How much would prime Melo average in today's game?

That Lakers and nuggets series was one for the ages. I can remember watching every game stressed cuz Melo was going toe to toe with Kobe

Looks like I went on lunch right on time to catch this video.

Been waiting years for this vid tbh, Melo was literally my favorite player growing up. Basketball hasn't been the same for me since he retired. 😪

Melo wasn’t just a skilled scorer, he was a totally relentless one. His ability to sniff out his own misses and get mix it up with bigs for offensive boards was incredibly underrated especially at his peak

4:35 i dont know why but i could've sworn that Kobe said the hardest person for him to ever guard was Tracy McGrady

One of the most gifted scorers we've ever seen, a guy who can score in a variety of ways but just didn't have the intangibles to lead a team to a championship. Melo was also a very underrated rebounder in his prime. He had multiple seasons of averaging 7 rebounds per game as a pure small forward, even once averaged 8 rebounds per game.

9:24 Amar'e actually missed the early part of the 2012-13 season because of the knee surgery. He was good to go by January but his knee problems completely depleted him at that point. He was already very suddenly and rapidly declining the year before.

Every true fan loved watching Melo!

Lol those Carmelo and Iverson years with the Nuggets were a fun 2 years

Yessir was waiting on this one!!!!

The Detroit Pistons should have selected Carmelo Anthony in the 2003 NBA Draft. Although Carmelo never won a championship ring during his playing days, he is still one of the best scorers in NBA history.

Always wishes Billups got there earlier I think if they had a couple more years of playing together in their primes they could've got it done

As a die hard nuggets fan since 1994 Carmelo Anthony was not the sole reason the Nuggets went to the western conference finals.. before the nuggets acquired Chauncey Billiups the nuggets couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs

Amongst SF Melo- had the best footwork, probably the best low post scorer. Bron- the most physically dominate and durable player. Durant- Easiest scorer and best 3 lvl talent at the position. Kawhi- Fundamentals not flashy just repetion for every shot and pump fake he makes. PG-13 Probably has the best handles at the position with the most gracious game. Bird- Best rebounder and arguably the best passer too Pippen- Best defender

Love ur vids

Prime Melo had that bounce and explosiveness as well.!! He lost that too early in his career

Thank you!!! Finally a Melo Piece!!! I think I’ve asked about 4 times 😂✊🏾

Melo x Pistons would have been unreal in the 2000s. Would have completely reshaped that decade

One of the best at the time. Just like what everyone says he doesn't play defense. As the years goes on it seem as if he's getting more and more underappreciated. I'm from Denver and i remember during the Iverson acquisition. People here was thinking Melo teaming up with the Answer would of been the key to Denver winning it all that year. Only to finish with the 8th seed and get swept by Kobe and the Lakers.

Let's go I was Early hey Johnny Arnett

On offense, he's almost as good as KD, but his defense and lack of basketball IQ/awareness stopped him from being greater. Not a 1st ballot hall of famer, in my opinion

Ugh bringing back bad memories of iso dribble dribble shoot pull up jumper with 7 seconds left on shot clock, oh those Phil Jackson knicks were a mess

Love this video. You should make a video about jeremy lin next lol

so the Knicks would’ve been better off if they just waited to sign him in FA (even if he was making a fuss to go to leave Denver asap)?

I believed that Dwayne Wade would be better than both James, and Mello because he played more college ball than both and after i saw Wade get a triple double in the NCCAA tournament i said " hes the one".

One of my favorite players you know that. My question to you is should the Nuggets retire his number, remember Jokic also wears 15 but he also brought us into relevancy.

Carmelo could have taken his talent to Northeast, joined KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rondo and played some brotherhood basketball as well. Or if he preferred, he could have joined Kobe and chilled out while getting rings.

Great video as always a couple other things to add, for one I do believe if Melo was drafted to the pistons he’d have 1s if not 2 rings. And in interviews he’s stated he didn’t really want to leave the nuggets at first but what pushed him over the edge is after that 09 wcf run the overhauled all the key guys and that pissed him off.

One of my favourite players ever. Great offensive arsenal. I have his Knicks jersey

Melo was an ***Isolation Master*** On the hardwood❗️No one could contain him One on One....🏀▪️

Prime Melo was a problem to his guard and team mates😀😀

Its crazy to think how great a scorer Melo was and im really not sure he was in shape probably 55-60% of his career

He reminds of Paul Pierce they didnt look athletic but would give you the bizzy-ness in the court.

