Tag Archives: Carmelo Anthony

You Know What It Is: Stat and Melo

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So as you all know, Carmelo Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks. Yup where Amar’e Stoudamire plays, that New York Knicks team that is on its way to a playoff spot in the east. You know what else? Some dude by the name of Judge wrote his version of Whiz Khalifa’s song Black and Yellow.

Stat and Melo:

Doesn’t that make you feel excited about upcoming Knicks games? No? No? Yeah, me, neither.

(H/T – Dime Magazine)

Al is a contributor to Stacheketball. If you have any tips on ways to cook Bacon, and tips on how to get Jessica Alba and Keira Knightley to go on a date with him, then you should tweet him at @ahmong. Oh, and he now just realized Britney Spears is pretty.

Carmelo To The Knicks: 15 Things To Think About

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The Carmelo Anthony-to-the-Knicks took about 3 months to long to complete. But it’s finally done. We are all probably going to remember this trade as  one of the most annoying and drawn out processes in NBA history. But that’s all in the past now. Time for the Knicks to look forward and contemplate their next move. Because they are going to have to make a ‘next move’ if they actually want see the full value of this trade and become contenders.

While Carmelo is a very good scorer and a superstar by name, he isn’t the greatest player in the NBA. I’m not so sure he is even in the Top 10. His place is probably more along the lines of a Top 15-ish or 20-ish player. Some might not agree with that statement but I believe it to be absolutely true. And I love ‘Melo’s game. The man can get just about any shot he wants. And while that jab-step, jab-step, jab-step repertoire is borderline annoying for some teammates, he is rather quick for his 6’9″ frame and he can step around most defenders. Or beat them to a stop. Because that’s what Carmelo likes to do, beat guys to spots on the perimiter and crank up some shots.

19.3 shots per game, to be exact. And not a single one is efficient.

But that jumper looks so buttery, even when it doesn’t hit the toast.  Despite shooting just 45% from the field & 33.3% from three, every one of those jumpers look like they are going in. And the fans buy into that. A lot of the media buys into that. New York bought into that. But that’s okay, because New York needed to buy into that. We are talking about the media capital of the world. One where image and looks can take you a long way. This years Knicks are 2-games above .500 but the media addresses this team like they are a lock for a three-peat. In the Big Apple, it’s all about perception and Melo’s beautiful stroke has everyone seeing cross-eyed.

His TS% and eFG% say that he is a high volume low results type of guy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t win a ring with a guy like that. The Lakers have done it 5 times with Kobe Bryant, who’s offensive numbers aren’t that far off from Anthony’s. But Kobe had Shaq and Gasol chipping in super-efficient efforts on a nightly basis to help balance out the attack. Melo will have Amar’e Stoudemire, who is an efficient player. But this team still lacks defense and depth as well as many other things.

Lets take a look at the top 15 things the KNicks will have to address for the future:

1. Shots: Carmelo is one of the best “Clutch” performers in the game but Amar’e went to New York to be “the man”. Who will win that battle? Ultimately, it will come down to whoever Billups wants to pass the ball to and if we learned anything from the Denver experiment, Mr. Big Shot doesn’t like to pass to anyone in the ‘clutch’ despite the fact that he isn’t exactly Mr. Big Shot anymore.

2. Defense: New York is currently ranked 21st in defense with a Defensive Efficiency Rating of 109.4 (league avg. is 107.0). Carmelo is a terrible defender — not because he can’t play defense but because he refuses to play defense. See 2009 playoffs vs. 2010 playoffs — and New York just traded one of their best defenders in Wilson Chandler.  The Nuggets were ranked 23rd in the NBA. At best, I expect these teams to switch places. At worst, I can see New York dropping to the bottom five in the NBA.

