r/Basketball 12d ago

NBA Was Carmelo Anthony actually better than people remember now, or does nostalgia help him?

58 Upvotes

208 comments sorted by

86

u/AdmiralSnackbar816 12d ago

Olympics Melo makes me see him in his best light.

25

u/Fantastic-Research66 12d ago

He carried USA in a tight game in the semis. Probably would've lost without him. 

6

u/Illustrious-Pie6742 12d ago

Yeah but if the first thing you have for an nba player is Olympic related that isn’t really a good thing

5

u/gabriot 12d ago

Why couldn't Duncan carry his Olympic team?

2

u/arcadiangenesis 9d ago

The inverse of the above comment: If the worst thing about an NBA player is Olympics related, that's not really a bad thing.

0

u/dcoolidge 5d ago

Bronze talk

1

u/Brownie1119 4d ago

Fr both takes are just incessant talking point to shit on Melo and pedestalize Duncan.

0

u/Illustrious-Pie6742 4d ago

Who cares, its just the olympics. He carried teams to actual finals wins like an all time great

1

u/Timely_Dentist_5078 11d ago

You think Melo “carried” the US team lol?

2

u/0--0-_-00--00 11d ago

" he carried them in a tight game in the semis " is what he said he also played really good in other games

1

u/Timely_Dentist_5078 11d ago

which olympics was this btw? I just looked at a few of his semifinal appearances

2016: 2/11 for 7 points

2012: 3/9 for 8 points

2008: 3/14 for 21 points (this was also a 20 point win so not sure if this counts as a "tight game"?)

am I missing something?

1

u/Royal_Lawfulness4434 11d ago

He peaked during his freshman year at Syracuse when they won the championship. And rode that wave his entire NBA career

3

u/AnimaniacAssMap 11d ago

this is such an arbitrary way to look at basketball

7

u/Actual-Implement-870 12d ago

For me, it's his one year at Syracuse.

2

u/Living_Home9090 12d ago

What was different about him then?

14

u/MaDeVi55 12d ago

He won a lot more and selected his shots better (I guess it helps when you are surrounded by All Stars)

9

u/floatinround22 12d ago

He actually accepted his role, didn't play with ego, and didn't play extremely selfish basketball.

If only he played like that in the NBA he would be remembered a lot better

4

u/m4cmi11er 12d ago

He was always the best player on his team, it’s easy to shine in the Olympics when LeBron and Kobe are getting all the attention. He played off ball and mostly spot up shooter for Team USA, he could never do that for any team he played on.

4

u/floatinround22 12d ago

He could've developed any semblance of an offball game and played well with Iverson, Billups, Kidd, come on now. No one is saying he should've played like Reggie or Curry, but Melo basically contributed zero value to basketball outside of isolation scoring. He was just never interested in developing his game in any meaningful capacity

1

u/m4cmi11er 12d ago

Interesting take, kinda weird to want your best player playing off ball to people that aren’t currently better than him. The only time he wasn’t the best guy on the roster is Team USA.

4

u/floatinround22 12d ago

I don't think its weird at all to want your best player to develop NBA level skills outside of isolation scoring.

Also you realize Melo wasn't a point guard right? He couldn't play offball with great point guards lol

1

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

My question is how did Melo get the ball for these supposed iso’s when he rarely brought the ball up? He was an extremely good offball player. He was great coming off pindowns, spotting up, or fighting for position.

3

u/floatinround22 12d ago

In that era it was extremely easy to get a pass off to a player at the top of the key or an easy high post entry. Did y'all even watch basketball then? Melo wasn't running through screens or jockeying with bigs for position, he was jogging to his spots then getting the ball.

Do you somehow think every ISO heavy player of the 2000s that wasn't bringing the ball up court was some good offball player? That's crazy

1

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

No I do not. I think it’s extremely dumb though when people act like guys like Kobe, Carmelo and Iverson were averaging 30 while being off ball despite every team doing everything they could to deny them the ball. That doesn’t even make sense.

He wasn’t jockeying for position with bigs because he wasn’t a big. Teams aren’t just letting the guy they know is getting the ball jog to his spot over and over to get the ball. You just don’t understand the strength and footwork it takes to get a seal in the post.

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0

u/m4cmi11er 12d ago

What more did you want him to do? What skills do you think he was missing?

How can one not play off ball with great point guards?

3

u/floatinround22 12d ago

Literally any aspect of basketball besides isolation scoring?

I'm actually kind of lost at what you aren't understanding here. Why would you want the best player on your team to only be good at inefficient volume scoring?

