Melo is much more versatile in my opinion. Durant is a shooting scorer. Melo can hit the midrange jumper, drive in, and is probably the best perimeter post player in the league. He can also fill the point forward role, as we sometimes saw in Denver. If I want a true scorer, I'm taking Melo over him.
no not easily. KD is better IMO but judging from what I see, its a fair analysis to say that the gap btwn them two is closer than that btwn LBJ and KD.
I think the gap between LBJ & Durant is actually larger than the gap between LBJ & Melo simply due to how well they match up with each other. If you play your best against the best, then really that is all that matters.
When they matched up in the 1st Round of the ECF, Carmelo guarded him 95% of the time and he really cut down on LeBron's ability to facilitate and forced him to take tough shots. LeBron's success against Melo came with breakdowns in our team defense in which there was no help defense for LeBron in the times he could drive to the basket and of course when Miami got out in transition off of our missed shots.
They're polar opposites as players but they always brings their A game when they matchup and have been doing it since they were 15 years old. LeBron/Melo in a NBA Finals would be far more interesting & better for the NBA's sake than LeBron/Durant because of that life-long rivalry.
I think the gap between LBJ & Durant is actually larger than the gap between LBJ & Melo simply due to how well they match up with each other. If you play your best against the best, then really that is all that matters.
When they matched up in the 1st Round of the ECF, Carmelo guarded him 95% of the time and he really cut down on LeBron's ability to facilitate and forced him to take tough shots. LeBron's success against Melo came with breakdowns in our team defense in which there was no help defense for LeBron in the times he could drive to the basket and of course when Miami got out in transition off of our missed shots.
They're polar opposites as players but they always brings their A game when they matchup and have been doing it since they were 15 years old. LeBron/Melo in a NBA Finals would be far more interesting & better for the NBA's sake than LeBron/Durant because of that life-long rivalry.
good points. I predict the haters will be out in full force on this though.
Durant plays off of his team's offense and tries to get his w/o affecting his teammates. He is extremely good at picking his shots and rarely ever takes a bad one.
Melo tries to assert himself more on offense but doesnt have the same ability to get off good shots on nearly every possesion and he often takes the ball out of his team's hands and turns it into melo-ball. He's still a deadly scorer but hes not as talented or cerebral.
Both players kind of hurt their team as a #1 option for opposite reasons.. Melo isolates himself from the rest of the team by hogging the ball and Durant isolates himself by not being able to get open, ending up having no effect on many plays.
With the above being about halfcourt play, I'd like to add though that Durant is much, much deadlier in transition.
good points. I predict the haters will be out in full force on this though.
I expect it.
Melo's got such a terrible rep that he literally can't appease anyone.
Everybody bashes us Knicks fans for supporting him, but honestly there isn't anybody else out there who does. So many critics of his game when he plays exactly the way they want LeBron to play with an aggressive focus on offense.
I remember when this entire site was coming up with Melo trade scenarios so we could build around Jeremy Lin in Mike D'Antoni's system.
Melo tries to assert himself more on offense but doesnt have the same ability to get off good shots on nearly every possesion and he often takes the ball out of his team's hands and turns it into melo-ball. He's still a deadly scorer but hes not as talented or cerebral.
The teammates do not deserve the ball when nobody is stepping their game up, its the same argument you can make for Kobe 80% of the time. Its not really a "cerebral" approach, its based entirely on instinct. It takes a player with a great feel for the game to know when he has to be the guy who wins the game if possible. This instinct is something Durant lacks because he is too cerebral and selective with his shots and this allows for an aggressive player like Westbrook to phase him out on offense.
"Melo-ball" occurs when the stars align. This means Jeremy Lin is running headfirst into 2 players and throwing the ball in the air, JR Smith is isolating from 20 feet out to take a fadeaway jumpshot, Amare is standing in the corner looking for Steve Nash, & Tyson Chandler is on the floor.
The teammates do not deserve the ball when nobody is stepping their game up, its the same argument you can make for Kobe 80% of the time. Its not really a "cerebral" approach, its based entirely on instinct. It takes a player with a great feel for the game to know when he has to be the guy who wins the game if possible. This instinct is something Durant lacks because he is too cerebral and selective with his shots and this allows for an aggressive player like Westbrook to phase him out on offense.
"Melo-ball" occurs when the stars align. This means Jeremy Lin is running headfirst into 2 players and throwing the ball in the air, JR Smith is isolating from 20 feet out to take a fadeaway jumpshot, Amare is standing in the corner looking for Steve Nash, & Tyson Chandler is on the floor.
No.. Melo ball occurs because 80% of the time when Melo gets the ball in the high post or wing and starts putting the ball over his head, jab stepping, etc. his teammates know hes just going to shoot so they dont involve themselves in the play besides maybe crashing the glass.
Melo ball is like Lebron ball except much worse because James passes it to the open man when helps comes which keeps his teammates involved and ready because they know if they make a nice cut or find an open spot on the perimeter they will most likely get the ball.
Also, Melo cant run a PnR like other great perimeter players can today.. and it is a dominant play that, if executed properly, will lead to a good shot and good ball movement/passing to keep everybody involved and motivated on every play.
Re: durant vs. melo?