3. Super Star By Name Or By Game: Carmelo’s numbers don’t exactly stack up to the ‘superstar’ persona that the media has labeled him with. He is 59th in Win Shares (4.4), 72nd in DefEffRtg (109.0), 22nd in PER (21.4), 69th in TS% (54.7%), and 6th in Points Per Game (25.2 PPG). Melo also shoots a ton of 16-23 foot jumpers (6.3 FGA/GM) but only connects on 435 of those. In fact, everywhere outside of at-the-rim shots, Anthony is shooting well below 43%.  For such a high usage player, he doesn’t score efficiently,  pass well or play a lick of defense. Not so sure I want to put him in the same class as LeBron, Kobe, Dwyane, Dwight, Durant, Paul, or even Dirk. If anything, Melo is a 2nd tier superstar, on the same level as Bosh, Boozer, Noah and Horford. An excellent piece that will absolutely help you win a title but won’t be the main reason you won a title.

4. Chauncey Billups: Billups had said that if he leaves Denver, he would look for a buyout and try to sign with the Miami Heat. But that was when he was New Jersey bound. NO ONE wants to play in New Jersey and I understand that. But what is his take now that he is in the real New York? Chances are Billups stays with the Knicks but this whole deal could be toxic if Billups isn’t happy with the move.

5. Raymond Felton: This is one man you have to feel disheartened for. Felton took a much smaller deal (2-years, $14 million) so he can play in a large market with a superstar like Amar’e. But that same deal made him a delicious trade chip and now he’s once again stuck in a small market team who happens to be in rebuild mode. This must be what purgatory feels like.

6. Win Shares: On a Win Shares basis, New York just gave up three of their top-5 players — who totaled 12.8 win shares — and got back a total of 10.9 Win Shares from Denver. Not exactly a great trade off. With Brewer’s net worth being 0.7 WS, New York didn’t really trade up in this deal. If anything, they just moved sideways.

7. Kelenna Azubuike: One guy no one has really talked about is Kelenna Azubuike. He was brilliant for Golden State last season before going down with a horrific knee injury. Many questions still linger around his return. If he can come back and play at least 80% of what he was, he will be a great piece for the Knicks. If not, his deal ends this season and the Knicks will get nothing for him in return if they don’t resign him.

8. What About Brewer: In addition to the massive trade with Denver, New York also traded away Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota for Corey Brewer. There might not be much of a debate here because Landry Fields has been so great this season, but where does Brewer fit in on this team? 6th man? Behind Toney Douglas? Behind Bill Walker? I feel like New York could have gotten so much more for Curry’s expiring deal and Randolph’s mythical never-going-to-happen potential.

9. Franchise Player Tag: This deal will leave it’s mark on more than just the Knicks season. This will become a major topic of discussion at this years CBA negotiations. So many small-market teams lost superstars this season and they aren’t to thrilled with the idea. If the new CBA doesn’t bring about a Franchise Tag, like the NFL’s, look for it to make it much more difficult for players to leave the teams that drafted them.

10. Who’s Next In Denver: Now that Denver has dumped Melo and Billups, who’s next to depart the Rockie Mountains? A fair share of teams would love to get their hands on Nene. And J.R. Smith would look great in Chicago or Dallas — two teams who missed out on ‘Melo and could use the offensive spark.

11. Dolan and Walsh: Dolan got exactly what he wanted out of this season, two superstars to sell to the fans, media and future prospects. If Donnie Walsh doesn’t get a contract extension out of this, something is wrong.

12. Dolan and Isiah: And this is exactly what is wrong. If Dolan decides to drop Walsh and side with Isiah after everything this franchise has been through in the past half decade, New York is doomed. This Carmelo deal is just the second step — first being Amar’e — in a long tedious process of building a championship contender. New York isn’t done yet, hopefully, and Walsh seems to be the man who can finish the job.

13. Not Contenders Yet: While many Knicks fans are overjoyed by this trade, I’m going to have to be the party pooper here. This deal doesn’t make New York a contender this year in any way, shape or form. If anything, the overall team might have gotten worse. But It was the right move for New York to make. They now have two legit stars and All-Star starters on their roster. If nothing else, they can use that image to sell role players on signing smaller deals for a chance to win in the biggest city in the world. Like I said, perception is everything.

14. What’s next for New York: The Knicks cannot stand pat after this deal. This has to be a stepping stone for them. Their next few moves have to be for legit role-players to fill in the gapping holes around Melo and Amar’e. Mainly on defense and rebounding, two things their new superstar tandem does not excel at.