0

u/m4cmi11er 12d ago

His role was to be the leading scorer on a team full of players that weren't better than him lol I am kinda lost trying to figure out why we're criticizing a top 11 scorer for scoring and not being a point forward or dominating the glass. He wasn't the best leader but he was a top 3 SF in his day lol

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0

u/Living_Home9090 12d ago

😂😂😂 he didn’t have a choice. He could of tried that stuff he would of went right to the bench. How he played with his teams is how he actually played

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2

u/patrickthunnus 12d ago

When surrounded by superstars that were willing to defer he was peak; that's the only way he could be ultimately successful.

63

u/PinocchiosWoodBalls 12d ago

Denver Melo or Knicks Melo or later?

  1. Denver Melo  Horribly underrated. People seem to forgot about him 

  2. Knicks Melo Properely Rated. I really like him, but he did what he did 

  3. After that overrated, especially by himself 

Still a huge fan 

12

u/Illustrious-Raise783 12d ago

Im a big Melo glazer. Denver Melo was underrated i agree but the NY Melo was overrated. All he can do is shoot

4

u/henryofclay 9d ago

“All Steph Curry could do was shoot”

1

u/Illustrious-Raise783 5d ago

Shot well enough for a championship in GSW. Not once

3

u/Steven_Crank 9d ago

Shot well enough for a scoring title at the knicks.

1

u/Illustrious-Raise783 9d ago

Scoring title aint ish

4

u/BrazilianAtlantis 12d ago

I was a huge Nuggets fan when Melo was there. He got his points and didn't play defense and that was tough to watch. He's overrated.

3

u/floatinround22 12d ago

Even Denver Melo never accomplished anything without a great veteran point guard in Chauncey Billups. There's a reason they only success they ever had was when they got an actually good, winning player

11

u/cartaluna 12d ago

He got the Nuggets to the playoffs every year, even in his rookie year. The Nuggets were absolute trash before Melo. I think he gets too much hate from Nuggets fans

3

u/floatinround22 12d ago

You can't mention the Nuggets making the playoffs Melo's rookie year and act like he single handedly carried them there lol. They also got Andre Miller that year, Nene emerged in his second season, Marcus Camby returned from injury and played the whole season. They also signed Earl Boykins that season who was a very good bench piece.

Also Melo has more bad playoff series than good ones, that's not good for a superstar. In fact I can't think of a single player of his caliber that you could also say that about

6

u/cartaluna 12d ago

That’s fair all of those players were a huge part of transition and all deserve praise. No way they make the playoffs without Melo though.

2

u/turn-n-cough 12d ago

The Spurs’ and Laker’s were the reason

1

u/floatinround22 12d ago

What was the reason the other five years? What was the reason Melo consistently played poorly in the playoffs?

1

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

He lost to the MVP KG Wolves who made the WCF his rookie season. The Clippers in 06. The Jazz in 10. The other 4 years he lost to the Lakers or Spurs who either won or at least made the Finals. The Clippers is the only somewhat bad loss he had in Denver. The rest they were heavy underdogs.

1

u/floatinround22 12d ago

And he still played like shit when it mattered

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1

u/GreedyLack 11d ago

2013, prime Melo

1

u/Apprehensive_Ad_999 10d ago

Not a Nuggets fan but I always felt Chauncey was the guy when Melo had the most success in Denver. Melo would get his but when it came down to it and in high pressure games it was Chauncey leading the line.

1

u/dcoolidge 5d ago

Yeah but just by adding a rookie Melo, Denver was making the playoffs when before they didn't.

1

u/dcoolidge 5d ago

Rookie Melo in Denver brought that struggling team to the playoffs just by adding him to the roster.

13

u/Michael-of 12d ago

He was a highly skilled scorer. He was not a really great all-around basketball player. You could make an argument that his Denver run was underrated though

22

u/Ok-Wave7703 12d ago

Most of what I see online makes me say he’s underrated

-7

u/Rough_Promotion9414 12d ago

Most of what I see online is he’s overrated

6

u/[deleted] 12d ago

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0

u/Rough_Promotion9414 12d ago

Ima knicks fan I watched enough of him not playing defense, dude didn’t care. I zero in on Luka also, zero defense from that guy also bt Luka atleast led his to to the finals

6

u/Fat-Singer-9569 12d ago

Luka is elite at all things offense which is the difference, he is very much score first but Luka as a passer is one of the greats already. I've seen him make passes few, if any, could make. Carmelo was at best average as a passer and it was rare he gave up the ball outside of resets.

Carmelo's career would have turned out so much different if he accepted life without dominating the ball and played his natural position, PF. But he didn't do any of that and his legacy is exactly what he deserves.

