Melancer46
Living Legend
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- Dec 1, 2011
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Leonard played good defense on Melo and Melo is still coming off an injury but, in general, OrangeFoo is absolutely correct in terms of Melo not getting calls. Case and point, I think it was Ginobili who lost the ball, Melo and Manu dove for it, foul on Melo. Refs don't call that stuff on anyone let alone star players.
I think in general, Melo gets treated the same way as any other star in the NBA. He drew fouls a much higher percentage of the time when he was in Denver and attacked the rim relentlessly, whereas he's turned into more of a jumpshooter in New York, and as a result, his free throw rate has dwindled.
Looking at the numbers for Melo, LeBron, Harden, Kobe, and my man Giannis (his free throw rate is very high due to his relentless attacking style), Melo is on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of free throw attempts per field goal attempt at the rim, but he's basically tied with LeBron (1.12 FTA compared to 1.26 FTA). For comparison's sake, Kobe averages 1.8 FTA per shot at the rim, Harden is at 1.81, and Durant is at 1.94. Melo's rate has actually increased since going to New York from 1.03 to 1.41 per shot at the rim, but he simply doesn't attack as much as he used to, so his overall free throw rate has declined.
Defensive fouls is a different argument and I have no way to really calculate anything in that regard, but just from watching him compared to LeBron for example, Melo just flat out fouls more. He's much sloppier as a defender (has nothing to do with a simple 50/50 ball situation, but still).