15. What’s in a number: Seems like a minor technicality but twitter is dying to know what number Melo is going to wear. #15 has been retired by the Knicks. In fact, it’s been retired twice — Earl Monre & Dick McGuire. There have been reports that Melo will wear #13 and ESPN is guessing #30.  But two months ago I said he would wear #9 and I’m sticking with it. **UPDATE** According to CNBC’s Darren Rovell, Carmelo will wear #7 — what about Azubuike!?!?!? — Billups will wear #4.

This isn’t a bad move by the Knicks. It’s a good move. It can turn out to be a great move.

Melo just became your second option. He was a somewhat deadly first option, but as the second guy? Someone who no longer will get the automatic double team? Melo might become a ridiculous steal when all is said and done.

You traded away a few good-not-great role players for a PG who knows how to win and a player who knows how to score. To top it off, you go yourself a superstar by name (if not by game).

This will attract both fans and free agents and that’s the key. New York needs to attract free agents. They NEED those role players to come in by the dozens and come in cheap. Just like how Miami, LA, and Boston pulled in players. But, this needs to be just a step. New York can’t afford to stand pat and throw a victory parade now. Nothing has been won. In fact, very little has been accomplish. But something has been accomplished and that alone is worth cheering about.

As for the New Jersey Nets? Losers once again.

Shane is a full-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a part-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane

Has Kevin Durant Already Won The Scoring Title?

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The Talented Mr. Durant:

Call him what you want to call him — KD, Durantula, KSmooove or my personal favorite Kid Delicious. No matter how you spell it it always reads ‘points’.  Durant is going to get his and there isn’t much a defender can do to stop him. Despite the slow start to the season, Durant is well on his way to his second NBA scoring title in just as many years.

While Durant’s numbers are all down from last year, the kid is still putting on an offensive showcase every night. For the season, Kevin is averaging 29.1 points per game on 47.4% from the field, 34.5% from three and 87.9% from the line. Last year KD was putting up 30.1 points per game on 47.6%/36.5%/90.0% shooting.

One key stat that sticks out is that both his Free Throw Attempts and FT% have fallen. Last year Durant was taking 10.2 FTs/Gm and making 9.2 of them. This year he is 8.8/9.1. Some of this is due to his shot selection. Last season Durant took 5.3 shots per game at the rim, converting on 3.7 of them, good for 69.8%. This season, his percentages are up at the rim to 78.6% but he is taking only 3.9 FGA/GM — making 3.1 of them. Like wise, he has taken less shots from 15 feet and in this season compared to last season — 4.9 FGA/Gm last season vs. 4.2 FGA/Gm this season — and is shooting a lower percentage — 46.9% vs. 45.2% this season. What Durant has done is increase the number of threes he takes a game from 4.3 3pA/GM to 5.3 3PA/Gm while shooting a lower percentage.

Still, Durant’s overall numbers have been solid and he still leads the NBA in scoring. With the way the rest of the field has been playing over the last couple of weeks, it seems like Durant will successfully defend his scoring crown.

The Competition:

Currently, six players — not including Durant — are averaging over 25 points per game (see chart below for details).

Of those six players, Amar’e has the best shot at catching Durant. But to even call it a chance is a stretch. Amar’e will have to up his scoring average, which is currently at 26.2-ppg, by 5.2 points per game just to match Durant’s scoring average. This might have seemed feasible a month ago when Amar’e and his Knicks were tearing through the NBA. But over the last month of action, Amar’e scoring average has been sinking almost as fast as the Knicks record. Since January 13th, Stoudemire has been averaging 25.6-ppg and the Knicks have lost 10 of 15.

All of the players who had caught fire last month were doused by a fire extinguisher this month. Only Carmelo and LeBron are scoring above their season averages over the last month worth of games and even they haven’t increased their scoring enough to challenge Durant. As the rest of the field has cooled off, Durant continues to torch the twine.  Kevin’s 30.5 points per game in February is only second to Carmelo’s 32.8ppg.

