Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: More Televised Winter Baseball, Please

Most Overrated Superstar


There is one difference between what the Cavs went through this summer with THE KING and what our beloved nuggets are facing with Melo. Lebron is a Legitimate superstar that teams can build Around

Star-divide

Ok let me preface this by saying that Carmelo Anthony has been instrumental in the nuggets success the last 7 years BUT of all the nuggets starters he would be the easiest to replace.

If you look last year for the injury riddled nuggets the nuggets had a better record sans melo then they did without Chauncey, and K-Mart.

Melo is an excellent Scorer, one of the NBA's elite but he has NEVER shown he can be a consistent force to shut down a player on D, See playoffs last year vs Utah where he was the human turnstyle to any Utah Jazz forward. 

I also question Melos leadership. He's never shown to be that Chauncey Billups like guy that can mentor younger kids and still lead a franchise to the Holy Grail. He instead continuously throws his team under the bus and doesn't take any blame at all himself

Now I want melo to stay but the Nuggets wouldn't be screwed like the cavaliers if he were to Lebron us.

Poll
How would the nuggets fare without melo
Still a 50 win team
23 votes
35-45 win team
110 votes
15 to 25 win team
25 votes
2010 Cleavland Cavs
12 votes

170 votes | Poll has closed

Write respectfully of your SB Nation community and yourself.

Comment 39 comments  |  0 recs  | 

Do you like this story?

Comments

Display:

That game against Lebron last year he showed great leadership

putting up a better game than Lebron and hitting the winner in his face leading the team to a hard win. I was surprised last year though when we played better without him and kept winning games. The series against Utah will be one to forget though but overall I cant see the team faring well without him

by Nz Nuggets on Aug 21, 2010 4:07 AM MDT reply actions  

This isn't 2006 anymore

Melo isn’t an immature kid… he’s grown into a legit NBA superstar and leader… I think he actually has more leadership qualities than LeBron and Durant

by hvino on Aug 21, 2010 9:19 AM MDT reply actions   2 recs

Terrible Post

I’ve got know idea where this ridiculous idea that Melo is replaceable comes from. I doesn’t even merit a response, but I can’t let this idea stand unchallenged. No Melo isn’t a defensive superstar, he is what he is. How many players in this league would you want to have the last shot in a 1 point game more than melo? I think he, Kobe, and Durant are probably all on about the same level. Certainly not Lebron, after his choke job last year. I don’t think Wade, just because he’s not a pure shooter.

Anthony’s offensive efficiency isn’t where it should be, mostly because of a poorly, or rather randomly, designed offense. In the unfortunate event that he winds up in another city, like NY, we’ll all see his numbers explode in a real offense.

Formerly KS and CS

by ThrowItDownBigManThrowItDown on Aug 21, 2010 10:10 AM MDT reply actions  

Terrible Comment

Really? The knicks have a real offense? Last I checked the Knicks have the most inefficient spurattic offense in the league and they play no D so yeah if your saying melo would be a perfect fit in NY beacuase of that I totally agree. Id take Mr Big shot for the last shot every day of the week and twice on sunday

by SP0RTSFAN on Aug 21, 2010 1:54 PM MDT up reply actions  

Thanks

"Woohoo Denver, Yeah... All right Denver justify my love!" ...Homer Simpson
"Denver isn't considered a frontier maam, not these days"... Josh Randall (Steve McQueen) in an episode of Wanted Dead or Alive set in 1871, filmed in 1958.

by Thursty on Aug 22, 2010 9:17 AM MDT up reply actions  

Seriously?

Ever get dumped by someone way out of your league? You think near the end Billy Joel and Lyle Lovett were both like: “She’s not THAT hot. I could do better…” Of course they were! It’s part of the grieving process (or so I’m told…) Just like those two schlubs, we need to stop shopping for our next wife and try and keep the hot one we have…

Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

by Big Mickey D on Aug 21, 2010 11:24 AM MDT reply actions  

I agree with BMD.

Too many people think finding a Meli, Kobe, Mutombo is easy. Ask anyone who has watched the NBA for more than a decade. They will tell you the facts. A Melo, Thompson, Issel, Adams are hard to find and usually a once in a decade find.