Paul George also said he was one of the hardest to guard talking about his post ups and throwing his weight... He was like he gonna give you 30 and its gonna hurt lol

Awesome video! I would say prime Melo was very good. I remember him and Birdman and Billups and the rest of the Nuggets taking on Kobe, Gasol, and the Lakers. I agree that it was epic. I also remember Melo winning a few gold medals too. He def was one of the best during the 2000s. I def do wonder what it would have been like if he was on the Pistons. I concur that he would have won a championship much sooner. However, I do wonder what it would have been like for him to play with Larry Brown as coach. I believe that LeBron and/or other young players on the 2004 Olympic team said that Brown did not want to play ths younger players much. So, I can see there being much tension b/w Melo and Brown if he was with the Pistons. Awesome video again. Have a nice day, Jonny 😊

People who don't remember one of Stephan A's worst takes: Stephan A. Said he favorited the Nuggets out of the west once we got AI. I vividly remember Stuart Scott saying "Stephan A.'s favorite out of the west..." when talking about the Nuggets in the beginning of the season. (Mike & Mike also argued about this when the trade happened)

Im a big Melo fan thank you for this

The player i enjoyed the most to watch

If I could describe Melos career in one phrase I would say... "Wasted potential" It's not that he was bad a defense. It's that there was no effort to grow on that area. He had great basketball instincts and there was no reason why he shouldn't have been a triple double threat every night. He was elite at the most flashy part of the game. And didn't give professional effort to grow in any other aspect. I rooted for him because I'm a Knicks fan. But it bothers me that he could have been so much better if he worked as hard as others. And the Knicks would've been better too

I saw him when he was on Portland once in Toronto. His clutch gene was on display and he was hitting a bunch of buckets

🎉❤

My goat

My favorites basketball player ever

🏀

Its unfortunate because as melo aged the game shifted drastically away from how he played and what he was good at. Truthfully if the nba was the same as it was mid 2000s he would still be playing meaningful minutes

He made that number 15 Syracuse jersey look good

In a sport where everyone gets in the hall of fame to embarrassment , he s def a hall of famer, but not an all time great, but I do think he deserves to be in there

While he wasn't the best defender he was mad fun to watch in his prime. AI is one of my favorite players of all time and one of the most fun to watch imo but the two of em together was just not a great match, Curry and Klay (and even Durant) have had some serious success with the outside/outside tandem but what a player like Melo (and AI) really needs is at least one inside man to be an offensive rebounding machine that can tip in the occasional put-back and make up some of the defense they aren't playing well. 2 volume shooters on the same team on the floor at the same time just ends in a battle for touches where the inside man allows some of the 50-60% of missed shots a second chance or a finish at the rim. I'd have loved to see em both play with somebody like Tim Duncan, KG, or Dwight Howard to balance out their style. But yeah, unfortunately his decline was swift and hard to watch. It seemed like it happened overnight almost. We were stoked to have bro in NY but it didn't end well lol But it really almost seemed like he not only gave in to the excesses of fame and wealth but also just feeling defeated and giving up on any hopes of ever seeing a ring. He's always on my list of greats that never got a chip up there with Reggie, Ewing, Barkley, and others. Some slight tweaks to some of his teams though and he'd have been a nightmare 💯 Still a great player though and one of those championship

Melo 🏀🏀🏀🐐🐐🐐

if the Pistons were drafting for position…why didn’t they go after Bosh? they still couldve gotten Sheed because they drafted guards for him. and Bosh would’ve been developed if Ben Wallace still left.

Before I even watch the video..Yes lol. Agreed

He was on one end of the floor

A lot of folks hate on Melo. Not sure why. Dude was cold and an offensive threat any old day of the week. He excelled at what he was great at. He carved out his place in nba history and nobody can ever take that away from him. Just because he isnt the caliber of player Lebron, Kobe, or Jordan is its like people think hes no good. Lets be real, if LeBron didnt exist, Melo would be looked at a lot differently. Melo should have won rookie of the year too.

Hot take: The Pistons would’ve stunted Melo’s development, as he would have been playing behind guys like Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace

173,000!!!!!!!!🎉🎉🎉

Greatest triple threat game in nba history imo

The Magic / Lakers finals series was closer than the 4-1 series would lead you to believe. Due to that- I do not think Nuggets are a shoe in to win the 2009 chip if they beat the Lakers. This is coming from a 30+ year Lakers fan, btw!

Meko always got in his own way. He didn't want to play alongside Lin, he didn't go to Chicago, and he didn't want play alongside which he would have learned how to win.

Top 5 scorer of all time

He going to the Knicks mid season hurt his future chances of succeeding in New York

Rhey should've played Melo at the 4 that 09 year in denver. He would've killed the 4's that year especially

Someone would think, that past Michael Jordan draft, where Bogut ended as bust, managers would abandon "pick in draft any dude, that suits some position we lack" mentality for "pick the best dude we can, so we will not miss new MJ, at least we will trade him". But, nope, let's over and over pick a bust instead of a star :D

He's a study case of a player who let his overinflated ego get the better of him, never bothered to adapt to the changing game and never accepted other roles wherever he went. Seen as a perennial winner at his draft class, ended up begging teams for tryouts.