On average, each player was going to have to increase their scoring per game by 8.6 points to just match Kevin Durant’s output for the season. The low was a 5.2 point increase (Amar’e) and the high was 14.4 ppg increase (Carmleo). Everyone on this list would have to average at least 31.4 points per game to close out the season and no one is even close to what they need. Carmelo, who’s been blistering as of late with 32.8 ppg in February would need to average 39.5 ppg for the rest of the season. That’s how far ahead Durant is in this race. This years scoring title is a one man race.

Barring some kind of catastrophic injury to Durant or a dry spell equal to the one that started the American dust bowl, it is safe to say that Durant will take home the scoring title for the second consecutive season.

The 30/30 Club:

Durant has all but secured his 2010-11 scoring title and will become one of 11 players to have won the scoring title in consecutive years. But there is another illustrious club that Durant may be able to join; The 30/30 Club. This 30/30 doesn’t refer to one of Kevin Love’s box scores, it is a group of individuals who have managed to average 30 points per game in consecutive seasons.

While Durant isn’t quite there yet — averaging just 29.1 points per game — he has turned up the jets in the last two months, averaging 30.5 points per game in January and a scorching 31.2 points per game over the last month of play.  Still, he will need to burn a little hotter to close out the season if he wants to finish with an average of 30 ppg. If he maintains an average of 31.2 ppg for the rest of the season, he will finish just short of 30 with 29.9 ppg.

Averaging 30 points a game for an entire NBA season is already a grueling task, one that’s only been accomplished 77 times by 30 different players. (Jordan x 8, Chamberlain x 7, Robertson x 6, Barry x 4, Dantley x 4, West x 4, Iverson x 4, Abdul-Jabbar x 3, Baylor x 3, Bryant x 3, McAdoo x 3, James x 2, Gervin x 2, Wilkins x 2, Archibald, Bellamy, Erving, Free, Hawkins, Issel, King, K. Malone, M. Malone, Maravich, McGrady, Pettit, Scott, Twyman, Wade, and Durant.) Only 13 of those 30 have averaged 30 points per game in two or more seasons and of those 13 players, only 11 of them (pictured above) have done it in consecutive years: Chamberlain (59-66), Baylor (60-63), Robertson (60-62, 63-67), West (64-66), Barry (66-69), Abdul-Jabbar (70-73), McAdoo (73-76), Dantley (80-84), Iverson (01-03, 04-06), Bryant (05-07), Jordan (86-93).

One of the reasons that membership into this club is so limited is that when a player shows the league that he can score at such a high volume, coaches begin to game plan to stop said player. Those 30-ppg usually represent a large percentage of the opponents points so if you can stop or slow down that individual player, you will essentially beat that team.

Last season Durant was the youngest player to win a scoring title and one of only two players 21 years old or younger to average 30 points or more per game (the other being LeBron James). This season, Kevin Durant has the opportunity to be the only player in NBA history to rack up two 30-ppg seasons before his 23rd birthday.

While the chase for this years scoring title is all but over, the race for the history books has just begun.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

All player and team stats via www.Basketball-Reference.com & Hoopdata.com – An NBA blogger’s best friends.

Shane is a part-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a full-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane

Buss Builds For The Future: Melo To The Lakers

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Trade talks between the Lakers and Nuggets have escalated this morning. There isn’t one specific ‘go-to’ link for the story, but if you visit any of the major sporting news outlets, you will find a version or three of some mystical trade scenario. In similar news, the world is ending on December 21st, 2012.

No, the world isn’t really ending (Sorry, Mayans) and the Lakers shouldn’t be in panic mode. But they are in panic mode. Sirens are blaring, lights are flickers, and everyone is waiting for Mitch Kupchak to pick up that red phone and dial. As if the national guard can come in and help salvage the Lakers ‘lost’ season. But is this season really lost?

To most fans, this season is in turmoil. Speaking to any Laker fan will tell you that much. But you will also receive a clear cut message that the season isn’t over until you lose in the playoffs, and for that, they are very much spot on. But this isn’t about the fans or even the Lakers season. This might be a move that Jerry Buss wants to make for the future of the franchise.

