"Slam" online’s rating of Carmelo Anthony has stirred a large and divided debate among NBA observers. Was Melo’s ranking as the 15th best player in the league right or wrong? Obviously the New York Knicks Forward in question believes he has certainly been sold short in their player rankings. And to make such comments that he did on Instagram, then it wasn’t just that Melo felt he should have been a place or two higher either.
Is the 2016 version of Carmelo Anthony still a top 10 player in today’s NBA?
This is the most subjective question in all of sport, and it can relate to any player, in any sport, from any era.There is no way of finding a definitive answer, but there is a way for each individual to break it down, to offer their own opinion on the matter.
Saying “Anthony’s better than Blake” or tweeting “Melo is $#*t” is not really going to help in ending a debate – it only contributes to starting a new one.
Firstly, at 32-years old, and after numerous injuries in recent years, Carmelo seems to be on the wrong end of his prime basketball years.2012-13 was Anthony’s standout season with the Knicks, helping New York to a second place finish in the East. He was recognised in the MVP voting, being the only player not named LeBron James to grab a first place vote – finishing third in the overall poll behind LeBron and Kevin Durant.
But since then, multiple players have ultimately surpassed Melo as the super humans of the league. Knicks basketball has unfortunately become much more of an on running joke that is getting rather boring now – none more so than for the Knickerbockers themselves.James Harden, Blake Griffin, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, Draymond Green and even Joakim Noah have been in the MVP running since then.
And the last two seasons no one has really even considered Melo in the debate.
Reasons why Slam online were right to rank Anthony at 15
It's certainly easy enough to name 7 players that are currently better – again this is a matter of opinion – than Melo. In no particular order you have; LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard.
Then there are the more subjective players, including Klay Thompson, Paul George, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry and Blake Griffin.
As the layers are folded back, it can be seen that the rating may well be spot on, but it remains a very subjective matter.Defensively Anthony can be undervalued, but he certainly doesn't come under the bracket of a two-way player.
He is also a poor facilitator when you consider how much of the ball that Anthony will see during his minutes on the floor. But that shouldn't be a knock against his game, that just isn’t the sort of player than Anthony is. The position of Small Forward is evolving, but directing your game to being a Point Forward isn’t a must for all players. But in the case of the Knicks, it would certainly have helped with the recent struggles at Point Guard.
Coming to Melo's defence
Anthony is still one of the best scorers in the league, and certainly one of the best shot creators. Even if his drive to the rim is not quite as threatening, he can still score from basically anywhere in and just outside of the three-point line, and for a player that “doesn’t rebound” – I think we’ve all spotted this on the social media sites a few times – 7.7RPG last season wasn’t half bad.
And in spite of being noted by so many as a 20-25 shots per game player, he has only exceeded 20 shots per game in 5 of his 14 seasons in the NBA – the most being 22.4 in his 4th year in the league with the Denver Nuggets.
So while I can conceive why Carmelo Anthony would be unhappy with his rankings, I can in all honesty see why SLAMOnline would name 14 players in the league currently better than the Small Forward.I would certainly rank Melo higher myself, but I can no longer place Anthony as a top 10 player in the league.
