Carmelo Anthony: savior, loser ... Pure Scorer
We all know Carmelo Anthony as a "pure scorer." Whether you mean that as a compliment or an insult is up to you, but it helps to understand how he arrived at that reputation -- how he won big everywhere *but* the NBA, and how he saved both a college program and a struggling NBA franchise along the way. Let's meet the prior versions of Melo in the Prism.
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00:00Carmelo Anthony will go down as a pure scorer,
00:04one of the greatest ever.
00:06That phrase is a testament to Melo's enviable skill set.
00:10Of the many tools you can use
00:12to get a basketball through a hoop,
00:14Carmelo Anthony had all of them.
00:17To create space, the burly, six-foot-seven Melo
00:21could overpower defenders,
00:23or he could do it with nimble feet,
00:25spins, shakes, and perhaps basketball's
00:28most famous jab step.
00:31Once it came time to score,
00:32Melo could explode toward the rim
00:34or cash in his heavenly touch from range.
00:38Hardly anyone has made such a variety
00:40of difficult shots look so effortless.
00:44But depending who's saying it,
00:46pure scorer is also kind of an epithet,
00:49a label of exclusion.
00:51For all Anthony's scoring prowess,
00:54he frustrated observers with wavering production
00:57and effort elsewhere.
00:59Passing, defense, off-ball movement and hustle,
01:03the all-important other stuff.
01:05Perhaps Melo could have buried those critiques for good
01:08if he won a title or even made an NBA Finals
01:11during his all-star career.
01:13But he didn't, so pure scorer it is.
01:17Let's look beyond that.
01:18Let's examine how and why Melo acquired
01:21his legacy in the prism.
01:28Melo chose almost all of this.
01:31Most of the major beats in Carmelo Anthony's career
01:33were up to him.
01:35In my estimation, there was only one major development
01:38he didn't choose.
01:39So let's start there before we look around.
01:422003, the first three picks in the NBA Draft Lottery
01:46shook out like this.
01:48LeBron James was Cleveland's obvious number one pick.
01:51He was the first to score a touchdown
01:54LeBron James was Cleveland's obvious number one pick.
01:57After him, it got interesting.
01:59Anthony ranked close behind his friend LeBron
02:02on everyone's draft boards.
02:04The critical question was how close?
02:07Because of a trade, the second draft pick
02:09went to the Detroit Pistons,
02:11who had just made the Eastern Conference Finals.
02:14The third pick belonged to the Denver Nuggets,
02:16who had just gone 17 and 65.
02:19So Melo would either get drafted by the best team
02:23in the East or the worst team in the West.
02:26And it was pretty clear which one he preferred.
02:29This is a spellbinding fork in NBA history.
02:33The Pistons did not draft Melo.
02:35They wasted their pick on Darko Milicic
02:38and then won the 04 title anyway
02:40and made another finals run in 05.
02:43What if they had taken Melo
02:44like he wanted and supposedly expected?
02:47How would Melo's career have looked
02:49if it began in the context of a talent-stacked,
02:53defense-first, Larry Brown-coached championship contender?
02:58We'll never know because the opposite happened.
03:00Melo landed on a Nuggets team with no established stars,
03:05no pre-existing momentum or culture.
03:08The team was his to save.
03:12When Melo said he was up for the task
03:14of turning the franchise around,
03:16people kind of rolled their eyes.
03:18But Anthony proved, immediately and repeatedly,
03:21that he was good enough to be the primary offensive option
03:25and leading scorer on a winning team.
03:29You can measure his rookie excellence by stats.
03:33You can measure it by the fact
03:34that he got real rookie of the year consideration
03:37despite having LeBron as a classmate.
03:40Or just measure it this way.
03:42Unlike LeBron, Melo led his draft team
03:45to the playoffs in year one,
03:47and then every year after that.
03:50Now, the immediacy of that turnaround
03:53raised expectations for Melo.
03:55And as Denver tried to advance beyond that initial leap,
03:58he didn't always meet those expectations.
04:02When the Nuggets clicked,
04:03people focused on Melo's maturation as a person,
04:06as a teammate, and as a guy learning
04:08to do the little things on the floor.
04:11When the Nuggets faltered,
04:12people called him a ball hog and a loser,
04:15and they bemoaned some running controversies
04:18and extracurricular trouble.
04:20Carmelo had been the rookie savior,
04:23but people said, hold on now,
04:25let's slow down anointing this kid.
04:27He's gonna need help.
04:29Indeed, it is no coincidence that Melo's Nuggets
04:31made their one Western Conference Final in 2009,
04:35the year they brought Chauncey Billups in to run point,
04:38without question the most support Melo ever had as a Nugget.