Make those miracles happen - Jon Keyworth

by IgorBStrange on Sep 10, 2010 9:01 PM MDT up reply actions  

The real over-rated superstar is LePout

He is not the guy we think he is. He says himself he only had 3 bad games in his NBA (even though he has obviously had more bad games than that) career and he laid an egg in the most important game of his career (a game where if the Cavs won, they would have won the series). He starts blaming his teammates in the process, even though he should be blaming himself, and decides to quit and head South to be DWade’s beotch.
Without Melo we will not be a championship contender and people need to realize that soon. As I said before, the best we can get in a trade for Melo is some good young players, but we won’t be winning anytime soon unless we get lucky in the draft and get another superstar (which may take another decade of bad seasons). The NBA is all about superstars, and we have one, lets not delude ourselves into thinking we are better off without him.

by JR15 on Aug 21, 2010 12:48 PM MDT reply actions  

+1

LeBron is NOT clutch in any way, shape or form. In the final 24 sec of a game, Joey graham >Lebron.

by Monkfish on Aug 21, 2010 1:22 PM MDT up reply actions  

Melo is not that easy to replace

People always look at statisctics and say oh if we lose Melo’s 28 and then find two guys that can score 14 each, we’ll be fine. That’s not how it works. Melo ’s lack of defense aside, Melo can flat out score and that reduces the offensive burden for the rest of the team. Can he better at distributing the ball? Absolutely.

But to say you can reasily eplace him is naive. If you have played before, you know that some guys get the points off of put backs, on transition or they get their points as the 2nd option or 3rd option in the offensive sets. Elevating a 2nd option to a 1st option doesn’t always work.

Can you really trust JR being your primary option? Not me.

Can you trust Chauncey to be the primary option? Maybe, but then if you put him as that, then you lose his ability to get everyone involved. And the fact that he’ll be 34 is not good either.

Can you trust Harrington to be your primary option? I can’t. He’s great as the #2 guy.
Can you trust Nene? HELL NO. Proof? Freakin Fesanko outplayed him when it mattered. Nene is too much of a whiner on the court.

So in the end, you have to understand team dynamics and putting people in the right roles. Melo is Denver’s scoring option. Chanucey sets the table. Harrington will be the 2nd option and Nene the third as far as how it flows. JR and Ty bring speed and range from the bench. AAA is your defensive player and can hit some big 3’s every now and then, but I don’t think he will fare well in any other role (over the entire season).

So if Melo is gone, everyone is in a different role and it’s harder on each player and throughout a game that will wear them down. Sure we might still win 35-45 games, but WTF, is that what we want?

Also those games we won without Melo, most of those were home games against easier teams. The one that does stick out is the LA game in LA where JR went crazy in the 4th, but other than that, we had a favorable schedule in Jan last year when Melo was out. Below is the list of games Melo missed and the result. (nuggets were 7-5 during this stretch)

Sat, Jan 2 @ Utah W 105-95 ==> Ty played out of his mind
Sun, Jan 3 Philadelphia L 105-108 ==> Bad loss. I was at this one! ugh!
Tue, Jan 5 Golden State W 123-122
Fri, Jan 8 Cleveland W 99-97 ==> Great game
Sat, Jan 9 @ Sacramento L 100-102
Mon, Jan 25 Charlotte W 104-93
Wed, Jan 27 @ Houston W 97-92
Fri, Jan 29 @ Oklahoma City L 84-101
Sun, Jan 31 @ San Antonio W 103-89 ==> KMart played out of his mind in this game
Mon, Feb 1 Sacramento W 112-109 OT
Wed, Feb 3 Phoenix L 97-109
Fri, Feb 5 @ LA Lakers W 126-113
Sat, Feb 6 @ Utah L 106-116

As for the playoffs, I dont put any blame on Melo for the 1st round exit. When the Nugs consistent feed Nene the ball only to have him kick it out, well then he’s not going to get the ball again because the team realizes he is not or does not want to be the focal and take advantage of his mismatch with Freaking Utah’s bigs.

In conclusion, whether or not if Melo wants to stay is another topic, but it is always nice to start a game with everyone knowing that you got a scorer who can give you about 24+ every night. I don’t think there is anyone on the Nuggets right now whom I would feel confident saying that about.

by LEEDS on Aug 21, 2010 1:45 PM MDT reply actions  

My bad

The Nugs were 8-5 during that stretch Melo missed

by LEEDS on Aug 21, 2010 1:55 PM MDT up reply actions  

And who did they beat again?

Looks like Utah, Golden State, Cleveland, Charlotte, Houston, San Antonio, Sacramento, and LA.

