Jabari Parker...

[cuseincincy]

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=9970796

Here's the clip...tell me what you think... 4 min mark.

"CARMELO'S NBA CAREER IS A TRAIN WRECK LOL"

In the new world of hot sports takes, if you aren't Lebron, you are a "train wreck"

Greg Oden is a train wreck.
Darko is a train wreck.
Melo is not a train wreck...or even close.

I am not going to pretend Melo is better than Lebron. Its a silly discussion about any player. But...I sincerely believe that if you put Melo on the Heat with Wade, Bosh and Allen last year the Heat still win the title. If you put Lebron on the Knicks last year they don't make the Eastern finals. Melo can't do it all himself and because of that he may try to do too much at times. But Lebron couldn't do it himself either. And Lebron and Melo are both gold medalists because of each other and the other great players around them.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Let's get him to 10 college games before we say that

No, how bout he wins a ring first? 10 college games...really? We'll know how goo he is in 10 college games?

 

[PeteCalvin]

Do we really need to give Melo credit for winning a gold medal? I'm not saying I agree with Goodman, if that is what he said, cause he won an NCAA title, but winning the gold medal isn't a huge accomplishment
when you play for team USA.

And that goes for anyone, I'm wouldn't have Lebron's 2 gold medals (and counting) anywhere close to the top of his resume as an all time great.

Obviously you have no idea how bad the US Olympic Teams were prior to 2006. We got embarrassed by teams like Argentina, Spain, etc. It took solid performances by guys like Melo, Bryant, Lebron and Durant to bring us back to prominence. Never undervalue Carmelo's contribution to the success of Team USA since 2004. He and Durant are probably the two best pure scorers in the world and proved it on the world stage. Jabari Parker is a tremendous player, but he is not Carmelo Anthony good. Not yet.

I think every single player that helped bring USA Basketball back to the top deserve to be applauded for their commitment and accomplishments. What they did was not nearly as easy as they made it seem, and to say it was easy devalues all the hard work they put in. And that goes for the coaches too. Saying they don't deserve credit is a slap in the face and just plain idiocy.

 

[Knicks411]

Obviously you have no idea how bad the US Olympic Teams were prior to 2006. We got embarrassed by teams like Argentina, Spain, etc. It took solid performances by guys like Melo, Bryant, Lebron and Durant to bring us back to prominence. Never undervalue Carmelo's contribution to the success of Team USA since 2004. He and Durant are probably the two best pure scorers in the world and proved it on the world stage. Jabari Parker is a tremendous player, but he is not Carmelo Anthony good. Not yet.

I'm not trying to compare Melo to Parker, that's absurd. And if you look at what I posted in this thread that is pretty obvious I think. And I know how the olympic teams were prior to 2006. I know Melo was on the most disappointing olympic team of all time. (Btw, not blaming him for that, but stating a fact. And he wasn't the only one, and I'm not saying he was responsible)

I don't think anyone is more of a winner for winning a gold medal on team USA considering the talent level they had. I dont think any more of Melo, Lebron, Kobe, etc because they beat Spain in a game where they probably had 8 or 9 of the best players on the court at anytime. I don't think any less of them, and you're definitely right that this generation was the one that made it important to play on the Olympic team and we got the A team instead of the B or C teams we had in the past.

 

[Knicks411]

I am not going to pretend Melo is better than Lebron. Its a silly discussion about any player. But...I sincerely believe that if you put Melo on the Heat with Wade, Bosh and Allen last year the Heat still win the title. If you put Lebron on the Knicks last year they don't make the Eastern finals. Melo can't do it all himself and because of that he may try to do too much at times. But Lebron couldn't do it himself either. And Lebron and Melo are both gold medalists because of each other and the other great players around them.

Don't agree with this. Miami won the title by the slimmest of margins last year; they made it out of the eastern conference by the slimmest of margins as well. Without Lebron I don't think they do that. (Just looking at Game 7 of the NBA finals, Lebron went for 37-12-4 and spent most of the game guarding Tony Parker and hounding him into 3-12 shooting. Melo isn't doing that. In game 6, Lebron dropped a triple double and Parker shot 6-23. Again, Melo isn't doing that).

I think if Lebron is on the Knicks, they would have made the finals if Chandler was close to healthy. If not, they probably lose before that.