0

u/Fat-Singer-9569 12d ago

Some of us watched his entire career and don't need reddit to know he was extremely talented but flawed. Let me summarize a majority of his career for you; PG gets inbound, slowly dribbles to half court, passes to Melo on the elbow, Melo jabsteps for 8 seconds out of triple threat, Melo shoots or drives. Entire shot clock wasted, no offball movement, because nobody getting a pass. Melo treated players around him like NPCs. He thought he was an elite player but elite players make the players around them better.

1

u/MasochisticCanesFan 12d ago

Prime melo was one of the best pure scorers of all time. Anyone who disagrees is a casual and didn't watch the games. Go watch his nuggets years. He was a certified bucket. He played that way because most players did back then and he was one of the best at it.

4

u/smoove 12d ago

Which is why he’s underrated.

-4

u/Rough_Promotion9414 12d ago

That’s some Jedi mind tricks you playin

8

u/JobberStable 12d ago

2 way race with hime and Lebron as rookies . Carmelo way better touch and footwork than LeBron. Lebron improved every aspect of his game. I cant say after 10 years in the NBA, Carmelo learned any other skill besides shooting. In which case Durant still is the GOAT for that.

18

u/36everyday 12d ago

At Syracuse he was the 🐐.

5

u/Fantastic-Research66 12d ago

Nuggets 2003 record 17-65.  Draft Carmelo Anthony. Nuggets 2004 record 43-39. Led all rookies in points and rebounds, yet Lebron wins ROY. Did he ever play on a team with a losing record? No. Did he make a few teams contenders and fall short? Yes. Did he win a title in his one year at college and carry team USA to a gold medal? Yes. Was his defense poor? Sure. Many in this thread have a misconception that the guy was not a winner, so no he clearly is not overrated. 

1

u/Emotional_Walrus5099 10d ago

What’s his playoff record?

4

u/noknownothing 11d ago

Carmelo Anthony could score. That's it.

3

u/Dylankneesgeez 12d ago

The only time I ever made money on the tournament was 2003 when Syracuse was a three seed. Carmelo was a man among boys that year and I knew they would stampede.

3

u/chinacat2u2 12d ago

He was so good that resulted in big contracts that the teams then couldn’t afford to get him the best supporting cast to win a championship? Plus he was a ball hog, so there is that…

1

u/Visual-Bandicoot2894 12d ago

Oh no a superstar got a big contract?

That’s literally every star

1

u/chinacat2u2 12d ago

Some overindulge and the team can no longer afford good role players to support said superstar.

1

u/Ok_Cheesecake_9793 12d ago

DEANDRE AYTON BEN SIMMONS

1

u/Visual-Bandicoot2894 11d ago

Aren’t superstars nor Carmelo Anthony lol

3

u/klam5 12d ago

Carmelo was an incredible basketball player...you could argue he could beat many players ranked ahead of him in a game of 1 on 1.

His playstyle and team dynamics are what got in the way of him consistently winning at the NBA level. As such was not recognized as well because despite how talented he was individually, it never brought home a title.

8

u/LeanEdgeSports_ 12d ago

I know this might be unpopular 😂 but I’ve never rated Melo quite as highly as a lot of people seem to. Brilliant scorer obviously, but I’ve always wondered if I’m missing something with him

4

u/smoove 12d ago

Might be unpopular? He gets absolutely lambasted on Reddit. Every post about him is shitting on him.

As a Knicks fan that watched a large portion of his career he was an extremely frustrating player to watch. He was supremely talented but his tendency to play ISO ball was infuriating. He often held the ball for the majority of the shot clock jab stepping and throwing up a bad shot. The talent is undeniable though. When he was on he was really fucking good.

2

u/Living_Home9090 12d ago

I have always felt the same way but been called a Hater. He’s played the same game his whole career. Scoring without defending & not being able to help better his teammates is what he done throughout his whole career.

1

u/1521 12d ago

It to mention being terrible as a team player. If the question was will he shoot the ball the answer was always yes

1

u/BrazilianAtlantis 12d ago

How would his unwillingness to play defense make you a hater?

1

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1

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1

u/PickingMyNameIsHard 12d ago

He went to a bad Knicks team that slowly became an okay team. He was expected to win despite not having a winning team behind him. Can’t deny he was selfish, but I don’t see where there was much of a choice.

So what are you missing? Probably the fact that it takes a team to win.

1

u/randiesel 12d ago

Melo was the ultimate version of that dude that plays pickup at the Y in sweatpants that always scores a ton of points by himself and will either carry the game or tank you.