If I go by what you said here it seems like you have an extreme Melo bias. 8 and 5 is great and they beat some really good teams in the process. Same shit happened 2 years ago as well. The Nugs are fine without Melo.

Also, you tried to play down some of the Nugs wins by saying guys played out of their minds. If you rethink this a bit you should come to the conclusion that basketball is a team game and if you don’t have one guy playing isolation whenever he is in a bad mood then you will have more balanced scoring and each night you will have someone of the 12 guys step up and shoulder more of the scoring load.
If the Nugs make the right trade I am all for letting Melo go if he doesn’t want to be with my favorite team anymore. If he doesn’t want to be here then good ridance. I want to watch a team that wants to play together anyway. There are plenty of good trade options out there that that are for veterans that would allow the Nugs to stay in contention and potentially become a better, more well rounded team. One that comes to mind is Melo to Houston for Scola, Martin, and one of their NY first round picks.

by Gasus on Aug 23, 2010 10:34 AM MDT up reply actions  

It doesn't work like that

Do you really think the nuggets would be better with Scola and Martin?

by Monkfish on Aug 23, 2010 4:38 PM MDT up reply actions  

I do

They would be more well rounded, taller, better in the paint, and less selfish. They would be the deepest team in the league.

by Gasus on Aug 24, 2010 9:52 AM MDT up reply actions  

John Elway

Gets the award for Denver’s biggest ‘Most Overrated Superstar’

He and Melo are much the same, can’t put a team on their back and go. Melo couldn’t do it last year and Horse mouth couldnt do it till Davis showed up.

Quitter's People United Member #27.5

by RPN on Aug 21, 2010 2:54 PM MDT reply actions  

That’s one of the most bizarre claims ever about Elway. Yeah Elway may be overrated in this town but it was because he put the whole team on his back that the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl before Davis (and after Orange Crush) so much so that Litton did a cartoon that showed the Broncos team picture with only Elway in it.

"Woohoo Denver, Yeah... All right Denver justify my love!" ...Homer Simpson
"Denver isn't considered a frontier maam, not these days"... Josh Randall (Steve McQueen) in an episode of Wanted Dead or Alive set in 1871, filmed in 1958.

by Thursty on Aug 22, 2010 9:22 AM MDT up reply actions  

Abso-freakin-lutely

‘Most Overrated Superstar’ goes to Jay “The Interception Machine” Cutler.

Make those miracles happen - Jon Keyworth

by IgorBStrange on Sep 10, 2010 9:11 PM MDT up reply actions  

Yes

Kyle Orton> that baby-faced, fat little punk

by Monkfish on Sep 11, 2010 4:02 PM MDT up reply actions  

Le sigh.......

Show me ONE team…ONE in all of sports history where ONE player was solely responsible for a team winning a championship. Seriously.

Brad Hawpe - I'm going to miss you most of all. Please don't kill us wherever you play....
"You can learn a lot just by watching"-Yogi Berra
QPU #4, YHEG #4, Proud Member PR Gynocracy

by SDcat09 on Aug 21, 2010 3:21 PM MDT reply actions  

reply fail...that was for RPN

Brad Hawpe - I'm going to miss you most of all. Please don't kill us wherever you play....
"You can learn a lot just by watching"-Yogi Berra
QPU #4, YHEG #4, Proud Member PR Gynocracy

by SDcat09 on Aug 21, 2010 3:21 PM MDT up reply actions  

Tim Tebow 2018 NFL season

"Until you shoot me off my bike I'll keep looking for a contract" - Jens!
Quitter's People United member # 42

by Phil H. on Aug 22, 2010 12:02 AM MDT up reply actions  

So what, he's not Lebron. Who is?

Melo is Melo and we have to take him for what he is. Yeah, I think Feinstein, as well as you and I Sportsfan would like it if Melo played better defense and wasn’t such a ball hog sometimes, but bottom line is he’s a 25 ppg plus scorer every night and you can’t find that in the NBA but with only a handful of guys. He’s a pure scorer basically, that’s all he’s ever going to be, but if you put a defensive minded core around him similar to what we did a few years ago then you’ve got yourself a championship caliber team.

Stiff 4 Life

by GoldenNugget on Aug 21, 2010 8:58 PM MDT reply actions  

Lebron is a Legitimate superstar that teams can build Around

I’m pretty sure every single year he spent in Cleveland proved that wasn’t true.