04:43When Kobe Bryant and the Lakers outlasted Denver
04:46in that conference final,
04:47Kobe took time to praise Melo,
04:49who seemed to be on a similar reputational trajectory
04:52from ball hog to champion,
04:54now that he finally had some help.
04:57That championship did not come to pass though,
05:00which brings us back to that original fork in the road.
05:04What if the Pistons drafted Melo second
05:06like he thought they would?
05:08You can tell he has not let that hypothetical go.
05:11I still think about that.
05:12Really?
05:13Yeah, hell yeah.
05:14Cause I'm like, they promised me.
05:17You know what I'm saying?
05:17Yo, we taking you.
05:18The 04 Pistons themselves vary in their answer
05:21to that question about what would have happened.
05:24Chauncey Billups probably has the most insight here
05:26as a champion Piston and Melo's teammate in Denver,
05:29and he sure seems to think Melo in Detroit
05:31would have worked.
05:32I thought we was perfectly built to have Melo.
05:35But that's all we'll ever get, hypotheticals.
05:38Young Melo didn't have a choice.
05:41He was asked to save an awful team
05:44and he was not asked to fit into a great team.
05:47So it's fair for us to ask, why?
05:50Why did Denver choose Melo as their centerpiece?
05:53Why didn't Detroit try to make him fit?
05:56Well, you can look at the choice he made right before that.
06:01In 2001, while he was a junior
06:03at Baltimore's Towson Catholic High School,
06:05Carmelo Anthony verbally committed to Syracuse University.
06:09It was his 17th birthday present to himself
06:12and a fascinating choice, not only because he made it,
06:16but because he stuck with it.
06:18At that time, Melo was a big recruit, but not a massive one.
06:23The school's recruiting Anthony
06:24comprised mostly regional neighbors
06:27and mostly teams with established excellence
06:29and or NBA prospects and or somebody
06:32already playing Melo's small forward position.
06:35Teams like Maryland and UNC
06:38didn't view Melo as a program savior.
06:41He'd have to fit in and earn his minutes.
06:45Not so for Syracuse.
06:47Jim Boeheim's program had zero titles, minimal pro talent
06:50and a well-timed vacancy at forward.
06:54Melo would not have to fit in at Syracuse.
06:57He would be Syracuse from day one.
07:00The way Melo puts it, that promise of responsibility
07:03made Q stand out from all the other recruiters.
07:07I was being recruited by other schools
07:09to go in and split time with somebody or play behind.
07:12And, you know, it was an upperclassman that I had to play.
07:14So I was like, nah.
07:17Still, people wondered if Melo
07:19might renege on his commitment.
07:21He destroyed the 2001 summer camp circuit
07:24and then transferred to the legendary Oak Hill Academy
07:27for his senior season.
07:28He won tournaments and awards.
07:30He battled LeBron on national television
07:33and he rocketed up the national prospect rankings
07:35as a senior.
07:37Melo could have bailed on a college
07:39that didn't even make the NCAA tournament that year.
07:43He could have jumped straight to the 2002 NBA draft,
07:47especially if he didn't qualify academically for the NCAA.
07:51Carmelo's mother, Mary, pushed him to keep his commitment
07:54and he did.
07:55He hit his test score goals
07:57and delayed the pressures of adulthood and professionalism
08:00to head north and play for a college team
08:03coming off a stinky season.
08:06And one year after finishing fourth in the NIT,
08:10Syracuse won the 2003 national title.
08:15Melo's bet on himself could not have gone better.
08:19He hardly shared his minutes or touches or shots
08:23and it worked for all parties.
08:25Individually, Anthony played one of the best
08:28freshman seasons in college basketball history,
08:31scoring more than all but a select few upperclassmen
08:35across the nation.
08:36And from a team perspective,
08:38Melo proved that he could almost single-handedly
08:40resurrect a program.
08:42He was a winner on his terms, as a centerpiece,
08:46a pure scorer.
08:48So that might explain the 03 draft.
08:52Detroit was the rare very good team with a high pick
08:55and they wanted a piece.
08:57Denver wanted a savior.
09:00Melo had very effectively steered
09:02into the latter reputation
09:04and his NBA draft fate followed suit.
09:07That wasn't his choice,
09:08but it was a natural consequence of a prior choice.
09:12Okay, so what about when NBA Melo did get to choose?
09:18Once you establish yourself as a high-scoring star,
09:21as Melo did in Denver,
09:22you get to dictate a lot of your future contracts.
09:25For Anthony, the first opportunity came in 2006
09:29when he was eligible to extend
09:31his rookie contract with Denver.
