Note: The Emotion section is for us to spill any burning thoughts, feelings, concerns, or ideas strictly through an emotional lens. This entry is for the ridiculous notion that Jared Dudley should be criticizing Carmelo Anthony.
You might have heard that Milwaukee Bucks forward Jared Dudley recently when on The Herd and called Carmelo Anthony the league’s most overrated player,
The reason why I say Carmelo is because Carmelo is viewed as a top-five player. He’s viewed in the NBA as a top-five.
Carmelo, he has the talent to be able to be able to facilitate – the triangle should fit him where he’s got to make guys better, and defensively, he’s got to take the next level up.
But Carmelo, he’s got to get out. He’s got to get out of the first/second round. He’s got to get teams to the playoffs.
LeBron, with that roster, LeBron would have gotten them to the playoffs. They would have been at least the eight seed.
Here’s the issue that led me to tweet this once I realized how much it was bothering me:
Jared Dudley, can you guard Melo? No. So just chill. I’m not cool with that.
— Martin S. (@marley_mcfly) May 28, 2015
Why was Jared Dudley, someone who knowingly couldn’t stop Carmelo Anthony from dropping 50 on his head on any given night, calling Carmelo Anthony the most overrated player in the league? This only struck me as absurd.
The problem, of course, is what’s currently happening with the Cleveland Cavaliers. As I feared for Carmelo (and for the record, I’m not some diehard Carmelo Anthony or Knicks fan) his former teammates J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert are being put to use by the consummate playmaker in LeBron James, and Carmelo’s leadership skills are now being mocked and challenged more than ever before as LeBron has led them to an NBA Finals appearance. And I understand that.
I understand the knock on Carmelo, which in some way is applicable to all ring-less stars. It’s hard not to understand unless you’re one of those diehard fans. Chauncey Billups, who played with Melo in Denver and New York, even spoke on Carmelo’s leadership tendencies. Those kind of credible critiques are fine by me, but I’m not giving any merit to Jared Dudley calling someone overrated who he himself wants zero parts of on the basketball court. For me, that doesn’t add up, and frankly, there’s nothing overrated about one of the most talented offensive players in the league.
And apparently it registered to Jared Dudley, because he apologized for the criticism.
Dudley appeared on ESPN New York 98.7 FM’s “Hahn & Humpty Show” and apologized for calling Anthony the most overrated player in the league.
“I shouldn’t have said that that was my fault for saying that because it’s not the truth,” Dudley told hosts Alan Hahn and Rick DiPietro. “… I apologize for saying that about Carmelo.
“You get kind of frustrated at times seeing because of him having to make his other guys better and defensively certain things, but for me to say he’s the most overrated that was wrong for me to say. He’s arguably a top 3 or 4 scorer, between him (Kevin Durant) and (Russell Westbrook). But if you see, that’s not enough in this league. If [you’re] a No. 1 guy and you’re a max guy, this is a superstar league, you have to be able to do certain things.”
Good man, because that was just stupid.