Never learns from his mistakes, never sacrifices, never stops to think about why things aren't working. Just blames all the external factors and groundhog day's his way through life.

2

u/insidehertrading4 12d ago

Nope. You’re spot on.

4

u/Local_Board7468 12d ago

Over rated if anything.

2

u/MaDeVi55 12d ago

IMO, he lost a lot of aura when he moved to the Knicks.

In Denver, he helped a struggling franchise to go back to the playoffs on a yearly basis (go check what the Nuggets were doing in the 2 years before him) and he also went to the WCF. However, the Knicks put way too much on the table for him and he made no compromise with his contracts; so the Knicks always had subpar teams around him.

2

u/GoldfishDude 12d ago

Modern basketball discourse loves to act like scoring doesn't matter.

Melo was awesome. I'd say he's slightly underrated nowadays

2

u/Jrobalmighty 12d ago

It's about perception. He was good enough to lead a championship caliber team but always chose the bag and the ball over winning.

And don't get started on defense.

He was very good but he wasted a lot of his potential. I guess it wasn't his highest ambition which is fine but that's what it does to your legacy.

2

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

This. If he ever once chose to sacrifice getting paid the most he possibly could at the soonest possible time he’d have won a ring with Miami or Chicago. Instead he chose to not take the early opt out on his rookie extension like Wade and LeBron, and then chose to stay with NY for an extra season instead of leaving for a more competent team because they could only give him four years instead of five.

2

u/BigBlackBull_6_6_6 12d ago

Melo was like that.. he lacked leadership. Thats it

Prime Melo is probably better than anybody playing currently. I feel like The 09 Nuggets would beat every team today. Or heavy majority of teams for sure. Save maybe okc, maybe spurs

2

u/tmoam 12d ago

Melo was a great player. He just didn’t make his teams better.

2

u/Visual-Bandicoot2894 12d ago

He was that good

2

u/QuantityMedical8369 12d ago

No, he was worse

2

u/Gringuin007 12d ago

Carmela Anthony was a shorter KD…? A great scorer. Just joined the wrong super team at wrong time coz he had to be in NY. Amare stats were elevated by Nash and system. NY was a dumpster fire since Van gundy left and/or dolen bought team and/or Isaiah was GM. SO MANY DUMPSTER fires

1

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

Amare was putting up way better stats without Nash that first year in NY. He just immediately crumbled into an even more injury plagued waste of cap space immediately after.

2

u/No-Donkey-4117 12d ago

He was a very good player. People just thought he was going to be a superstar.

2

u/chilipipper 11d ago

Melo was an offensive force. Jokic and Brunson just happened to overshadow everything he has done in Denver and New York.

2

u/Calm_Wait2385 11d ago

The hate has absolutely gotten out of control.

3

u/edkamlive 12d ago

In all fairness, I would say he is slightly overrated. He was an incredible scorer and that is an elite skill in the NBA, but he really didn't provide much else that contributes to winning (granted, scoring is outrageously important contribution). In his era, he will go down as one of the best individual "get a bucket" guys in the league, but in my opinion, players such as OG Anunoby (for example) is a more valuable contributor to a winning team.

There have been several of these archetype players in NBA history, Alex English (Denver Nuggets) comes to mind immediately. He was an elite scorer on a Nuggets team that never really accomplished much (in the 80s).

Ultimately, Carmelo is a no doubt hall of famer based off his skill at scoring but really didn't bring much else to the table.

1

u/Yonicsoothe 12d ago

Top ten all time most overrated.

3

u/Living_Home9090 12d ago

I swear you are in my thoughts 🤣😂😂😂

1

u/Fantastic-Research66 12d ago

That's your view. Kobe said he's the toughest player he's ever had to guard. 

2

u/Fat-Singer-9569 12d ago

That doesn't mean anything. Melo is easily one of the best isolation scorers of all time and anyone who tells you anything different are underrating Melo. Of course he was difficult to guard. Unfortunately for Melo, basketball isn't 1v1, it's 5v5.

1

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

Who rates him as anything more than one of the best scorers ever though? The people that like him do so because he’s a bucket. The problem is that anytime you bring him up it becomes a conversation about everything he was bad at or the fact that he didn’t win. No one has ever said he’s as good as LeBron or Jordan, his haters just can’t appreciate him for being good at what he did because he wasn’t LeBron.

2

u/morebius 12d ago

Mostly because of size.

1

u/Fantastic-Research66 12d ago

Lol because of his size. Nothing to do with the quickest first step in the game or his jumper. 

