Carmelo Anthony: A (Stevie) Franchise Player With No Super In His Star

From the triple-threat position, out to about 18 feet, isolated in one-on-one man coverage, Carmelo Anthony is one of the deadliest scorers I have ever seen touch a basketball.  Off the top of my head, Melo's mid-range game--his greatest strength--ranks somewhere up there; a notch above Glenn Robinson and a level or two down from Michael Jordan.

He isn't the best shooter, certainly no Reggie Miller, but the fact he can consistently hit the jumper in your face, blow by you off the dribble, or flat-out bully the hell out of you right to the rim makes him one of the game's toughest assignments.

With all that said, I'm no fan of Carmelo Anthony.

The guy plays defense like a "walker" from The Walking Dead--he sees you and attempts to get you, but unless your ankle is busted, he's no real danger.  Offensively, in a half-court set, his style of play never fails to disappoint in creating the four-guys-standing-around-watching-one-guy-with-the-ball situation.

Such a scenario is Ok every so often, especially late in the 4th Quarter, or if the guy is named Jordan or Shaq; otherwise, it usually doesn't work out too well.  After all, basketball is a team game.

So given Melo's shortcomings and style of play, it should come as no surprise he has seen the second round of the playoffs only once in eight seasons.  Once.  Melo-led teams are a combined 16-34 in the playoffs, including a broom loss to the Boston Celtics last season.

What's crazy though is 10 of those 16 wins came in his lone serious playoff run with the Denver Nuggets in 2009.  Melo was mostly a monster in the postseason that year, averaging 27.2 points on 45 percent shooting, grabbing 5.8 rebounds and dishing 4.1 assists.  Of course, in typical inefficient superstar fashion, facing elimination, Melo shot just 22-69 (32 percent) over the last four games of Conference Finals against the L.A. Lakers (the Lakers won three of the four games decidedly and closed out the series).

Remove that one significant playoff run in 2009, and Melo-led teams are just 6-28 in the playoffs.

Nice.  Way to go Knicks.  This is the guy you traded your whole team for after he signed a three-year, $65-million extension?

Oh, my bad, that's right... he gets buckets!

Of course, the Knicks with Ray Felton & Co. were 28-26 (.519) before the deal and 25-32 (.439) afterward.  Meanwhile, the Nuggets went from 29-21 (.580) with Melo to 37-28 (.569) without--not bad considering the competitive division Denver plays in and the inexperience (Danilo Galinari, Wilson Chander, Timofey Mozgov) they received in return for a "superstar."

This all for a guy who in the 2011-2012 season is the 8th-highest paid player in the NBA?

I remember when the Knicks dealt for Melo.  I was so pissed off about it I posted my feelings about it on Facebook and waited to grill anyone who disagreed.

"He's a top-10 player," is what I mostly heard.  Over and over and over again.  That and, "he won a national championship at Syracuse."

Ok, I thought...  just wait and see.  After all, Denver wasn't the least bit worried about losing him, but yet New York was sure it was receiving its second dose of Patrick Ewing-like star power.

61 games later I can't help but wonder if Knicks fans are still as enthusiastic as they were when they traded for Melo.  $18.5 million this year for an 11-14 record (in games he played)?  In a division that features the rebuilding New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors, a Celtics squad in hospice, and a young and talented, but mostly raw and unproven Philadelphia 76ers bunch?

This is a "top-10 player?"  At what point does the mind wander into the land of logic and start asking some serious questions?

"Is he better than LeBron?"  

(Laughter)

"Durant?" 

(More Laughter)

"Dirk?"

(Come on, quit being silly)

"Paul Pierce?"

(No)

"Would you rather have Rudy Gay?"

(Probably)

"Kevin Love?"

(I think so)

"Andre Iguodala?"

(Maybe)

"How about Danny Granger, Luol Deng, or Gerald Wallace?"

If you're one of the folks out there who feel Melo is better than any of these guys, ask yourself how much better.  Because when you factor in leadership, locker room presence, defense, hustle, the intangibles, age, health, and money, if the overall package of Melo beats the product any of these guys offer, it's by inches, not feet, not yards, and certainly not light years.

This season Melo does not even rank in the top-20 of any category.  He's averaging 21.4 points per game on 25.3 shots (field goal and free throw attempts).  He ranks 39th in the league in PER (19.1) among all players with as many minutes played.

If you want to say it's because he's hurt or whatever, that's fine, because the truth is Melo has not been 100 percent healthy this season.  With that said, if you take a closer look at some of his stats, you might be inclined to put all health-related excuses to rest.

Among all players who averaged at least 34 minutes per game over the past five seasons:

-Only LeBron, Kobe, and D-Wade have a higher Usage Rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor).  In other words, Melo has had superstar-level opportunity.

-13 players, including Al Jefferson and Chris Bosh, have a higher PER (20.9).

-36 players, including Tayshaun Prince and Rashard Lewis, have a higher Offensive Rating (an estimate of points produced per 100 possessions).

-21 players, including David West and Gerald Wallace, have more Win Shares (and estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player).

Yes, Melo has scored a ridiculous amount of points and only four guys have a better points-per-game average during this period.  But these numbers were accumulated due to that superstar-level opportunity.  Give Deng 25 chances to score each game and he'll be in the top-five in scoring.  Only two players in the last five years, LeBron and Kobe, have averaged more field goal attempts per game than Melo.

Kobe has rings.  LeBron has reached the NBA Finals twice.  D-Wade has one ring and played f0r another.  Dirk has a ring in two Finals appearances.  Durant?  His team, OKC, can win it all this year.

Where's Melo?

I'll tell you.  He's with Joe Johnson, Monta Ellis and Kevin Martin.  He's on that level of "superstar."

Quit kidding yourself, Knicks fans... this is Steve Francis Redux.

Big name.  Big hype.  Big rep.  Big scorer.

Big nothing where it matters most.