The Trade & Nuggets Log Jam: Not sure what will be included in this trade, but a Carmelo-for-Andrew straight up deal does work according to ESPN’s trade machine. Chances are this isn’t a trade the Nuggets agree to. They will have way too many pieces for their front court and not enough perimeter scorers.  The Nuggets are also in a rebuilding mode so contracts like Billups and Harrington will also need to go. Their best chance of dumping Harrington is to attach him to their most valuable trade chip, Melo. This further complicates the deal for LA and they would have to include Lamar or Luke or picks & cash or a third team. The trade scenarios can get as complex and diverse as one would like so for now lets just stick to the idea that the Lakers and Nuggets would agree on a 1-for-1 swap.

Footrace Home: The Lakers are on pace to win 58 games this year. For those of you keeping count, that would be a one game improvement on last years 57-25 record. That would also be the same season in which they didn’t have home court going into the playoffs yet managed to bring home their second straight NBA championship. It’s not that the Lakers’ season has spiraled out of control,  but these Lakers are showing some fatigue. And that’s alright. This is a team that’s trying to get back into the NBA Finals for an impressive 4th consecutive season. Wedge in all the guest appearances the Lakers’ stars made for their national teams and you have yourself some extremely tired legs. And tired legs is exactly what you should expect from a team trying to repeat. Look at the 1993 Bulls, the 1998 Bulls and the 2002 Lakers. All of them went into the playoffs lacking home court and all of them came out of the playoffs with another title.

Sure the Lakers have a lot of issues right now; They can’t beat any of the elite squads. They aren’t playing defense like last season. They aren’t sharing the ball like last season. And their rotations look slow and even confused at times. But they are playing better offense, in fact they have the #1 offense in the NBA right now. Let’s also not discount the fact that Matt Barnes has been out with an injury. Matt might not make a giant impact in the box score, but his good outside shooting helps the Lakers stretch the floor and his pestering defense helps relieve pressure off of Kobe and even Ron Artest.

If a trade did go down, chances are the Lakers aren’t catching San Antonio. Currently, the Spurs are 42-8 (7 games ahead of the Lakers) and on pace to win 69 games. The Lakers have just 31 games remaining and have a record of 36-15. If the Spurs continue on their current pace, the Lakers, mathematically, wouldn’t have a chance to catch them. LA would have to finish the season 31-0 just to finish 2 games behind the Spurs ( a position they are likely to end up in without the trade). As for catching Boston, who is 38-13 and on pace to win 61? The Lakers could close a 2-game gap easily. The play each other on Thursday, and if LA can go into Boston and steal one, that would shave off a whole game from Boston’s lead. Barring any catastrophic events hampering San Antonio’s season, lets just write-off the Lakers chances at obtaining the coveted home court. Judging by Phil’s threepeat history, they might not even need it.

Lakers Height: With home court advantage basically, the Lakers still have another advantage over the NBA, their towering height. If they were to match-up with the Spurs in a series without home court (something they are probably not going to obtain) they should at least maintain their frustrating size advantage. Although the Spurs have already beaten the Lakers twice this season in head-to-head games, Pau’s advantage was clear. In the last match up with Tim Duncan and the Spurs, Pau Gasol went off for 19 points and 7 rebounds on 8 of 10 shooting while holding Tim Duncan to a 8 point 8 rebound performance on a putrid 3 of 12 shooting. The only question one should have here is why did Gasol only get 10 shots in this game?

High Volume, Low Efficency: The one thing that does prevent Pau from getting more looks (which he converts at a very efficient rate) is the fact that he plays with Kobe Bryant. For all the brilliance Kobe brings to the game, he still marinades it with a ball-hole hot sauce. That’s just the nature of Kobe and it’s something that Laker fans have learned to live through while watching their raise 5 NBA banners during Kobe’s career. It’s been a decent trade-off, to say the least. But how would a Lakers team taste with two players with that same flavor?

