Hypothetically...where would Melo rank with Blazers??

Brook Lopez scored 20 PPG last season. Harrison Barnes was a fraction of a point below 20 PPG. Are you saying that either of them having their 2016-17 seasons for the Blazers would give them top-ten all-time seasons for the Blazers?

Scoring is a big deal, but basing everything on PPG is extremely flawed. It ignores all the non-scoring parts of the game and doesn't even put the scoring in context of how many of the team's possessions he used and how efficiently he scored those points.

 

I concur. Trading good young assets like Harkless for Carmelo Anthony is not a good move IMO.

I wonder if perhaps Dame and CJ are caught up in their fandom, considering they probably grew up drinking the Melo hype back when he was a big deal.

 

Very likely a factor. I suspect if Kobe Bryant had wanted out of LA a couple of years ago, a lot of players would have said, "Of course you get Kobe. He's Kobe Bryant."

 

I seem to recall a while back one or more of the stat wonks on the board (thank you stat wonks, your service is appreciated) showed how Carmello is a high volume low efficiency scorer as compared to Dame and CJ, and possibly others (Harkless, I wonder?). Do we really want a legend in his own mind player like Melo taking touches away from "better" offensive players? Not to mention his "I really don't care" defense.

I was opposed to having Melo on the Blazers from the beginning. Then I slowly came around to the idea that yeah, he would improve the team. But the more I think about it, unless we are giving NYK nothing of real value to us, he's not worth it. Let him stop the ball, take the ball out of Harden's hands, and not play defense in Houston. They deserve him.

 

I'll add one caveat. If they could get rid of Turner, and/or Crabbe, and/or MyLe and it took trading Harkless and bringing back Melo I would probably do that. The move wouldn't be about basketball, it would be about the books.

 

@BBert - Boom!