Is it hockey season yet?
BUFFALO NATION WILL see your BUFFALO BILLS KICK THE soul out of the TUNA FISH FLIPPER ACE VENTURA OILY FLAUNDER NO TAIL SHAMUU WHANA BEs - abayarde
Paul McCartney Can't Play Piano
Burgundy Wave: Nobody's favorite Rapids Blog!

by UZ on Aug 21, 2010 11:14 PM MDT reply actions  

No shit

they failed to win a title building around him so now he has gone to a team built around another player. Lebron can’t lead a team by himself worth a shit(granted very few if any can do it by themselves).

"Until you shoot me off my bike I'll keep looking for a contract" - Jens!
Quitter's People United member # 42

by Phil H. on Aug 21, 2010 11:35 PM MDT up reply actions  

True(ish)

Just because he didn’t win a title with Cleveland doesn’t mean you couldn’t build around him, it is more his actions when it counts that state that… but he does have the opportunity to be one of the greatest “No. 2’s” of all time!

by iamhe77 on Aug 24, 2010 10:35 PM MDT up reply actions  

Sometimes I wished people would understand this amazing thing named "sample size"

the Nugs were better w/o Melo? Whaaaattttt???

"Until you shoot me off my bike I'll keep looking for a contract" - Jens!
Quitter's People United member # 42

by Phil H. on Aug 21, 2010 11:36 PM MDT reply actions  

Clearly, you've been hanging out at PR too much...what's this SSS thing :)

Brad Hawpe - I'm going to miss you most of all. Please don't kill us wherever you play....
"You can learn a lot just by watching"-Yogi Berra
QPU #4, YHEG #4, Proud Member PR Gynocracy

by SDcat09 on Aug 21, 2010 11:50 PM MDT up reply actions  

(sigh)

the Rockies are not helping my craving for football and basketball to start again.

"Until you shoot me off my bike I'll keep looking for a contract" - Jens!
Quitter's People United member # 42

by Phil H. on Aug 22, 2010 12:01 AM MDT up reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

The Proprietors
Andrew Feinstein
(denverstiffs@gmail.com)
Nate Timmons
(ntimmons73@yahoo.com)

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Small
Oh no! We have no closers!!
442_small
Time to call AAA?
Small
Fire George Karl, please!!!!

Recent FanPosts

Small
Nuggets Half Court Game...Mayo, Ellis, Josh Smith, Beasley
Small
The impact that the schedule and Nuggets tempo is having on physiology
Kevinvb_small
Throwback Night thoughts from a guy who was there
Small
Coaching
Billups_small
Poll: How do we feel about George Karl?
Imagescaan5326_small
AL ALBERT BACK IN DENVER!
Sl372394_small
EA hates on our Nuggets via NBA JAM
Small
Where do we go from here?
Small
get ready for playoff disappointment

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

STIFF LIST (as of 2/7 by Andrew Feinstein)

1. THE NUGGETS AT HOME
How is it possible that a Nuggets team with this much talent can be 7-5 at home?! Things have gotten so bad that fans are clamoring for J.R. Smith to return.

2. CARMELO ANTHONY
Kobe Bryant plays through any and all ailments. Melo uses any and ailments as an excuse not to play.

3. KEVIN LOVE
Just when the T'Wolves are looking better, Love stomps on Luis Scola and lands himself a two-game suspension.

4. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS
The 'Cats have lost 11 straight and are now 3-21 ... in the Eastern Conference! This is what happens when you let an underwear salesman with a Hitler mustache run your team.

5. MIKE BROWN
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (Google it!) got himself a one-game suspension for making contact with a referee.

DENVER STIFFS ON FACEBOOK

Enter your email for updates

Email:

Denver Stiffs on Twitter

DENVER STIFFS HALL OF FAME

2010 INDUCTION CLASS

F - Raef LaFrentz
F - Mark Pope
C - Priest Lauderdale
G - DerMarr Johnson
G - Darnell Mee
L.A. - Bernie Bickerstaff

2009 INDUCTION CLASS

F - Bill Hanzlik
F - Ryan Bowen
C - Danny Schayes
G - Julius Hodge
G - Junior Harrington

2008 INDUCTION CLASS

F - Nikoloz Tskitishvili
F - Joe Wolf
F - Tony Battie
C - Scott Hastings
G - Tariq Abdul-Wahad
G - Mark Macon


Proprietors

304196_2551840719324_1353064703_32974236_1387484886_n_small Nate Timmons

Dsc00033_small Andrew Feinstein

Writer

Me_oh_my_oh_small Jeffrey Morton