning it over on that last possession

[SmashMouthRod]

Both were very good scorers but T-Mac was a more well rounded scorer. Mac carried a Magic roster with several lemons to the playoffs several times. Melo for almost his whole career had more talent around him (especially in Denver). Buckets can be easier to get with more talent around. T-Mac was supposed to be paired with Grant Hill but he couldnt get healthy for most that time. So I give the edge to McGrady.

Melo never played next a player as great as Yao, yet in his first season in Houston (before the back injuries) a 25 year old TMac shot 43.6% with a TS% of 52.6

And I disagree about your claim that Tracy was a better all around scorer than Melo who could score inside and out with the best of them, and the efficiency difference backs up my claim.

Yao or T-Mac was barely ever healthy during their tenure. They were only on the same roster for three and a half seasons. Stats dont always tell a true story. Melo as a rookie played with Marcus Camby, Andre Miller, Earl Boykins, and Nene. And in his second season he gained Kenyon Martin as a running mate. T-Mac had been in the league 7 years prior; of which the four before Melo (2000-2003) entered the league Mac averaged 39 minutes a game; dragging a lottery level roster to the playoffs. If were being honest here; Melo wasnt ever good enough to take a roster similar to that Magic team to the playoffs.

Magic 2000-01 Roster

Alexander, Cory (Injured)
Amaechi, John
Armstrong, Darrell
Brown, Dee
DeClercq, Andrew
Doleac, Michael
Garrity, Pat
Hill, Grant (Injured Out for the Season)
Hudson, Troy
McGrady, Tracy
Miller, Mike
Outlaw, Bo
Reid, Don
Williams, Monty

01-02 only added 50 year old Patrick Ewing and Horace Grant to the same roster that still was without Grant Hill. 02-03 The team traded Mike Miller for Drew Gooden and signed Shawn Kemp during his alcohol rehab to play his way back into shape. Grant Hill contributed 29 games. Yet in spite of all this they made the playoffs every year and competed against good teams. Your stats cant dispute that.

[cupcakesnake]

I'm really not a fan of either of these players. Both talented dummies who never took the final step (leveraging the threat of their scoring into unstoppable team offense). Both of them wasted countless possessions on mediocre shots. Looking over their career efficiency and impact numbers reveals them both as pretty meh players, despite the massive scoring totals. I think of Tmac as more of a force of nature out there just **** around. Melo I think of as a polished attacking scorer, who didn't develop any other part of his game. Both were mediocre finishers inside, both were midrange checkers. Melo was a little better at that.

I don't see what the argument for Tmac is. Yes he lead the league in scoring twice, but it was on a bad Orlando team where he was allowed to take 23-24 shots per game. 28 points on 23 shots isn't particularly impressive to me, especially not on a team that won 21 total games. How many guys have taken more FGA per game than their team's win total?

Melo walked into the league as a 20+ppg scorer, whereas Tmac took a few seasons to land on a team that needed him to chuck. Then he had 8 seasons as a good scorer. Melo has over twice as many seasons accomplishing that, and he was more efficient.

Tmac was a better passer, more explosive athlete, and was only kind of disappointing as a defender, whereas Melo was a total joke on that end. Melo is the better scorer though, and I don't see what anyone arguing for Tmac is seeing, besides looking at that 32ppg season.

[SmashMouthRod]

Magic 2000-01 Roster

Alexander, Cory (Injured)
Amaechi, John
Armstrong, Darrell
Brown, Dee
DeClercq, Andrew
Doleac, Michael
Garrity, Pat
Hill, Grant (Injured Out for the Season)
Hudson, Troy
McGrady, Tracy
Miller, Mike
Outlaw, Bo
Reid, Don
Williams, Monty

Magic 2000-01 Roster

Alexander, Cory (Injured)
Amaechi, John
Armstrong, Darrell
Brown, Dee
DeClercq, Andrew
Doleac, Michael
Garrity, Pat
Hill, Grant (Injured Out for the Season)
Hudson, Troy
Anthony, Carmelo
Miller, Mike
Outlaw, Bo
Reid, Don
Williams, Monty

Did the switcheroo. Ask yourself?? Would Carmelo be as efficient or as potent as a scorer surrounded by this hot garbage? Carmelo left a good Denver franchise that had regularly upgraded the talent around him. If he had to carry this dumpster fire of a roster he probably does a holdout similarly to Eli Manning after one season of getting the Jordan rule treatment from every team.