Society Top 50: No. 33 – Carmelo Anthony

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Carmelo Anthony

Name: Carmelo Anthony

Ranking: 33

Team: New York Knicks

2016-17 Regular Season Traditional Stats: 22.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 43.3 FG%, 35.9 3PT%, 83.3 FT%

2016-17 Regular Season Advanced Stats: 17.9 PER, 53.5 TS%, 4.7 WS, 1.5 OBPM, -2.2 DBPM, 0.8 VORP

The Breakdown: 

Carmelo Anthony is one of the most scrutinized players in the NBA, whether it’s from fans, the media, or his own team. He’s been surrounded by a ton of gossip and nonsense for the past season. Murmuring about his contract, his no-trade clause, and how his general manager wanted to get rid of him. Everything that has been spoken about Carmelo Anthony has been about everything besides his play on the court.

Anthony is still one of the best scorers that we have in the NBA today. He still has that old school aspect to his game that some of the traditional basketball fans enjoy. Mid-range is where he strives and he’s damn near unstoppable.

Obviously, as he ages entering his 15th season, Carmelo Anthony doesn’t have that quickness and explosion that he once had. The drives to the basket are starting to diminish and he’s beginning to rely more on his pump fakes and footwork. At this point in his career, he’s more effective as a stretch four in pick and pops but also in the post at times.

The downside to his career has been the question of if he makes his teammates better. The New York forward hasn’t really been the one to lead the league in assists. The huge critique with him has been his love of isolations. Carmelo loves to get the ball and jab and jab and jab and jab some more to look for his shot which really isn’t the way of the league anymore. Isolation basketball has been wavering away in the NBA as more and more teams look to transition into motion basketball. Which is why the love of Carmelo Anthony has begun to fade away.

Carmelo Anthony
Hoodie Melo (via IG: @CarmeloAnthony)

However, coming into the 2017-2018 season, I’m expecting a new and improved Carmelo. We’ve seen a lot of his summer workouts and the emergence of “Hoodie Melo”. He’s been looking like he’s on a mission and I believe a lot of that is due to everything he dealt with last year in regards to Phil Jackson. While it’s been reported that Carmelo Anthony would waive his trade clause for only a few teams, nothing has come to fruition yet and as the season gets closer, it looks like nothing is going to happen. No one expects for the Knicks to be good next season but in order to do so, Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis have to take the lead. For them to be successful, Carmelo Anthony has to play like the 2014-2015 Melo where he got more guys involved and moved the ball and I believe he’s capable of that. With everyone doubting him and all the turmoil that he’s had to deal with, expect a great season from Carmelo Anthony next season.

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