Better career, prime, and peak: Dwight vs. Carmelo

[Im Still Ballin]

Don't know why I'm making this; I think it's obvious. It's D12 for all three IMO. Define prime and peak however you want.

[warriorfan]

Ok yes I jumped into this thread but you took it away in the OP.

Even that being said I think I am higher on Howard than a lot of people and also higher on Melo than a lot of people. Even that being said it’s Dwight all the way and I would be interested to see if someone can formulate an argument that makes it debatable.

[ILLsmak]

For nba, dwight, but college melo is enough to say he was more important for bball. He was always second to bron at sf, maybe 3rd in his draft, he won OK, but then kind of petered out.

Dwight made the Finals with bummies, beating Bron. He has his slam dunk moment, and he has dpoys. Melo doesn’t have many nba accolades at all.

Dwight was the bigger impact player in ‘reality,’ but I still believe there is a magical universe where Melo can be a winner. Once Cooper, a once in a lifetime prospect on a superstacked team, fails to win, it will put in perspective how hard it is, especially when your best players are two freshmen and a soph. If melo didn’t get that ncaa win, his career would be dog shit, but I would rather have his career vs dwight’s as it is.

-Smak

[L.Kizzle]

They played in the exact same era and one was always considered better than the other. However, 20 years from now I can see Carmelo being boosted A La Reggie Miller

[fsvr54]

Dwight

[warriorfan]

Phil Jackson said if he had to choose anyone in a league wide pool of players it would be Dwight Howard. That was around 2009 era. There was a bit of jest in this comment but I still think there is a lot of truth behind it at the same time.

[Lakers Legend#32]

Dwight never had a peak.

Soft as Kobe would say.

[ImKobe]

Prime/Peak argument is pretty close IMO.

I thought Dwight had that part too but their overall numbers are actually pretty close. I figured there would be a larger gap in the advanced metrics in their primes because generally those favor a center like Dwight who scores at a more efficient clip and has the rebounding numbers a bit more but they're actually close when you look at the peaks.

Melo had a longer prime as he was an elite-level scorer for 9 seasons and averaged 20+ for 14 seasons vs Dwight's 4 and had more seasons as an All-Star. I'd say Melo had the better prime because he was at that level for longer and there isn't much of a gap in their overall output. Dwight wins the peak argument (slightly) and the career one he wins by a decent margin as I value his DPOY seasons and what he did as a role player more.

[Im Still Ballin]

Is A. Mourning vs. V. Carter a good Gen X comparison? Aside from Vince extending that role player arc an extra three seasons.

[ArbitraryWater]

Could it be, that both of them, peaked in the same year? 👀

[HylianNightmare]

3x dpoy

[rawimpact]

They played in the exact same era and one was always considered better than the other. However, 20 years from now I can see Carmelo being boosted A La Reggie Miller

Being considered better versus being better are two different things. To most fans offense has a greater impact on their perception of 'better'. To most coaches, defense matters.

I can guarantee you during their primes, any coach would have taken dwight over carmelo.

[ILLsmak]

Is A. Mourning vs. V. Carter a good Gen X comparison? Aside from Vince extending that role player arc an extra three seasons.

na vince is a legend and zo got injured.

-Smak

[SouBeachTalents]

Prime/Peak argument is pretty close IMO.
:whatever:

[L.Kizzle]

Being considered better versus being better are two different things. To most fans offense has a greater impact on their perception of 'better'. To most coaches, defense matters.

I can guarantee you during their primes, any coach would have taken dwight over carmelo.

That is basically what I said. Dwight was better than and Carmelo will be considered better down the road.

[Meticode]

Carmelo was a better scorer. That includes ball-handling, shooting, free throws, three point shot and things like that. Everything else? Dwight. And Dwight has more accolades.

[Im so nba'd out]

Carmelo at his peak in 2009 was the 2nd best player in the world. Dwight has never been close. Everything else goes to Dwight though

[SouBeachTalents]

Carmelo at his peak in 2009 was the 2nd best player in the world. Dwight has never been close. Everything else goes to Dwight though
He was clearly the best in the world that season, no need to try to look objective and claim he was only 2nd.

[Meticode]

Carmelo at his peak in 2009 was the 2nd best player in the world. Dwight has never been close. Everything else goes to Dwight though

He wasn't the second best player in the world ever.

In the 2009 and 2010 seasons he wasn't in the Top 5 in MVP voting, didn't lead the league in anything. Wade or Durant would've been #2 during that time.

Carmelo wasn't even All-NBA 1st Team during time nor ever in his career.

[Wally450]

Dwight should be in the NBAs Top 75 over Lillard.

[ImKobe]

:whatever:

Just going off statistics it's objectively close. I figured Dwight's metrics would be greater but they're not compared to 2013 or 2014 Melo. Dwight was also a liability in crunch time so at least I'm taking that into consideration as well. Overall they're not far off in terms of all-time standing but Dwight had the better career. Melo tanked his own career by leaving Denver early to gut the Knicks though.


Carmelo at his peak in 2009 was the 2nd best player in the world. Dwight has never been close. Everything else goes to Dwight though

Nah. I'd say Melo's peak was 2013 when he finished 3rd in MVP rating and carried a mediocre Knicks squad to 54 wins. Couldn't get past Indiana though because he didn't have a reliable co-star.

[999Guy]

Carmelo is lucky he got attached to LeBron and Wade by being in that draft class, and being drafted in that era.

I don't think Carmelo's reputation would suprass that of a Lillard or Derozan, players he's actually around the level of, in this era.

Fans are a little more educated now.

All that said, Dwight Howard was better than him from at least 2008 until maybe 2015. I would still say he was better in 2014. Just by way of defense as his offense slipped.

[tpols]

Orlando Dwight > Denver Melo èven though melo was really good himself back then, Dwight was more of a monster. He was the closest thing to Shaq I've ever seen, you either had to double or foul less he was throwing down 2 handed gorilla slam dunks. Once he hurt his back and lost his agility in the post his offense became black hole and fell off a cliff because he still had the ego of a superstar scorer.

[rawimpact]

That is basically what I said. Dwight was better than and Carmelo will be considered better down the road.

Im not arguing against you, i'm just echoing your thoughts.

[StrongLurk]

Dwight

[iamgine]

Who's more famous though.

[rawimpact]

Who's more famous though.

Dwight prob has a bigger international fanbase

[L.Kizzle]

Who's more famous though.

Carmelo probably started in less All-Star games.

[RRR3]

Carmelo at his peak in 2009 was the 2nd best player in the world. Dwight has never been close. Everything else goes to Dwight though
This has to be one of the worst posts of all time.

[Norcaliblunt]

Both screwed their legacies up by forcing their way out of the small market teams they had success on to only go to the 2 biggest markets and completely fail.

If both stay with the teams that drafted them they would be legends in those markets and also more universally liked.

[Im Still Ballin]

Who's more famous though.

Dwight was extremely popular during his Orlando prime. He routinely led the All-Star votes I believe. Also had more endorsements/in more commercials and ads than LeBron around like 2009.

That SVG incident, how he left ORL, and how the LA stint with Kobe went soured people on him. He was a pretty likeable guy prior to all of that. Had a Magic Johnson-like smile.