The Garden '95
Benchwarmer
I remember when Melo used to be a slasher first and he played above the rim and relied on his outside game when the defense sagged off to stop his drives. Carmelo used to be consistently a top 5 scorer while shooting the ball at a 47-48% clip. Now he has turned into basically a mid range jump shooter from triple threat position and he doesnt seem able to finish as well as he used to. He constantly gets blocked in the paint and it seems he cannot score as easily as he used to, and has to rely on way to many tough contested shots in order to score at a decent rate.
Melo used to be DOMINANT on the perimeter,UNGUARDABLE but now i find myself second guessing his shots as i am not as confident in him anymore, if i wouldve known we wouldve had this melo in the trade i wouldve never agreed to it but whats so shocking is that he is only 27 or 28 and his athletic ability from 4-5 years ago is completely drained, dwayne wade got stronger and overall more athletic and lebron has bulked up and become a new specimen but melo seems to either be out of shape or athletically drained as of right now as shown by his frequent injury problems, maybe he is just slowing down faster than anticipated
Here are his career scoring numbers:
THE RISE:
03-04: 21.0 PPG, 42.6 FG%
04-05: 20.8 PPG, 43.1 FG%
05-06: 26.5 PPG, 48.1 FG%
06-07: 28.9 PPG, 47.6 FG%
07-08: 25.7 PPG, 49.2 FG%
THE DECLINE:
08-09: 22.8 PPG, 44.3 FG%
09-10: 28.2 PPG, 45.8 FG%
10-11: 25.6 PPG, 45.5 FG%
11-12: 22.3 PPG, 39.9 FG%
(He is becoming a volume scorer each year after 07-08 season)
As you can see 06,07,08 were his "PRIME" years yet he was only 21-24 years old,as you can see he was trending upward into shooting 50% from the field and then suddenly without reason his FG% just dropped to a mediocre 44%. Why did this suddenly happen to one of the most if not the most consistent perimeter player in the league? And normally you can blame it on just having a slightly injury filled down season but why has he never shot above 45% from the field after that season? Was his injury so bad it took away his athletic ability? Maybe.
Something is not right with melo and if we had the 06-08 melo this team would be great as of right now.No more do we see melo slam dunks in traffic and when they do happen their rare sightings, never do we see melo go in the post on a regular basis anymore and dominate the smaller players. He isnt right and it seems he is trending downward as the seasons go by and he is only 27.
Melo is starting to slow down as a scorer and its obvious that his abilities are being diminished slowly but surely. He isnt as dynamic of a scorer anymore and is very streaky and erratic which isnt something the "Best Scorer" in the league is.
Look at these two videos:
#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MszwRMCFhrU
#2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlQjcU9o7QE&feature=related
In video #1 Melo has more power on his drives and is more aggressive looking for contact but in video #2 his is more a finesses player.If you didnt know who he was you couldnt guess that the person in video 1 and 2 are the same person.
Bottom line is Melo reached a peak at a really young age and now it seems he started to decline right after that upward trend. That doesnt happen for no reason especially a superstar unless he had a major injury that he hasnt revealed because the melo we are seeing in MSG is not the one i was expecting at all.
Melo used to be DOMINANT on the perimeter,UNGUARDABLE but now i find myself second guessing his shots as i am not as confident in him anymore, if i wouldve known we wouldve had this melo in the trade i wouldve never agreed to it but whats so shocking is that he is only 27 or 28 and his athletic ability from 4-5 years ago is completely drained, dwayne wade got stronger and overall more athletic and lebron has bulked up and become a new specimen but melo seems to either be out of shape or athletically drained as of right now as shown by his frequent injury problems, maybe he is just slowing down faster than anticipated
Here are his career scoring numbers:
THE RISE:
03-04: 21.0 PPG, 42.6 FG%
04-05: 20.8 PPG, 43.1 FG%
05-06: 26.5 PPG, 48.1 FG%
06-07: 28.9 PPG, 47.6 FG%
07-08: 25.7 PPG, 49.2 FG%
THE DECLINE:
08-09: 22.8 PPG, 44.3 FG%
09-10: 28.2 PPG, 45.8 FG%
10-11: 25.6 PPG, 45.5 FG%
11-12: 22.3 PPG, 39.9 FG%
(He is becoming a volume scorer each year after 07-08 season)
As you can see 06,07,08 were his "PRIME" years yet he was only 21-24 years old,as you can see he was trending upward into shooting 50% from the field and then suddenly without reason his FG% just dropped to a mediocre 44%. Why did this suddenly happen to one of the most if not the most consistent perimeter player in the league? And normally you can blame it on just having a slightly injury filled down season but why has he never shot above 45% from the field after that season? Was his injury so bad it took away his athletic ability? Maybe.
Something is not right with melo and if we had the 06-08 melo this team would be great as of right now.No more do we see melo slam dunks in traffic and when they do happen their rare sightings, never do we see melo go in the post on a regular basis anymore and dominate the smaller players. He isnt right and it seems he is trending downward as the seasons go by and he is only 27.
Melo is starting to slow down as a scorer and its obvious that his abilities are being diminished slowly but surely. He isnt as dynamic of a scorer anymore and is very streaky and erratic which isnt something the "Best Scorer" in the league is.
Look at these two videos:
#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MszwRMCFhrU
#2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlQjcU9o7QE&feature=related
In video #1 Melo has more power on his drives and is more aggressive looking for contact but in video #2 his is more a finesses player.If you didnt know who he was you couldnt guess that the person in video 1 and 2 are the same person.
Bottom line is Melo reached a peak at a really young age and now it seems he started to decline right after that upward trend. That doesnt happen for no reason especially a superstar unless he had a major injury that he hasnt revealed because the melo we are seeing in MSG is not the one i was expecting at all.
Last edited: