I am dead serious. Paul George- especially with his contract- is a FAR BETTER basketball player. Carmelo is a volume shooter, who makes his teams worse.
If he drove the lane more often, he'd get calls. But he doesn't. He jacks low-efficiency shots. I don't think tonight is on him- he stunk in the fourth, but was magnificent for three quarters. But overall? Can't win with this team. Can't do it.
Donnie Walsh built a team. And they blew it up for a chucker. Now the window is closed until 2017ish. Take a look at what Donnie is building in Indiana and what's they're building in Denver. THATS how you win.
Team.
This seems like your typical zls hyperbole to me. Do you really think a Knicks team consisting of Raymond Felton, JR Smith, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Iman Shumpert and Amare Stoudemire among others is winning 54 games and locking down a two seed in the East, or am I taking your statement too literally?
Look - the guy struggled with a limited supporting cast against two very, very good defenses in Boston and Indiana that have the tendency to expose the flaws of opposing teams and players. LeBron James - one of the best ten players of all-time - shot under 45% and turned the ball over nearly 5 times a game against the Celtics a couple years ago. Dwyane Wade shot 31% in his first three playoff games against the Pacers last season until the light finally went on in game four. Josh Smith shot only 43% against the Pacers in round one this season. The point is this: these are defenses with length, speed, and intelligence at every position with a history of confusing great players, making them uncomfortable, and testing the meddle of the fundamental trust teammates have in each other.
I'm by no means arguing Carmelo doesn't have his limitations - he's a mediocre defender, he's a historically inefficient scorer in the postseason, and his court vision in terms of handling double teams and recognizing the schemes of opposing defenses leaves a lot to be desired. I'm as big a Syracuse hater as the next guy, and I root for him to miss every shot he takes. But let's be reasonable here - there are probably less than five players in the entire league who could have switched places with Carmelo and won that series for the Knicks. LeBron is one, Durant is probably another, and after that you're trying to talk yourself into guys like Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul. Aside from the small forward position, the Pacers had the edge at LITERALLY EVERY OTHER POSITION. George Hill is better than Raymond Felton, Paul George (if you're considering him a shooting guard) is better than JR Smith, David West is better than the pitiful Kenyon Martin/Chris Copeland tandem, and Roy Hibbert crapped all over the evidently hobbled Tyson Chandler.
It just seems completely non-sensical to me to argue Carmelo, and not Amare, is the guy crippling the Knicks long-term roster flexibility. Carmelo averaged 29 ppg along with 7 boards on 45/38/83 shooting splits. He's more than earning his pay check. As I said, Carmelo is going to need to learn how to opperate within the confines of a team offense if he's going to win a championship rather than flailing away at the point forward position he's clearly not suited for. But what if you replace Amare's deal with Chris Paul? Then you have one of the best defensive players in basketball anchoring your defense in Tyson Chandler, the best floor general in basketball running your offense in Chris Paul, and one of the best scorers in basketball cashing the checks in Carmelo Anthony, surrounded by excellent role players like JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, and whoever else they may be able to sign to the vetern minimum. Please tell me that's not a team that can win a championship.