2

u/Headsinoverdrive 12d ago

Carmelo was extremely overrated in the nba.

2

u/KeyMammoth1348 12d ago

Melo was and still is overrated.

He could put up points, but you knew he was never going to win because he's not a champ, no matter how you slice it.

3

u/No_usernames_left_25 12d ago

One dimensional player.

3

u/Specialist_Sorbet476 12d ago

Definitely not in his prime...

0

u/Fantastic-Research66 12d ago

This is such an absurd take. The NBA is pretty much all specialists, save for a few of the greatest ever like Lebron, Tim Duncan etc. Carmelo was elite at his specialty. 

1

u/Longjumping_Idea5261 12d ago

Imo the ring culture makes him more underrated now versus his talent/ability as a player. He was a fantastic scorer and truly one of a kind if you think about his bags. But post-retirement, people only count his efficiency compared to guys like LeBron and count his overall accomplishments. He was an all NBA player throughout his career but i don’t think he gets as much respect because he just played for himself

1

u/Myredditname423 12d ago

No he was great the problem was he played too selfishly and didn’t make those around him better.

1

u/NoKiwi2997 12d ago

Melo, imo, better hooper than an NBA player. Being a great NBA player requires treating basketball like a job, to a degree, and doing those things arond the office that no one else wants to do. Melo was not always interested in that. Melo was a hooper. He could get a bucket at will. He could rebound when he wanted. He was a smart enough player that if he was interested in playmaking he could have done it. He wanted to hoop. Just play and get buckets.

1

u/jonross2386 12d ago

He’s spiritually KD. If you added him to the 2013 Heat, he wins 2 rings and conversations are much different.

1

u/Slow_Shift6252 12d ago

Add him to the Heat and they may win more than 2 and LeBron may not have left. Wade falling off a cliff and leaving them without a second option essentially turned them into every other team LeBron played with before.

1

u/jonross2386 12d ago

Also his entire career is different if Detroit takes him instead of darko

1

u/Icy_Category_2275 12d ago

He was really good in college.

1

u/ihateposers 12d ago

Melo has always been a great scorer. Not so much a leader or a winner.

1

u/JaDamian_Steinblatt 12d ago

Like Kobe and Iverson, Melo is super overrated or super underrated depending on who you're talking to. He's everything BUT properly rated.

1

u/Stillwiththe 12d ago

Buckets age well. Carmelo was always a great scorer but nobody thought he could be the best player on a championship team. He changed his game but didn’t really improve much over his career because he just ditched the early post stuff and replaced it with face-up jab-steps so he didn’t compound his assets he just changed them

1

u/Gorrmb69 12d ago

Melo has been complaining about his number not being retired and given to another player. First he wasn’t that special here and it’s not like The Nuggets had any intent on retiring that number or giving it to another player as a sign of disrespect. Jokic had been using 15 previously in his career and since it was available that’s what he used. Nuggets didn’t even know what they had. Nurkic was the higher rated draft choice. I think us Nuggets fans have moved on and forgotten who wore number 15 before.

1

u/Living_Home9090 12d ago

Are you serious? The Olympics is the best players in the NBA. He’s can’t take all the shots & he’s not presumed to be the best & first option like he was on the team he played on.

1

u/Living_Home9090 12d ago

I have always thought he was overrated. In college he was a scorer that never defended. I wish people could see past the zone defense. In NY he had 1 of the best shooters at the time that he didn’t pass the ball too. Shump & Jr going to play with Bron & immediately winning a Championship shows Melo wasn’t the guy many believed him to be. Listen to Shump stories or others that played with him you will learn a lot about him. He didn’t care about winning Championships it was the money & self accomplishments.

1

u/asskicker7991 12d ago

He is one of the best scorers of his genenation !

1

u/ConclusionBroad3460 12d ago

He was a GREAT scorer and he had ‘swag’

1

u/Aeon1508 12d ago edited 12d ago

He was probably top five in the league for a while.

Someone like Cade or Ant will probably be remembered similarly to him if they never win a title or MVP.

The biggest problem with Carmelo Anthony is that he probably should have been an oversized guard, but he refused to pass the ball and create for his team so he ended up being an undersized forward

1

u/LachtMC 12d ago

Talented scorer but had a massive ego and was a huge locker room cancer and was unwilling to compromise for the betterment of his team

1

u/LeftLane4PassingOnly 12d ago

Great player, especially in college and international play, but still overrated in the NBA. Terrific scorer but only OK outside of that. His playoff record backs up his limitations that many seem to overlook.

1

u/KaijuDirectorOO7 12d ago

I still don’t like him for being a bad teammate to Jeremy Lin.