The Lakers have been able to win titles during the Kobe-era not because Kobe has been a prolific scorer. It’s been because players like Pau, Bynum and Lamar convert at a very high rate and help balance out the less than stellar shooting performances by Mamba. Like I said, it’s been something that Laker fans have been able to tolerate because when he is on, he is a serial killer, and when he is off, the clean-up crew is still there to take care of business.

So dumping one of those players that help balance this team for another that will send them into a tailspin of inefficient basketball isn’t exactly the ideal band-aid for this season. Just for comparison, here are Bynum and Anthony’s stat lines for the season:


(click to enlarge)

Bynum is averaging 11 points and 7.4 rebounds in 25 minutes a night on 7.7 shots per game and scoring at 57.7% of those shots. Carmelo, in comparison, is getting 35 minutes per game and averaging 24.6 points, 7.8 rebounds on 19 attempts per night, converting just 44.2% of his field goals. Instantly, I’ll tell you that the Lakers are giving up a lot of rebounds if this trade happens. Phil and his coaching staff would also need to create additional shots for Melo. The Lakers offense is already an established system so Melo would have to weasel away shots from other players. He’s going to get less looks than usual and he’s going to have to agree on a passive role in crunch time. After all, this is still Kobe’s team. Even if Melo were to settle for 15 shots, that’s still 8 additional shots that an existing Laker would have to give up. If I were a betting man, I’d say those come out of Pau’s pockets.

To top it off, Melo is not built for what the Lakers need out of their Small Forward. The two years the Lakers repeated and all the years before that, the Small Forward position has always been filled by a defensive minded player who will chase down loose rebounds and can stretch the court on offense by knocking down the open three. From Rick Fox to Trevor Ariza down to Ron Artest last season. The 3 has always been someone to do the work Kobe wouldn’t or couldn’t. If this description sounds familiar to you, it’s not because an image of Carmelo is now flashing in your head. in fact this is the exact opposite of ‘Melo’s blueprint. Filling that gap with someone who mirrors Kobe’s game would be a redundant move for a Lakers team that’s already struggling on the defensive end.

The main result of this trade would be limiting Pau’s highly efficient looks for the short term in hopes that the younger Carmelo Anthony would be a comparable replacement for Kobe Bryant in the future. In essence, this trade would do the exact opposite of what it was intended to do. No real short term fixes and a questionable long term outcome.

Kobe’s Successor: If Buss and Kupchak intend to acquire Carmelo as the successor to Kobe and help bridge the gap from this threepeat to the next, why not just trade Kobe? Bethlehem Shoals half-jokingly mentioned this on twitter but he isn’t that far off. If the Lakers are looking at Melo as both a short term fix and a long term post-Kobe plan why not trade Kobe now? Sounds crazy, I know, and it’s not something I’m lobbying for, but I’m also not lobbying the idea of trading your 23-year old seven footer, either.
In the end, I can’t imagine the Lakers trading not only their biggest advantage, but their only advantage of this season; their size. But i can’t say this hasn’t happened before. Need I remind you of how the Shaq-era ended in LA? Jerry Buss has shown that he will make all the moves necessary to win but he has also shown he will always give up winning in the short term for long term success. his foresight and willingness to act has been better than any owner in sports history and the 16 banners hanging over his head are proof of that.

Perhaps for Jerry, this season is already lost and to him, there are plenty of other seasons to win.

(Photo via Yahoo! Sports & AP, All stats via Basketball-reference.com)

Shane is a full-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a part-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane

This Week’s Delicious Hot Links

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What is a Hot Link? Well, to most people, it’s a type of spicy hot peppery smoked sausages often found at barbecues in Texas and South America. Here in Stacheketball, it’s a list of links from this week’s best of the NBA Blogosphere

  • Hot Hot Hoops: Raul Takahashi of HHH shows us how much LeBron James loves Big Z and how James Jones and Carlos Arroyo are both fighting for Dwyane Wade’s affection.
  • Hoops Hype: Didn’t know Rod Benson a.k.a @boomtho contributes for Hoops Hype. He writes about Basketball and the lifestyle that comes with it.
  • SBNation: Evan Dunlap of SBNation measures the efficiency of all the starting Point Guards in the league with charts.
  • Basketball-Reference: Wanna know the best season of your team? The worst? Or Both? Well Basketball-Reference has those for you.
  • ESPN Los Angeles: Neil Olshey lives 2 blocks away from Blake Griffin. Oh I mean, Neil will do everything in his powers to keep Blake Griffin in a Clipper uniform FOREVER
  • Ball Don’t Lie: Kelly Dwyer’s Mid Season awards. He got Tyrus Thomas as his 6th man of the year
  • The Basketball Jones: Apparently both teams are confused and weirded out about the Orlando Magic’s 4 point plays. If you ask me, I though it was something out of the twilight zone. And I am  an Orlando Magic fan.
  • ProBasketballTalk: Got 14,999 dollars to spend? It might just get you a Blake Griffin rookie card.
  • The Denver Post: New Jersey Nets backs out of the “Melo Drama”. So what happens now Denver?
  • Tauntr: Remember when Ron Artest said that he wanted to get dunked on by Blake Griffin? Well apparently it hasn’t happened yet. Soon though, soon.
  • Twitter: Kevin Durant is awesome. We seem to have the same taste in women.

Al is a contributor to Stacheketball, if you have any tips on ways to cook Bacon, and tips on how to get Jessica Alba and Keira Knightly to go on a date with me, then you should tweet him at @ahmong.

Behind The Arc (01/17/2011)

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Happy Martin Luther King Day. Remember what he has done for this country.

We’ve got a loooooooong line of games today. There are thirteen, to be exact. I’ll try not to keep you long here if you are reading this. I thought about saving this one for Tuesday, when it’s less busy in the NBA… but anything can happen now.

And by anything, I mean the Carmelo Anthony deal.

I’m resigned to the fact that this is what we have to deal with in the age of instant information. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Being as a lot of us here are NBA maniacs, especially here in Stacheketball, we are going to get every inch, drop, and iota of information about Carmelo Anthony as long as we keep ourselves tuned to the internet and these social networks. Since the NBA people are mostly on Twitter, we are going to see endless amounts of the “Melodrama”, as some people put it. A lot of these writers get paid to bring out the latest of this impending trade so whether we like it or not, we are going to see information about it (and this really goes for ANYTHING nowadays, not just the NBA).

It’s such a contrast to last decade. Or even five years ago. Hell, back in the day, we had no internet to rely on. So that meant no websites, blogs, forums, or whatever trendy social network is the rage. We would wait for the latest episode of SportsCenter to come on or we’d buy the local papers just to see if a deal went down.

How times have changed. A 17-year-old blogger from Maine can break a story on Twitter these days (maybe not but you get the idea).

I don’t think this is a bad thing. Can it get played out? Sure. But instead of having to wait forever for information, we can access this knowledge instantly. We just have to pick, choose, and ignore the news that comes in every minute or every second. There are TONS of resources now about the NBA (and one of your resources better be Stacheketball!). I’d rather have too much information than having limited options. At least, we’ll always have some NBA knowledge every moment, right?

With the advent of message boards, chat rooms, FaceBook, and Twitter… we can talk to anyone and anybody about the game we love. We’re not alone anymore when it comes to this. And that’s the beauty of having these social networks and the internet. It’s like we’re in a virtual bar or room when we watch the games “together.” And I wouldn’t exchange this experience for anything.

Now hurry up and get that deal done for Carmelo. I hate you so much, internet.

PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Gay/AP.

Rey-Rey is the Editor of Stacheketball and founder of the L.A.-based NBA Blog, The No-Look Pass. He someday wants to go out with Gretchen Wieners from Mean Girls. Babble with him on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.

I Would Be So Stoked To Have Melo On My Team!

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I Would Be So Stoked To Have Melo On My Team! Why not!? Melo is so awesome, and that nickname is superb. His nickname is “Melo”, as if “Carmelo” was not cool enough. Who shortens their sweet name with an even sweeter nickname? “Melo”… his nickname is “Melo”. I want him on my team!

