New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony (7) reacts after hitting a 3-point shot against the Dallas Mavericks during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Feb. 24, 2014, in New York. Dallas won 110-108. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Carmelo Anthony has gotten a little more sympathy these days after dealing with Phil Jackson as his GM, but in general, he’s still one of the most disliked and disrespected NBA stars in the league. Here, I’m going to play the role of Johnnie Cochran and defend Melo from all those charges he’s accused of, one by one.
(1) He’s not a winner
It’s ironic that this has become the rap on Carmelo Anthony because he had the exact opposite reputation during the early stages of his career.
After playing at high school powerhouse Oak Hill, Anthony was more than ready for the big stage in the NCAA. Even as a freshman, he displayed a polished array of skills, lighting it up for 22.0 points and 10.0 rebounds a game.
Despite his efforts, his Syracuse team wasn’t considered a title favorite — they only entered the tournament as a #3 seed in their region. Still, Anthony rose to the occasion and stepped up his level of play, helping his team beat two #1 seeds and then a #2-seed Kansas to win the national title — with Anthony winning Most Outstanding Player in the process.
Anthony got drafted by the 17-65 Denver Nuggets and immediately helped push them into the playoffs — something that fellow rookie LeBron James didn’t do for his Cleveland Cavaliers. In fact, some writers even claimed Anthony should have won Rookie of the Year for just that reason — he was the ultimate “winner.”
Going forward, Anthony wound up making the playoffs for the next TEN SEASONS in a row, first with Denver and then the N.Y. Knicks. That resume — coupled with three Olympic Gold Medals — hardly makes Anthony a “loser” of a player. Sure, he peaked in the Conference Finals, but that’s further than some of his more respected peers like Chris Paul.
The last few years with the Knicks have been rocky and have helped establish the knock on Anthony that he’s not a “winner” — but for the vast majority of his prime, that wasn’t the case. No, he’s not LeBron James — someone who can get you to the NBA Finals on his own — but he’s a lead dog who consistently played for winning teams. That’s something that other stars like Kevin Love, or Kyrie Irving, or even Anthony Davis weren’t able to do in their early career.
(2) He’s not an efficient player
There’s some element of truth to this because Carmelo Anthony’s isolation style and mid-range game — while impressive to watch — aren’t the most efficient brand of basketball. His career field goal percentage is 45.2% and his three point percentage is 34.6% — both decent marks but nothing to write home about.
But let’s not forget what makes Carmelo Anthony an extremely consistent scorer — his ability to get to the free throw line. He’s averaged at least 7.0 free throw attempts per game in nine separate seasons, and over 8.5 per game in three. Last year’s mark of 4.9 per game was his lowest of his career. When you shoot 80+% like Anthony does, that puts boards on the board game after game, year after year.
In fact, Carmelo Anthony has averaged at least 20 points per game every season of his 14-year career. Think about that. 14 years in a row. People have devalued scoring these days, but that takes a hell of a lot of work and a hell of a lot of consistency. That’s nearly 1000 games of churning out points, night after night.
You can dismiss that as Anthony being shot-happy and unwilling to pass (although his 3+ assists per game are more than Kawhi Leonard has averaged over the last three years) — but let’s counter with this: who was Carmelo Anthony going to pass to? Who’s his best teammate? Has he ever played with another star?
The closest you can think of would be post-prime Allen Iverson on Denver. How did that pairing go? In terms of wins and losses, not great. But in terms of efficiency…? Better than you remember.
At the time, the Nuggets didn’t do those two many favors on the offensive end. Their starting lineup usually surrounded their stars with three non-scorers in Anthony Carter, Kenyon Martin, and Marcus Camby — presuming AI and Carmelo could handle the entire offense themselves. In today’s day and age, we’d bristle at that notion and cry about how inefficient it’d be.
But as it turned out — the two actually did raise their level of play together. In fact, in their lone full season together (2007-08), both shot a career high from the field. Iverson, a career 42.5% shooter, upped that mark to 45.8%. Carmelo Anthony shot 49.2% from the field that year — a heck of a mark for a still-developing 23-year-old. Those Nuggets teams had several flaws, but it does make you wonder how Anthony’s career could have been different if he had played alongside another star for the majority of his career.
(3) He sucks on defense
There’s no question that Carmelo Anthony hasn’t played lights-out defense, so I’m not going to argue that he has.
That said, you could make the same criticism for a lot of high-volume NBA stars like James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Heck, even LeBron James started to get flak for loafing on defense lately. When you handle that much responsibility on offense, it’s difficult to dominate on D as well.
But I would submit that Carmelo Anthony’s defensive reputation is unfair for two reasons. Most simply: he’s not a bad defender. He has the ability to competently guard small forwards and the strength to guard most power forwards as well — that versatility helps him in today’s NBA landscape. Right now (at age 33) Anthony is below-average defensively, but for the majority of his career I’d say he was “OK.”
Now, coaches and pundits may not accept “OK” for a player of Carmelo Anthony’s caliber. He should be a GREAT defender — right? Well, maybe not.
In fact, I suspect that Anthony was never going to be a dominant defender. The truth is: Anthony isn’t an elite athlete (by NBA standards). He’s not a high-flying, long-armed, quick-twitch athletic freak by any means. He succeeds with skill and polish on offense more so than any supernatural gifts or quickness. Players like that don’t become lock down defenders — you need certain physical gifts like Kawhi Leonard has. Certainly, Anthony could have tried harder, gotten in better shape, and been an above-average defender — but I’d counter that he was never going to be an All-Defense type of player. We don’t hate on guys like Dirk Nowitzki for not being stellar defenders, knowing that they have some physical limitations — but we don’t extend that same courtesy for players like Anthony.
(4) He’s not going to move the needle for Houston (or Cleveland, or Portland, or OKC, or wherever he goes)
Probably not. At this stage in the game, Carmelo Anthony will most likely only add 2-3 wins to a contending team. But it’s unfortunate for Anthony that the first time he could potentially play with elite teammates will be when he’s 33 years old and on the clear decline of his career. It’ll be an unfair way to judge his “style of play” and how much of a “winner” he is — but that’s about par for the course. Carmelo Anthony has been unfairly bashed for most of his career, in my mind. He’s not on the level of a superstar like LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard — but he’s had a great career that’s going to be more maligned that it should be.
