Iverson is ruining Carmelo's career

[RoseCity07]

I am actually being serious. AI has exposed 'Melo as a one-dimensional chucker. This is 31 year old AI's team. AIs got the game and experience to lead this team. If 'Melo's not chucking, he's not helping. Even though he's usually not helping when he's chucking either, but you get my point...

Wow, I'm actually siding with AI?! That's crazy man, but it's clear that 'Melo is overrated.

What can the Nuggets get for 'Melo? They surely can get more than 75 cents on the dollar, given 'Melo's "overratedness" right now. Maybe they could get some players who actually play D, rebound, pass the ball and do more than jack up shots.

Melo for Deng

[Finn T-Mac]

Iverson is ruining Carmelo's career

If thats the case then maybe Carmelo ain't as good as everyone thinks.

There's over 100 points to make in every game and I really don't think Carmelo would avarage much more even if Iverson wouldn't be there. And every great team has had atleast two or even three stars, so why would Iverson and Melo be any different. I think it has worked out well between those two and it will continue like that in the future. Just play some D every now and then.

[Finn T-Mac]

Melo for Deng

[ChrisConley]

It's not directly Iverson's fault, although indirectly, he plays his part. It's George Karl's fault more than anyone's. Give Melo the ball in the same place you've been giving it to him over the past year when he was [consistently] playing the role of most efficient scorer in the league, and maybe you'll get those past results. Catching the ball 25 feet from the basket is doing nothing to help Melo's game.

everyone's fault but melo. you make it sound like he can only score from two places on the floor and no one is getting it to him in those two places. as he showed in the fiba qualifier, he can score from anywhere. he is potentially nasty from anywhere. even with the slump (went 4/17 from 3pt land in last 6 games) he's shooting the best 3pt percentage since his rookie year. and he is getting the ball underneath he's just bringing it weak as hell. in that last loss to portland, he got blocked inside of 5 feet at least 4 times. there's no way you can blame that on karl or iverson.

[Da KO King]

I'm so sick of hearing the AI haters with this same hackneyed f*cking line. People like to degrade AI's play and say "he scores 30 and does absolutely nothing for his team." Really? So he scores his 30 points all on his own and then the rest of the game the only time someone else on the team scores if they pick up his scraps? No, it isn't like that. Basketball goes beyond simple stats. The entire offense of the 76ers revolved around AI. Even if he didn't get assists, he got indirectly "assisted" his team...

Stop with this f*cking nonsense.

First, I never used a statistics to explain my comments about Iverson. If I did want to use stats I don't see how you can argue against Iverson's career averages of 28 points on 23 shots.

Second your "hockey assist" scenario has no bearing on my point. Iverson throughout his career has been a guy that kill offensive flow.

That's why in coaching clinics Jim O'Brien and Larry Brown both indirectly but blatantly reference Al Iverson in a negative manner. They both talk about players putting themselves and their scoring numbers in front of team efficiency.

When players literally stand around watching a guy cause they have no clue what he's about to do (finish the play to completion or break it off) the guy with the rock is a problem.


As for the Nuggs and Carmelo's problem this year... (Note that I'm not exclusively blaming Iverson)

PG play for the team has been butt-cheeks. They are no longer EFFECTIVELY getting into their transition offense. Carmelo is no longer getting accurate post entry passes. Also when he does get a post pass the defense is doubling Carmelo to force the post kick out pass (doubling for turnovers versus for the kick out are two different things). It's an effective tactic because the team is playing impatient basketball with little ball/player movement so Carmelo isn't getting a re-post chance.

[Diesel J]

It's George Karl's fault more than anyone's. Give Melo the ball in the same place you've been giving it to him over the past year when he was [consistently] playing the role of most efficient scorer in the league

when the F was this?:

[Optimus Prime]

I respect your opinion Ridonks, but I'm getting a bit tired of this free pass that 'Melo is getting. All of a sudden, it's Karl's fault the Nugz and 'Melo are underperforming. Is Karl the one out there bricking shots and not playing D or bringing anything useful to the team? Nope, it's 'Melo.

Maybe Karl isn't a great coach, but it certainly is on a star player to perform at the level they are supposed to. And 'Melo certainly isn't doing his part.

It's not directly Iverson's fault, although indirectly, he plays his part. It's George Karl's fault more than anyone's. Give Melo the ball in the same place you've been giving it to him over the past year when he was [consistently] playing the role of most efficient scorer in the league, and maybe you'll get those past results. Catching the ball 25 feet from the basket is doing nothing to help Melo's game.

[Richie2k6]

when the F was this?:

Are you serious? Melo was the most consistent scorer in the league last year before his suspension and Iverson came. Even after Iverson came. 20+ was nothing to him. Consistency to the max. Always brought 20+/5+/3+.

[Richie2k6]

And another thing to add: Melo is posting up less and less often. He Gets his clearouts on the wing and chooses to pull up rather than post up more often. He's taking more threes, too, and though they're falling, his percentage from beyond the arc is nothing special at all. And even when he does attack the rim, he hardly gets "superstar" calls like most other players do. It's almost as if he still has to earn the respect of the refs to get some calls down low like Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Iverson, etc. He's been getting the ball in his places, he's just not doing the right thing with it. And when he does, the shot just doesn't fall. He even misses some layups lately. It's easily visible that he's in a slump, and yes, Iverson has a factor in that, but in a much smaller way than people think. His impact on Melo's shooting troubles is almost non-existant. Melo's just been in a slump. Nothing much has changed from what he's been doing except less posting up, he's just missing shots.

[evinecz]

: Evinecz chiming in for his daily AI praise.

:)

[Im so nba'd out]

Yet people think if carmelo had a russel westbrook type player he would be in the finals every year.

[riseagainst]

[ImKobe]

AI & Melo were a poor man's version of Russ & KD + 100x worse chemistry.