09:33Ordinarily, there wouldn't be much to think about here.
09:35Absent a disaster, you just signed the longest
09:39and most lucrative contract the draft team will offer you.
09:42But 06 contained a bit of a twist and some foreshadowing.
09:47Melo's star-level draft classmates,
09:49LeBron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh,
09:52all chose not to sign the longest possible contracts,
09:56extending their contracts by just three years
09:58to maximize future flexibility.
10:01While his friends zigged, Melo zagged,
10:04signing the full five-year extension available to him,
10:07security over flexibility, and with input from his family.
10:12Just like those other guys,
10:13Melo grew dissatisfied with his draft team
10:16over the next few seasons.
10:18Unlike those guys who freed up simultaneously in 2010
10:22and joined forces to win rings,
10:24Melo remained under contract with Denver.
10:27So here came another choice.
10:29Melo could figure it out in Denver,
10:31wait for free agency and sign somewhere else,
10:34or use the power of an extension negotiation
10:37to force a trade.
10:39Melo went with the trade demand
10:40and made it very clear where he wanted to go,
10:43the New York Knicks.
10:45That demand initiated a protracted bidding war
10:48the press dubbed Melo drama,
10:50which is to say Melo got his wish,
10:52but only after a lot of criticism in the papers
10:56and only after teams like the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets
10:59drove up the asking price
11:01such that New York had to obliterate their roster depth
11:03to get Melo.
11:05Anthony signed his big extension with a new team
11:07before the lockout hit,
11:09and the trade eventually helped
11:10build a championship squad in Denver.
11:14Anyway, fast forward to 2014,
11:17the end of Melo's contract in New York.
11:19After three seasons, Anthony's second team
11:22hadn't advanced any farther than his first team.
11:25The New York Knicks were in the playoffs
11:27and Anthony had just turned 30.
11:30The Lakers came calling.
11:31Suitors like the Bulls and Rockets
11:33offered Melo a chance at winning that elusive title.
11:37All boasted high-scoring stars,
11:39super-team-type vibes if Anthony joined them.
11:42The incumbent Knicks offered Melo none of the above,
11:46just unquestioned, solitary superstar status
11:50and the biggest contract.
11:52Melo stayed in New York.
11:54Never heard the end of it.
11:56Yep, that's the L word, but put that back in context.
12:00When Melo was a teenager,
12:02he chose to prioritize his role as a team centerpiece.
12:06That choice made him a winner.
12:08So for better or worse, Melo kept making that choice.
12:12Only late in his career,
12:14when he no longer had the star power to choose,
12:16did Anthony adjust his role to fit on good teams,
12:19and he didn't get a ring out of it.
12:22We never got to see Melo with the 0-4 Pistons
12:24or anything close to it, at least not in the NBA.
12:28If you want a peek, a guess at an alternate reality
12:32in which Carmelo Anthony either chose or got chosen
12:35by a team where he'd play a more complimentary,
12:37more versatile role, this is as close as you'll get.
12:42Anthony ranks among the most decorated
12:44international players in United States history,
12:47and it's worth stopping to appreciate
12:50how Melo played for Team USA.
12:53As part of the gold medal Olympic team in 08,
12:56Melo shot and scored less than multiple teammates.
13:00And he said his less ball dominant, more team oriented,
13:03higher effort approach to the game
13:06carried into the NBA season,
13:07which ended with the greatest success
13:09of his Nuggets tenure in 09.
13:12Very similar deal after the following Olympics.
13:15The 2012 games again put Melo in a position
13:17to play efficiently and defer to teammates.
13:21Even still, the dude produced
13:23one of the most scintillating scoring performances ever.
13:26Melo scored 37 points plenty of times in his NBA career,
13:30but only as an Olympian would he do that in 14 minutes,
13:34and largely with catch and shoot three-pointers.
13:38Again, that spirit carried into an NBA season.
13:41In 2012-13, he accepted a position change,
13:45adjusted his shot profile, and led the league in scoring.
13:49The Knicks won their first playoff series in over a decade.
13:52But again, it didn't really last,
13:54and it didn't seem to inform
13:56Melo's subsequent career choices.
13:59And that's all we're talking about here.
14:01Melo's legacy is a matter of choices and their results,
14:04for better and worse.
14:06Anthony's choice of team, team's choice of him, or not.
14:11Observer's choice to focus on the skills he mastered
14:14or the ones he lacked, on the trophies he collected
14:18or the ones that eluded him.
14:20We can agree that pure score
14:22is a fair legacy for Carmelo Anthony.
14:25What that says about his career?
14:27Well, I guess that's your choice.