Here’s the latest on Carmelo Anthony, who is being used by everyone in the world (i.e. the media and the business of basketball) to fill the void - is there actually a void? - created by the end of the Summer of Money, the Summer of LeBron, the Summer of Confusion, etc. etc.
This article is beginning to suggest that my envy of the Denver Nuggets’ position has some real merit to it, as players like Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala would be fantastic gets for Melo, especially E.T. If he lives up to his potential, he’s a tremendous value on a rookie contract.
Now while I am generally a fan of Ken Berg’s, I have to take umbrage, of course - who would I be if I wasn’t talking shit? - with his statement that there is a “considerable drop off” between Anthony and Iguodala.
I disagree wholeheartedly with this statement. Iguodala is a better defender, a better defensive rebounder, and a more efficient scorer than Anthony. Carmelo can shoot the 3 more effectively, and he’s played more playoff games and won a national championship at Syracuse, the two biggest factors in why Anthony is perceived to be a “great” player. These latter two “qualities” obviously aren’t terribly relevant in the overall scheme of things.
Ok, and because you knew I had to do it, here is the advanced stats breakdown:
APM: AI9 (+4.66) CA (+4.20)
PER: AI9 (17.75) CA (22.95)
WP48: AI9 (.218) CA (.109)
WARP: AI9 (9.4) CA (9.5)
So, at the very least, I think it’s fair to say that the drop off is debatable. Not sure why Iguodala is always being undervalued by reporters - other than the fact that Philly hasn’t been very good for a while - but he certainly deserves better.
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