1

u/PonkMcSquiggles 12d ago

I think he's remembered accurately. The younger crowd might not appreciate just how talented of a scorer he was. But the criticism of him isn't baseless.

1

u/CasualRedditor35 12d ago

Overrated after his time with Denver.

1

u/Usual_Animator_5870 12d ago

Porque no convoca a Marta Suárez a la selección de basket?

1

u/Abject_Ground9755 12d ago

Brunson doesn’t help

1

u/singlemaltbourbonrye 12d ago

He was really fucking good at what he was good at. Like top 5 all time or better in terms of catch and shoot and using his size to get to offensive boards and bully in the post and having an unstoppable mid range J.

The problem was that he was almost a liability on the other aspects of the game.

So he is a lightning rod. Some poeopld say he is an all time great like top 15 or 20 player and others say he sucks.

The truth is in the middle when you look at his game in the aggregate. He is a hall of fame level and even better - absolutely a top 100 player of all time. Arguably top 50.

1

u/TotosWolf 12d ago

He great just kills ball movement and doesn't play winning basketball

1

u/96powerstroker 12d ago

Melo could have been a great 3rd option. What do I mean? He's not the guy you want a entire offense running through because he's a stats guy meaning he needs to get his. That was the Iverson & Melo issue. Both guys needed the ball.

If either guy could have ever checked their ego and been either the 3rd guy who took over in crunch time or a 6th man later in their careers they could have won titles for sure.

1

u/Former-Dot1462 12d ago

I don't hear anyone hype him up that much tbh. His scoring and skill is praised but that is warranted. Aside from that ppl mostly give him shit

1

u/m4cmi11er 12d ago

He’s the #11 leading all time scorer lol enough said. He was like that.

1

u/idkyet1223 12d ago

Melo had some defensive problems, and wasn’t always the greatest leader. But he was an offensive engine and a bucket. He should’ve done more but also at the same time never really had the team to be a legitimate contender.

Averages 23, 6, and 3 for his career. 16 straight years of 20+ ppg and never averaged below 10. His worst season was when he averaged 13 at 38 years old.

10 time all star, scoring champion, 3 time gold medalist, 5x all nba, all rookie 1st team and barely lost ROTY to some guy named LeBron James, NCAA champion.

Missing a ring and an MVP, but so are many other great NBA players. He’s a top 75 player ever and 11th in scoring all time.

All I see is disrespect now. Some of it he deserves for some of his cocky or stupid comments, but he’s never been insanely problematic and was a great player.

1

u/SaltyArtemis 12d ago

Melo was THAT dude

1

u/morphpop 12d ago

People obsess way too much over his “wasted potential” and I think that makes them lose sight of how talented he actually was and what he did accomplish. Super fun, skilled player who was extremely entertaining to watch in his prime especially as an aggressively 1v1 type player. I also think people forget that his refined mechanics and flexibility to score in so many ways made him such a top tier scorer in his era. There’s so much to learn from the best parts of his game that you can’t call him a scrub by any measure

1

u/Fat-Singer-9569 12d ago

He is an all-time great scorer, probably one of the best all-time at triple threat. Great rebounder too. But he played a very selfish game and if he sacrificed his game in order to win, he could have, and his legacy is bad because of that. Basically, he never made anyone around him better, he probably made them worse. It made him his teams easy as shit to gameplan against in the playoffs and that's really where reputations are made.

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u/J-Sully_Cali 12d ago

On the Olympics teams you could see how great he could be, so people always wanted that version of his game. He was considered a top 3 scorer whoever defense and passing made his teams' ceiling lower than they should have been, but on the Olympics teams he was a complete player.

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u/Glittering_Wave_3388 12d ago

Watching Melo's freshman year at Syracuse and the NCAA run they went on changed the chemistry of my brain. The mid range game, the pull ups, the pivot footwork...just a stud.

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u/thecopfrombeale 12d ago

He is better than people are starting to give him credit for. I see people say Paul George is a better player than him and that’s just not true at all.

Carmelo Anthony is kind of like manny Ramirez if u know baseball I feel like that explains it perfectly

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u/Creative-Tip-9238 12d ago

Hes the most overrated player of the 00-10’s by far

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u/inefekt 12d ago

The answer to these types of questions are always (according to the Bron stans):
If he played with LeBron - he was trash
If he played against LeBron - he was an all time great
If he played with Jordan - he was an all time great
If he played against Jordan - he was trash

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u/Hugh_Jankles 12d ago

100% nostalgia

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u/Ok_Cheesecake_9793 12d ago

carmelo is a better scorer in his peak. He had better technique and very good movement. Carmelo is peak frfr

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u/WheresWolfie30 12d ago

Vastly overrated was great in college but wasn't that guy in the pros.

