Melo is Allen Iverson at the 3. Would you trade anything important for AI? I wouldn’t.
later expounding:
Having Melo on the team is akin to throwing away possessions. He stole the ball and rebounded more than he fouled and turned it over, netting 2 possessions. But last season, for every 10 shots he made, he missed nearly 12. Teams get about 25% of the offensive rebounds. Thus Melo threw away about 9 possessions a game with his shooting, for a total of 7 possessions lost each game.
For comparison, Lebron James netted 4 more steals and rebounds than turnovers and fouls. He missed 10 shots for every 10 he made. Considering offensive rebounding, that’s only 7.5 possessions a game that are lost via shooting, with a total of 3.5 possessions lost per game. Lebron loses 3.5 possessions fewer every game than Carmelo. For a team getting 1 point per possesssion (not that great of an offense), that’s 3.5 points on the scoreboard. That’s often the difference between a win and a loss. In fact, last year the Rockets averaged only .3 points less than their opponents. Throwing away 7 possessions does not help close that gap. … Here are the total possessions lost for a few other SFs: Paul Pierce: 4.3 possessions lost Gerald Wallace: actually gains his team 1.8 possessions Andrew Iguodala: 2 possessions lost … The difference in efficiency matters. Carmelo is a great athlete, yes, but just because his game seems good and powerful doesn’t mean it is.
The stat-geek community has been vocal in its belief of Melo’s true worth. Might there be a fraction? Morey himself has expressed this team’s need for a true superstar.
Writes Blake:When Morey says superstar, I doubt he means what ESPN calls a superstar. He means a statistically productive and/or defensive superstar. He gave up a minor star in Rudy Gay to get a defensive star in Battier. Melo probably isn’t a superstar in Morey’s eyes.
’94 Toons is a bi-monthly cartoon illustrated by Troy Palmer-Hughes with commentary from Rahat Huq.
