Greater All-Time: Carmelo Anthony vs. Paul Pierce

[WayOfWade]

Got this idea from the Melo/Wade thread, who do you got?
I choose Pierce

[Legends66NBA7]

Off course its still Pierce.

The argument in the Wade vs Melo thread for Melo is that he has more longevity, so how can Melo be over Pierce who has better longevity than Melo ?


As players though, It's pretty close.

Melo is a better overall scorer, Pierce was better from range and a better passer. Both are great at getting to the free throw line. So offensively, it's a wash.

Pierce is the better overall defender. Melo is the better rebounder.

[feyki]

Pierce by far .

[IncarceratedBob]

Melo is the better player. Pierce got lucky enough to ride KG to a ring.

[34-24 Footwork]

Pierce easily. People forgot about his earlier celtic days. Dude had to drag around that fool Antoine Walker game after game

[Dro]

Pierce

[WadeStan]

Pierce. He's a winner. Just like Wade. Melo just smiles when ish gets real.

[AirFederer]

Pierce

Truth.

[FreezingTsmoove]

Melo

[SexSymbol]

Pierce. It's the truth.

[feyki]

The Truth is truth .

[Mass Debator]

If both were in their prime and on the same team, Pierce would be the leader.

[warriorfan]

Well Paul Pierce is 10 years older than Carmelo Anthony so this isn't a total fair comparison. Who knows? Maybe Carmelo can form his own big 3 and be a contender in his early 30's like Pierce could? As a fan I would like to see it happen.

Paul Pierce has some crazy stats early in his career and countless clutch moments later in his career. I wonder if you can consider Paul Pierce the 3nd Greatest Celtic behind Larry Bird and Bill Russell? I think Paul Pierce was individually better than Hondo for what it's worth.


Last note is that Carmelo has played 66 playoff games in his career and averaged 26/7/3/1 over that stretch. Carmelo isn't a choker.

[Mike smith]

Carmelo anthony

[$LakerGold]

I don't know the term, but Melo was a bit fabricated (?) in a sense. Paul Pierce was definitely cooler during the big 3 era. Melo had a better peak, Pierce had a better career & it's not even close.

[feyki]

I don't know the term, but Melo was a bit fabricated (?) in a sense. Paul Pierce was definitely cooler during the big 3 era. Melo had a better peak, Pierce had a better career & it's not even close.


No .

[dhsilv]

Well Paul Pierce is 10 years older than Carmelo Anthony so this isn't a total fair comparison. Who knows? Maybe Carmelo can form his own big 3 and be a contender in his early 30's like Pierce could? As a fan I would like to see it happen.

Paul Pierce has some crazy stats early in his career and countless clutch moments later in his career. I wonder if you can consider Paul Pierce the 3nd Greatest Celtic behind Larry Bird and Bill Russell? I think Paul Pierce was individually better than Hondo for what it's worth.


Last note is that Carmelo has played 66 playoff games in his career and averaged 26/7/3/1 over that stretch. Carmelo isn't a choker.

When you aren't being an annoying troll you can actually add value.

That's actually an interesting question and I think you might be right. As much as I like McHale, I think Pierce was just a sliver better as a celtic.

[dhsilv]

I don't know the term, but Melo was a bit fabricated (?) in a sense. Paul Pierce was definitely cooler during the big 3 era. Melo had a better peak, Pierce had a better career & it's not even close.

I'm not buying the peak is that clear cut. Pierce's best year was like 02, he took his team to the conference finals, and he had a better VORP, BPM, WS/48 (anyone want to look up RAPM since i hate looking it up and everyone wants to tell me I picked the wrong site or whatever else) than Melo's best year which people generally call 14 where yes PER did favor Melo. Or they go with 13 which again better PER but nothing else, a comicbook super hero level usage (which inflated PER and imo once you're past somewhere above 25% I feel that PER over values it a bit much). But anyway I'm not sure it's clear who had the best peak between these two.

[warriorfan]

When you aren't being an annoying troll you can actually add value.

That's actually an interesting question and I think you might be right. As much as I like McHale, I think Pierce was just a sliver better as a celtic.

I agree. McHale was a great player and an integral part to those Boston Championships but Paul Pierce had a longer career and a more extended prime than McHale did. I think I would be pretty comfortable in placing Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce in the top 3 Celtics of all time. After that it gets a little more fuzzy, a mix up of Cowens, Hondo, and Mchale I suppose. I guess you could fit Robert Parish somewhere in the mix as well.

[MellowYellow]

Pierce up to age 31 season- 22.9/6.3/3.9 on .443/.366/.798
Melo up to now- 25.1/6.6/3.1 on .454/.345/.812

Looking at this trajectory Melo had a better career and similar peak, the only thing on pierce's side is the ship and fmvp, but melo coulda have easily achieved the same in pierce's place.

[dhsilv]

Pierce up to age 31 season- 22.9/6.3/3.9 on .443/.366/.798
Melo up to now- 25.1/6.6/3.1 on .454/.345/.812

Looking at this trajectory Melo had a better career and similar peak, the only thing on pierce's side is the ship and fmvp, but melo coulda have easily achieved the same in pierce's place.

VORP

Pierce 40.7
Melo 25.6

WS

Pierce 93.9
Melo 86

PER
Pierce 21.4
Melo 21.2

Playoffs

VORP
Pierce 4.3
Melo 2.1

WS
Pierce 8.3
Melo 5.7

PER
Pierce 20.1
Melo 19.9

I'm not seeing how through the same age they were close to be honest since none of those stats are great indicators of defense where Pierce was clearly better, leadership which also favored Pierce...

[MellowYellow]

VORP

Pierce 40.7
Melo 25.6

WS

Pierce 93.9
Melo 86

PER
Pierce 21.4
Melo 21.2

Playoffs

VORP
Pierce 4.3
Melo 2.1

WS
Pierce 8.3
Melo 5.7

PER
Pierce 20.1
Melo 19.9

I'm not seeing how through the same age they were close to be honest since none of those stats are great indicators of defense where Pierce was clearly better, leadership which also favored Pierce...

IDK or care how ws and vorp are calculate but looking at traditional stats Melo did more and he did it more efficiently.

[dhsilv]

IDK or care how ws and vorp are calculate but looking at traditional stats Melo did more and he did it more efficiently.

Those are the results of traditional stats being used to figure out how much a player contributes to a win. So unless you don't value winning, I'm not sure why some advanced stat like points per game (or summation of points over all games divided by games played as I like to call it) is somehow more meaningful than stats that help us predict future wins. Isn't that what stats are supposed to help us figure out?

[MellowYellow]

Those are the results of traditional stats being used to figure out how much a player contributes to a win. So unless you don't value winning, I'm not sure why some advanced stat like points per game (or summation of points over all games divided by games played as I like to call it) is somehow more meaningful than stats that help us predict future wins. Isn't that what stats are supposed to help us figure out?
nope, stats are stats. cant predict the future.

[SouBeachTalents]

I agree. McHale was a great player and an integral part to those Boston Championships but Paul Pierce had a longer career and a more extended prime than McHale did. I think I would be pretty comfortable in placing Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce in the top 3 Celtics of all time. After that it gets a little more fuzzy, a mix up of Cowens, Hondo, and Mchale I suppose. I guess you could fit Robert Parish somewhere in the mix as well.

Hondo is very clearly ahead of Pierce imo. Has a significant edge in accolades and was arguably the Celtics best player on 3 championship teams (68, 69, 74). Hondo is at worst a top 25 player of all time, you cannot say the same about Pierce