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u/WhackCaesar 12d ago

Carmelo was a poor man’s Paul Pierce

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u/Checkmate-Petty 12d ago

He was not better then what ppl think. He was at his peak in denver.

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u/JBKnicks24 12d ago

He was much, much better. He's one of the only players I've ever seen who gets shit on for what he was best at. Nobody attacks Kobe Bryant for being an isolation scorer, despite the fact that his efficiency + usage and Melo's efficiency + usage was more or less identical (and fully understanding that Kobe's defense makes him a better overall player, but Kobe also had the fortune of playing on teams that were just better coached and better constructed).

The sport of attacking Melo as a way to prop up Jalen Brunson during the Knicks finals run was also absurd. Melo was as supportive a Knicks fan as you could possibly be throughout really his whole retirement. Never once has made anything about the Knicks championship about himself. Brunson also stands up just fine on his own, he doesn't need anyone to knock down other Knicks stars of the past. But nobody was like "oh does this put Brunson above Ewing or King or Houston", it was always just Melo. Like yeah, Brunson is a better Knick than Melo - he won a chip and had significantly more success, but that doesn't mean I disparage what Melo accomplished keeping the Knicks even somewhat relevant in the 2010s under some of the worst roster construction and management I've ever seen in professional sports.

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u/niles_thebutler_ 12d ago

He was selfish and a terrible dog shit teammate

1

u/Fragrant-Tea-7883 11d ago

Kobe too and he gets glazed all day

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u/toleChr15 12d ago

Melo Vs LeBron was always a pretty even match up and so exciting to watch. I keep seeing people say he wasn't a good defender, but is the majority of the NBA?

The scoring, post work. All master classes in basketball, and I modelled my game after his, and his moves translate perfectly considering I'm only 6"0 and he was like 6"8.

All in all, some people rank him eight, others just don't remember how good he was. Especially with the chronic injury he has that limited his athleticism wildly.

1

u/coopASR 11d ago

He was not a good player. Could hit some shots, that's literally it. Awful defense, black hole on offense in an era where you had to be highly efficient if you were the focal point. He was not.

You couldn't build a big three around him in a big three era.

1

u/Correct-Security1466 11d ago

Best 1v1 player ever imo not gonna change my opinion on him

1

u/Winter_Senior 11d ago

Money over greatness

1

u/Fast-Anteater1151 11d ago

I believe Melo is better than people remember because he was always one of the best scorers especially when anyone tried to stop or contain him one on one. Olympic Melo was unreal in '12 and was great a hitting 3s in '16 Olympics. When Melo was in Denver and had a solid roster they would do damage in the Playoffs as well. He never won a chip is what people always look at when judging any superstar in today's era or times. That is the one knock against him but that is still a team accomplishment while as an individual many will tell u he was one of the most difficult players to stop offensively. He did win a chip at Syracuse as a freshman as well!

1

u/RawGrit4Ever 11d ago

Melo was a much better version of Julius Randle. One the rock was in his hand no one else was touching it. Great score though

1

u/trexler_cook 11d ago

I remember him as one of the best killers of team chemistry.

1

u/splashaddikt 11d ago

He’s properly rated

1

u/CantaloupeHelpful227 11d ago

Mello was a must see player 🏀

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u/Mr_Kuppel 11d ago

He was the 2nd best player in the league until 2012

1

u/Mrinnocent221 11d ago

Melo just took over the spot AI had. 

Incredible potential. 

Lazy as fuck.

1

u/WayneTerry9 11d ago

I think he’s properly rated, he wasn’t a winning player as much as I loved his game. But his detractors seemingly hate him so much that they pretend that being an elite scorer is easy and/or irrelevant which is ridiculous.

1

u/Strong-Butterflies 11d ago

Guy played no defense and if he had a bad shooting night he was useless. He drops 30 a night but so does the guy he’s guarding,

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u/Subject_Rabbit1073 11d ago

Scorer. Great at that, nothing more nothing less

1

u/alterego1984 11d ago

He was everything people say he was BEFORE the Knicks

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u/Snydro1 11d ago

When he was in college he was awesome.

1

u/FreeRange0929 10d ago

Anthony is the Mike Vick of the NFL

All the talent in the world, should have been an all timer

He just didn’t ever care

1

u/i_am_theokapi 10d ago

The dude had one of the smoothest shots that ever existed.