I loved the commercial where he played every player on the court as himself. He even played the coach. I want that guy on my team. I want him as a teammate. Who needs the other parasites on the team when you have a guy like “Melo”? I guess that is why he only has 3 assists per game. He is not being selfish. He is just passing to himself. That does not count as an assist, but it should. It seriously should. Melo and Kobe would lead the league in “Self Serve Assists”.

I love how he is demanding to be traded. That is the kind of guy that I want on my team. I want a guy that wants to be off of his perennially playoff bound team so bad that he openly demands how bad he wants out of that crumby city where they obviously do not care about their players.

I love how he can so easily cut ties with his coach that leaned on his team as he fought back from cancer. I love how he can so easily cut ties with his teammates. I love how he can drop the city that drafted him, and the city that wears his jersey.

Why do I love it? Because “Melo” is a calculated business man. He will make more money in New York. He will get more publicity in New York. He will get more SportsCenter face time in New York.

That is the guy I want on my team. I want a guy that makes all of his decisions based on what he wants, because he is going to be on my team. He is looking out for himself, and himself will be on my team.

According To The Kelley Blue Book, Carmelo Anthony Is Not A Ferrari

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Picture credits: Google

This thing called “Melo Drama” is like that girl you’re trying to date but has commitment phobia. You know the whole “Hot and Cold” thing, where she’s totally into you at one point then starts to back away. That’s what I am describing this whole Carmelo to New Jersey Nets trade.

This trade talk started since way before the start of the season when Carmelo Anthony decided that he wanted out of denver. When the news broke out, lots of teams started contacting this elite scoring machine. Teams like the Dallas Mavericks wanted to “rent” him, the Orlando Magic tried to woo him in (but, apparently, the Denver Nuggets rejected what Otis Smith had to offer), Houston Rockets tried to make a late push to land the 3-time all star, and, of course, the ever-so-determined New Jersey Nets wanted their superstar.

The trade talks went cold for a while until the New Jersey Nets pulled off a trade that sent New Jersey Nets Terrence Williams to the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Sasha Vujajic to the Nets, and veteran  forward/center Joe Smith headed out to Laker land. Along with those players are 2 first round picks from both the Lakers and the Rockets. This would now give the Nets 5 draft picks over the course of 2 seasons.

The reason this trade was pulled off is so that the Nets can again go for Carmelo Anthony. Apparently, Denver is being so greedy that they want more than what Carmelo is worth. Denver wanted Devin Harris and lottery pick Derrick Favors along with future first rounders. (Nothing is set at the moment but the whole proposed trade is over here although this seems to be the proposal that teams are planning on going with)

Now my question to all of you: is Carmelo Anthony really worth an All-Star, a young talent, and future first round picks? I say no. Carmelo Anthony is, yes, a 3x all-star player. He’s an elite scorer but other than that, I can’t really think of much. To put this in perspective, I compared Monta Ellis and Carmelo Anthony stats from last season.

(Better picture can be found here)

As you can see on the table above, both players have nearly identical stats. We see that Carmelo has a little edge over Monta. Now let’s say that Golden State Warriors decides to trade Monta Ellis. Would teams even consider what Denver is trying to squeeze from this whole Melo trade? I mean, if I were a GM, I would definitely not pull the trigger on this. From what I’ve been seeing the past few years, Carmelo is just a scorer; nothing more, nothing less. He’s not that great of a defender. He’s technically in his prime and, the way it’s looking, I just see nothing that’s improving, especially on the defensive end. Remember that Pau Gasol trade where the Lakers got him for basically nothing? In a sense, that is how this current trade proposal would look if it goes through. The Nets would basically be throwing away their All-Star guard in Devin Harris, their young talent in Derrick Favors, and 2 first round draft picks for a big-named elite scorer… but not an elite player.

So to conclude all this, I would just like to say that if Carmelo Anthony were a car, he would be a Mercedes Benz: all power but no handling.

Al is a contributor to Stacheketball, if you have any tips on ways to cook Bacon, and tips on how to get Jessica Alba to go on a date with me then you should tweet him at @ahmong.