Melo is leading the USA team this year.
Let's see if he can bring it in the regular season too.
Olympics
Melo is leading the USA team this year.
Let's see if he can bring it in the regular season too.
He usually has monster seasons following the Olympics, so history bolds well for us.
Are you sure, he's been to the Olympics twice and both seasons his numbers were down? Points, Rebounds were down. Big drop in FG% following the 2008 Games.
Going further down the line, 2 seasons after the Games, PPG jumped nearly 6 points from the previous season.
Only 6 ppg? Thats quite a bit of a jump for a career 20+ ppg scorer. He went to the WCF the season following the 08 olympics
Yep 2 seasons following the Olympics in 05-06 he went from 20 to 26 then again in 09-10 he went from 22 to 28. His individual numbers jumped 2 years after the Olympics.
Point being.. 6 ppg added on to 20 ppg is pretty damn good. Give me his WCF 08-09 campaign> any other season in his career.
True, winning over individual stats. It's like he gets into team mode after the Olympics.
^Yeah pretty much. His regular season wasn't the best but he stepped up in the playoffs that year. Nuggets should've beaten the Lakers that series. I admit Melo did slow down late in that series, probably because he was fatigued after not being used to playing that late into the season I dunno.
I think Melo's wiser and his experience will help. Kidd will be a major help, look at Dirk before Kidd and then after. Kidd knew how to get Dirk into scoring position in multiple spots on the floor. GSW in that 07 debacle tripled him and he had no where to go. Dirk was running the offense, as well as being the number 1 option. There were times Melo was that way. I think to maximize Melo, you have to save his legs the first 3 quarters of games, then ride him the last 5 minutes each night if needed....post him up and isolate him.
Correlation =/ Causation
Melo is in a mission to prove doubters wrong.
The beautiful thing about his play during these Olympics is that most of his points come off of good passes from teammates, catch and shoot type of plays. Now, I won't expect him to be wide open like this during the regular season though, as NBA defenders are much more athletic and will surely look to guard Melo tightly next season.
But with Kidd, Felton and "The Maestro" running the show, I'm looking forward to much less isolation plays for Melo like in this year's Olympics. He's already proven that he can score efficiently without "hogging" the ball on offense, now its up to Woody and his teammates to set up plays that work for the best of the team.
Melo on fire .... even tho this is easier than practice...
Lmao @ DAntoni .. just walking around minding his own business...
he looks so bored
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