I watched a ton of Carmelo Anthony and can’t remember a single defensive play. I would take prime Paul Pierce over prime Melo any day.

Hawks Legend

@jonny arnett do you honestly think he’s a top 75 player of all time?

Do one about an interesting player like Mike Finley or Eddie Jones. there has been a million videos about carmelo. He's an unathletic McGrady. Everyone knows him and saw his career. It was only like 5 years ago. Increase your knowledge or 90's players who were truly unique and Athltetic. They played for Wins and defense then. Don't go by stats. The only stats taht matter are Rebounds, Steals, Blocks and Passes.

Great video as always Jonny but Carmelo wasn't 6'7

may have -came- come

First time I'm the first commenter. How abt that?

The Pistons would have been a dynasty for sure.

Melo 100% should've won ROY... more points and led the team to the playoffs?!

Melo’s scoring prowess is overrated. Other players praise him because they don’t keep track of the probability of those tough shots going in, and if they look good enough by eye test they respect it. However, for a volume scorer, Melo is one of the most inefficient, with the true shooting percentage close to league average. For reference, guys like Steph, Dirk, LeBron, Jokic, KD etc are like almost 10% better than league average, and ones who are less efficient like Kobe, Timmy or Embiid sit around the 5% mark as well. The only contemporary of Melo who’s even less efficient is Allen Iverson. One could very well argue that Melo isn’t the leader of the 2008-09 Nuggets, but Billups is. Billups made 7 straight conference finals and he did it with different rosters, sometimes without Sheed, sometimes without Big Ben. Melo could only win on a team where he doesn’t lead it, as exemplified by his stellar performance as a 3rd option or lower in the Olympics.

Kobe has said that stuff about multiple players

He never had the caliber of teammates he needed with the Knicks, I still think with some help he could’ve lead them to a championship

Just wanna help the video

melo can find space between a phone book to get a bucket

He was the lukaku of the nba

A pure hooper but the definition of “me before we” and that’s a big reason why he was never successful aside from the terrible management in NY.

I love Melo but I hated how he forced his way to NY instead of waiting till the offseason. Maybe STAT would still have gotten bit by the injury bug and declined but regardless that Knicks team was solid and would've put up a better fight than they actually did. He made a few miscalculations in his career and I believe that was biggest one.

That's how you know we're getting old; you're making a video on how good Melo was. My friends and I were talking about Paul Pierce's buzz about there not being 5 SFs better than him and how he and KG would've done damage if they were paired earlier in therlir careers. All the usual names came up, and then I remembered Melo who, truth be told, was better bc they both basically only scored to be effective.

Didn’t Kobe say Kd was the 1 guy he couldn’t defend, not melo?

Yea the only reason they made wcf is cause of Chauncey billups point guard play has been the reason for his success but melo COUDNT see that

Olympic Melo = GOAT

Can u debunk the myth that the only thing melo could do was score?

6’9

If Melo didn't have to face Kobe's Lakers in '09 (Kobe being one of the Top 10 players of all-time), then Melo would certainly be an NBA Champion. The Magic only made it to the Finals because Kevin Garnett (Celtics) was injured that post-season, and Dwight's Magic would have lost to the Melo+Billups Nuggets in the NBA Finals. Also, Melo FOR SURE should have won the Rookie of the Year award. LeBron only won it because of media hype. LeBron's Cavs missed the play-offs (only 1 seed short, but still), meanwhile Melo led the Nuggets to the play-offs, as the #1 Option, as a Rookie, in a MUCH tougher conference. The early/mid 2000s was the biggest disparity in Conference strength in League history, and LeBron still couldn't take the Cavs to the 8th Seed.

Kobe contradicts himself. On one occasion he said that Trady McGrady was the hardest player to guard against, later he said it's Melo. Guess we'll never find out who it was in the end.

Pssh imagine if Melo was rightfully drafted by the pistons 😮

the pistons had one job

Melo was a better version of Alex English

Team USA 🥇

As great of a scorer as he was i never really liked his game. Not his game but i can't think of a better word at the moment. He just looked, for lack of a better word, clunky compared to other players. Other great players look more fluid and athletic and you can just tell they were built to be basketball players. I just never thought his relative lack of athleticism would age well.

If the Pistons needed a big they could've taken Bosh, even Chris Kaman was better than Darko

Melo would at least average 30 easily I'm not the biggest Melo fan but he was unstoppable for a awhile

Melo toyed with defenders and didn’t have to dribble more than once if not at all and drain 3s in your face and post up on you

Top 3-5 greatest scorer ever

Most people dont look or to Melo, just because he didnt won a single ring through his career. What an ignorant.

Prime Melo would have won a title if he had the right pieces around him. But he was a selfish player that u had to adapt to. He needed more men like Billups surrounding him.