 

[BostonOrange]

Don't agree with this. Miami won the title by the slimmest of margins last year; they made it out of the eastern conference by the slimmest of margins as well. Without Lebron I don't think they do that. (Just looking at Game 7 of the NBA finals, Lebron went for 37-12-4 and spent most of the game guarding Tony Parker and hounding him into 3-12 shooting. Melo isn't doing that. In game 6, Lebron dropped a triple double and Parker shot 6-23. Again, Melo isn't doing that).

I think if Lebron is on the Knicks, they would have made the finals if Chandler was close to healthy. If not, they probably lose before that.

I'm not trying to compare Melo to Parker, that's absurd. And if you look at what I posted in this thread that is pretty obvious I think. And I know how the olympic teams were prior to 2006. I know Melo was on the most disappointing olympic team of all time. (Btw, not blaming him for that, but stating a fact. And he wasn't the only one, and I'm not saying he was responsible)

I don't think anyone is more of a winner for winning a gold medal on team USA considering the talent level they had. I dont think any more of Melo, Lebron, Kobe, etc because they beat Spain in a game where they probably had 8 or 9 of the best players on the court at anytime. I don't think any less of them, and you're definitely right that this generation was the one that made it important to play on the Olympic team and we got the A team instead of the B or C teams we had in the past.

I generally agree with you on the gold medals. I give that whole core of guys credit for getting the US back where we should be, dominating international basketball. But the fact that Melo, or Lebron, or Kobe, was on a gold medal winning team doesn't really affect my opinion of their basketball ability one way or the other. I will say though that I have really enjoyed watching Melo in international competition. Some guys over the years have been exposed a bit when playing with other superstars, because they can't play without the ball in their hands all the time, struggle when they aren't a focal point of the offense, or aren't as effective under FIBA rules. Karl Malone and Dwight Howard come to mind. Melo has really been the opposite - put him off the ball with less responsibility to initiate the play and he has been devastatingly effective. Interesting because he is portrayed as a such a selfish ball stopper (and he can be a ball stopper) in the NBA.

 

[two3zone]

I am not going to pretend Melo is better than Lebron. Its a silly discussion about any player. But...I sincerely believe that if you put Melo on the Heat with Wade, Bosh and Allen last year the Heat still win the title. If you put Lebron on the Knicks last year they don't make the Eastern finals. Melo can't do it all himself and because of that he may try to do too much at times. But Lebron couldn't do it himself either. And Lebron and Melo are both gold medalists because of each other and the other great players around them.

Lebron couldn't do it by himself? He brought the Cavs to the finals. Enough said, those Cavs teams blew.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BostonOrange]

Lebron couldn't do it by himself? He brought the Cavs to the finals. Enough said, those Cavs teams blew.

The east did suck that year though (he was superhuman against Det I will give you). When the east got better he couldn't get by the Celts or the Magic on his own...

 

[Knicks411]

I will say though that I have really enjoyed watching Melo in international competition. Some guys over the years have been exposed a bit when playing with other superstars, because they can't play without the ball in their hands all the time, struggle when they aren't a focal point of the offense, or aren't as effective under FIBA rules. Karl Malone and Dwight Howard come to mind. Melo has really been the opposite - put him off the ball with less responsibility to initiate the play and he has been devastatingly effective. Interesting because he is portrayed as a such a selfish ball stopper (and he can be a ball stopper) in the NBA.

Oh yeah, he comes in off the bench or whatever and its bombs away. What was it, Nigeria or someone last year where he had like 9 3's in 20 minutes or something?

 

[Orange2389]

Reminds me quite a bit of a certain Freshman Phenom that suited up for the Orange about a decade ago...

That's good, sophomore Cooney reminds me of a certain freshman phenom that suited up for the Orange about a decade ago...

 

[Doc5120]

You are thinking about the mature Melo not the freshman Melo when you say they are built the same. Melo was no 235 as a freshman. Melo may have been quicker and as good a scorer, but I'm not sure he was that good early in the year.

You're probably correct in that Melo wasn't 235 or as solid as Parker, but I remember him being a strong kid. Just a little doughy at the time, not quite as put together as Parker, but close enough that I made the comparison. Either way, they are/were both great players as college freshman. It will be fun to watch Parker...when we aren't playing Duke.