Player Profile- Carmelo Anthony

Another feature of the blog I want to do is have different player profiles, looking at their past, and focusing more on their current years. I am currently watching the Nuggets play, and flat out just love his game, so the first player highlighted will be Carmelo Anthony

Coming out of Oak Hill Academy as one of the most highly recruited players in the country, Carmelo Anthony signed to play under Jim Boheim at Syracuse. The ultimate one-and-done player, Melo made the most of his lone collegiate year, leading the Orange to the national championship over Kansas. And then in one of the biggest draft day blunders in recent memory, Joe Dumars drafted unknown Darko Milicic over Anthony, and Melo fell into the Nuggets lap at number 3.

Most of his exploits during his rookie season were overshadowed by his draft peer LeBron James, but quietly, Anthony led a major turnaround in Denver. He led the Nuggets to 26 more wins than the previous year, and became the first rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring since David Robinson 14 years earlier. He finished second in ROY of the voting to James, but it was clear that he would be a force in the league for years to come.

Over the next few years, Melo continued to grow, and developed into an All-NBA player. He led the Nuggets to the playoffs each year, but never past the first round until last year, when he led the Nuggets past the Hornets to win his first playoff series. They ended up losing to the eventual NBA champion Lakers in the Conference finals, but after bringing all core players back, including mid season addition Chauncey Billups, the Nuggets were expected to be and are finding themselves at the top of the West again this season.

Through the first third of the season, Melo has had his best year as a pro, leading the league in scoring at 30.4 points per game. He is an absolute scoring machine, and I believe he is the purest scorer in the league. He can score in a variety of ways, and he makes it all look incredibly easy. He is powerful enough to score in the lane and from the post, and a good enough shooter to consistently hit from mid range and the 3. As any great scorer, he also gets to the line a lot; around 10 times per game, hitting just over 87% from the stripe. It’s tough enough to stop him from scoring with a defender, but it is truly unfair to basically give him 9 free points a game. He is also knocking down his free throws at a over 95% in clutch situations, which 82games.com defines as in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime with neither team having a lead greater than 5 points. Combining this with Billups free throw ability and it makes it very difficult for teams to beat the Nuggets when they have a lead late in the game.

One of the main criticisms of Anthony early in his career was that he was only a one way player. But beginning in last season, and continuing into this year he has begun to take pride in his defense. I think a lot of that has to do with playing on the Redeem Team, and just as LeBron bought into it, Melo was able to see first hand that to be truly great he has to bring it on both ends. This philosophy has been contagious on the Nuggets team, and while they are still the second highest scoring team in the NBA, they have also developed a bit of an identity on the defensive end, a fact they need if they want any chance at dethroning the Lakers.

Now in his seventh year, Melo often has been overshadowed by LeBron or D-Wade in the past, but now he has to be talked about in the same breath as them. He has developed into a professional both on the floor and off, eliminating the off the court issues he had as a younger player, and developing into the true leader of a very good Nuggets team. I think he will win the scoring title this year, and I don’t think it will be his only one or even his only honor garnered this year. After many years on the Third All-NBA team, I think he jumps up to the second team, and if he continues to develop his entire game beyond just scoring, than there is no reason he won’t be a first teamer in the future.