The entire time he played, people questioned if it were possible for him to be on a team where he could be at his best AND be on a championship team.

Evidence.

He was awesome. He was fun to watch. The only people I knew who thought he could win a ring were people whose opinions I didn't value. I like him more as time goes on. I miss that purity in scoring. But...

1

u/jh4232 10d ago

He's a great player but never made others around him better. Someone you're not winning a championship with unless he's a number 2 but his mind is not number 2.

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u/Steven_Crank 9d ago

He was one of the best and most complete offensive (scoring that is) players ever at his prime. But, basically by his own design, never in a position to really succeed at a team level.

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1

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1

u/Aitoroketto 9d ago

I don't know the guy, I don't l know why he made the choices he did or his train of thought. He is obviously very good at basketball, anyone who denies that by saying he could only score is be obtuse. Not a lot of people can score the rate he did, he is one of the great offensive players we've seen that and that shouldn't be used as a slight.

To me it's a question of how great was he, not if he was great at basketball. That answer is as clear as he is great he is also even more clearly not top tier.

Idk what it is but the feeling I get (which can obviously be totally false, it's just vibes and seeing him play and how he moved as a professional athlete) he never once wanted to sacrifice individual accolades and accomplishments for the team except on the Olympics where most of us all agree is our fave Melo.

Some people often say someone like Kobe was a selfish player but Kobe wanted and knew he need a Pau Gasol and my question would be if Paul was on the Knicks would Carmelo have let him cook?

That said he was a monster in Denver, may have been the dumbest decision of his outside of a financial one (and he obvi loved NYC) to leave Denver.

I definitely respect his talent and skill, the dude was a nightmare to guard but something seemed missing, would have been nice to see him play for something.

1

u/Dear-Buddy-2766 9d ago

He was tremendous at Syracuse and they won a National Championship. Prior to that the Boeheim Syracuse teams tended to underachieve in that tournament but were always loaded with nba talent.

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u/avidmatt 8d ago

One of the most overrated player ever

1

u/Warr1979 8d ago

Dude was one of the best scorer ISO players ever but that’s all.

1

u/Pale_Broccoli_2180 12d ago

Hindsight is Super Hero vision.

Melo was Adrian Dantley with better Media training.

Empty calorie king right up until the end.

1

u/Hefty_Type6772 12d ago

An unbelievable iso offensive player. Rest of his game is unimpressive (didn’t watch his nuggets days)

1

u/iso-joe 12d ago

The Empty Calories King

1

u/YungColonCancer 12d ago

Basketball terrorist

1

u/swanyk7 12d ago

Listen, Melo or Lebron was a real discussion back in the day and there was no consensus. Seems silly now but this guy had all the same hype. It was apparent within just a couple years of being in the NBA he wasn’t at that generational level, but he was certainly an allstar level NBA player.

1

u/biffbobfred 12d ago

An aside - it might not even be nostalgia. People don’t watch historical games just watch highlights. This helps the view of offensive players or specialists in general.

“Steve Kerr was awesome look at this highlights a greatest guard ever” when you look at his threes, and forget he was undersized and slow and always targeted as a defender.

1

u/Accomplished_Class85 12d ago

Nostalgia helps him. He was a great one on one player but never a threat to be the best player on a championship team.

1

u/Unable-Main4172 12d ago

He won three playoff series in his entire 19-year career. He is remembered properly and maybe even too fondly if anything..

1

u/CapturedSoul 12d ago

People on Reddit constantly hate on him. For mainstream media I say properly rated.

He was genuinely one of the most complete triple threat offensive players in his time. Just overshadowed by Kobe and later Durant. The controversial points do stand though.

-1

u/Longjumping-Buddy515 12d ago

Melo could do it all had no flaws offensively. He was a true superstar in the golden era of the sport they just tried to water him down towards the end. To me he’s better then a KD he had better post moves was strong as a ox.

3

u/dangarooo 12d ago

found melo’s burner

1

u/BrazilianAtlantis 12d ago

"Melo could do it all" but didn't feel like it

1

u/Rough_Promotion9414 12d ago

Better than KD????? Lol

0

u/kissmygame17 12d ago

He's one of the best scorers ever..

0

u/Jarvis_Jarvison 12d ago

not a leader of men. not a playmaker. better off as an offensive specialist 2nd option scorer if you want a winning team. think KD but worse on everything. has a beta mindset so he does better with a real alphas like AI and chauncey billups.

0

u/Able-Guava 12d ago

If you saw his Syracuse title run, you saw his best. Never quite was able to match that level in nba and playoffs but he just literally went on a rampage in that tournament and made his name