If Melo plays a full season next year...

[Eric15]

He will have played in more career games than Bird and Magic.

I know that's a completely random observation, but it's just crazy to me how far removed we're becoming from his time at SU.

 

[Trueblue25]

Feel old

 

[Brian Orange]

Wow.

 

[Eric15]

My bad, it would be 1 more year to exceed just their regular season games played, and probably two more years to exceed their total games played including playoffs.

 

[stuckinbig11]

I have thought about his aging off and on as his injuries pile up, but I never put it in context with Bird and Magic--old man.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Twelve years in the league.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I think that says more about how incredible Magic and bird were.

To compile all of the accolades in less amount of time...incredible.

 

[Dave85]

My bad, it would be 1 more year to exceed just their regular season games played, and probably two more years to exceed their total games played including playoffs.

He's made a few dollars since 2003.

 

[Tony DeFranco]

His career is becoming totally irrelevant

 

[OrangeDW]

His career is becoming totally irrelevant

He was averaging 24 pts. and 7 rebounds per game before he got hurt.

Dumb post.

 

[Eric15]

His career is becoming totally irrelevant

Melo's place in history will probably (obviously his career isn't over) be with guys like Alex English, Dominique Wilkins and George Gervin. Elite scorers who had relatively little playoff success.

 

[igor]

how many titles would he have had he played with either the celtic or laker imortals?

 

[RandygoCuse]

Melo's place in history will probably (obviously his career isn't over) be with guys like Alex English, Dominique Wilkins and George Gervin. Elite scorers who had relatively little playoff success.

If only Detroit had drafted him...

 

[Eric15]

If only Detroit had drafted him...

But would drafting Melo have potentially thrown off the perfect chemistry and balance of those mid-2000s Piston teams? They came within 1 game of winning back-to-back titles in Melo's first two years in the league. Melo would have eaten into Tayshawn Prince's minutes, who wasn't a big scorer but was the ultimate glue guy and defender.

 

[RandygoCuse]

But would drafting Melo have potentially thrown off the perfect chemistry and balance of those mid-2000s Piston teams? They came within 1 game of winning back-to-back titles in Melo's first two years in the league. Melo would have eaten into Tayshawn Prince's minutes, who wasn't a big scorer but was the ultimate glue guy and defender.

true - but I still think they would have won it with them. They had a good coach and players that could play with him.

 

[Knicks411]

But would drafting Melo have potentially thrown off the perfect chemistry and balance of those mid-2000s Piston teams? They came within 1 game of winning back-to-back titles in Melo's first two years in the league. Melo would have eaten into Tayshawn Prince's minutes, who wasn't a big scorer but was the ultimate glue guy and defender.

I can't decide. It was odd to me, because Detroit was a weird team to be picking that high in the sense that they only got there because of a trade, so they had a good team already, and even if you liked Darko, you had to know Melo would contribute more right away (and as it turned out at every step of the way).

Then again, I guess it's hard to argue with the results, and I think Melo and Lebron butted heads with Brown at the 04 Olympics, so it's possivble it wouldn't have worked out in Detroit.

 

[Eric15]

I can't decide. It was odd to me, because Detroit was a weird team to be picking that high in the sense that they only got there because of a trade, so they had a good team already, and even if you liked Darko, you had to know Melo would contribute more right away (and as it turned out at every step of the way).

Then again, I guess it's hard to argue with the results, and I think Melo and Lebron butted heads with Brown at the 04 Olympics, so it's possivble it wouldn't have worked out in Detroit.

I mean that 2004 Laker team (which picked up Karl Malone and Gary Payton) was supposed to run away with the NBA title that year, and they got steamrolled by the superstar-less Pistons 4-1.