Carmelo Anthony Is Not A Top 60 Player In The NBA
Recently, ESPN released their new NBA player rankings. Most of the picks so far have been stellar picks, until ESPN ranked former superstar, Carmelo Anthony, the 64th best player in the NBA.
Carmelo Anthony was an NBA superstar at one time, but those times are many years in the past. The sports world was in shock after seeing where Carmelo Anthony was ranked on the ESPN pre-season player rankings. In the sports world, not one person was more outraged than Stephen A. Smith. On his own show First Take, that airs on ESPN, the company that made the rankings, Smith stated:
“Everybody, just because we all work at ESPN together, don’t believe that we all believe the same things. We do have independent personalities, and you’re looking at one. This poll is a disgrace. It’s an embarrassment. As far as I’m concerned, the damn network should be ashamed for having the poll. Who the hell came up with this list? Because they clearly know nothing about the game of basketball. I don’t want to hear some stuff about some garbage criteria that you could come up with. There are 30 teams in the NBA. By putting 63 players ahead of Carmelo Anthony, you are saying that at least two players on every team is better than Carmelo Anthony.”
I’m sorry Stephen A, but you are incorrect. Carmelo Anthony, the face of arguably the most historic NBA franchise of all time, has shot the Knicks into a playoff drought. How can you consider Carmelo Anthony anything better than a top 60 player if the Knicks haven’t came close to the playoffs since 2012?Melo’s play style is a CANCER to modern day basketball.
Anthony’s good friend, Lebron always talked about how he wants to play alongside Melo in the future, but in reality he never will because he knows the truth. Melo is not what he used to be! On top of that, Bron Bron does not want to have to deal with Melo’s enormous contract. Now I will say that Melo will probably average around 18 points a night and probably go for 30 about twice a month, but he will not contribute to winning games whatsoever.
Now ask yourself this, if you had a team full of role players and you had the choice between Melo and Lonzo, who would you choose to accumulate the most wins? Now most people bring up the fact that Lonzo has not played a minute of NBA basketball yet, and that is true. But he is the right choice.
Lonzo is a good teammate the way he sets his teammates up to score, he can shoot the rock, and he has an extremely high basketball IQ that will continue growing. Let’s compare him to the Warriors, The Warriors are without a doubt the best team right now and look at what they do well. They are good teammates, they shoot 3s at a high percentage, they have an extremely high basketball IQ, they hustle and play good defense, and they pass the ball extremely well. All of those traits describe Lonzo Ball while you can make an argument and show examples of how the mid range specialist, selfish, ball stopper that does not play any defense in Carmelo Anthony does not fit in at all. RIGHT NOW, I would without a doubt choose Lonzo over Melo.
It is time for the Porzingas age in New York and Melo needs to find a new role. Carmelo in Denver was a fantastic player, but age and the change of style of play have affected him negatively. The NBA is moving in a direction of constant ball movement and shooting 3s at a high percentage. Melo’s game focuses around his mid-range jump-shot and taking guys 1 on 1 to the rim. History has shown that the NBA is a copy cat league and teams are going to try to focus on a style of play like the Warriors.
Carmelo’s skillset may be higher than top 60 in the NBA, and it’s very possible that he can crack the top 20 in points per game, but in order to build winning basketball in the current NBA Carmelo Anthony can’t contribute to your team, and shouldn’t be considered a top 60 player in the NBA.
