Carmelo Anthony: Why We Shouldn’t Believe ‘Melo Will Sacrifice Scoring

Mainly because in reality we don’t want him to.

Since training camp began, Carmelo has been discussing being a better all-around player, scoring less, and trusting his teammates more.

As far as being a better all-around player, that would be much appreciated. Comparisons to Lebron James have not quieted down since the Olympics, and ‘Melo has consistently said that it just gives him motivation. He needs to work on seeing his teammates more, which is another thing he has mentioned he learned in the Olympics.

“If we can trust one another out there on the basketball court it will make things a lot easier,” Anthony told ESPN.

‘Melo knows that taking a contested double-teamed shot is not in the best interest of the team. That is part of what he means when he says he needs to trust his teammates. He needs to pass out of those situations to the open man on the perimeter in order for the team to be more successful.

That’s all fine and great, but it still has nothing to do with Carmelo being our main scoring option who must lead the team offensively. Yes, he should be more efficient and make sure not to force the issue, but he certainly shouldn’t be turning off his best skill.

“I’m done trying to score 30, 35, 40 points for us to win a basketball game,” ‘Melo continued, “It’s what I do best. But in order for this team to be successful with the guys that we have we need a more well-rounded team.”

I don’t completely agree with him. If in order for him to score 30 points a game it means he is stopping the ball and taking bad shots, than yes he should absolutely not be doing that. But is that the only way to score 30 points? Look at Lebron–he averaged 27.1 points last season, but it was rarely forced. Now, Carmelo is not Lebron, but offensively he is far more versatile, so he should be able to accomplish scoring without ruining the team.

The main reason we don’t want ‘Melo to stop scoring is that we don’t have that many options besides him. The only other true scorers we have are STAT (who is coming off a bad season) and J.R. Smith (who is as inconsistent as it gets). Of course there are others on the team who can score, but no one with the skill set ‘Melo has.

It’s also situational. In some situations we don’t need ‘Melo to dominate, and other times we do. He is not saying that in the fourth quarter with a minute left he is going to pull a Lebron and pass to a role player. That will still be his time. What ‘Melo is talking about is the far too often times when the team is standing and watching him struggle to get the ball into the hoop when they should be involved as well.

The most important thing for Carmelo is to be more efficient. He has taken bad shots, and that is what really needs to end. He needs to take the best shot available, and if he cannot get a good look, then he should pass the ball. People will only be mad at you for scoring a lot if in order to do it you shoot 12-30, that is not going to to cut it this season.

You can’t take the scorer out of ‘Melo, and we don’t want to. He is the franchise player, and him having the best season he has ever had is our biggest chance to win it all this year. The offense will continue to run through him, and hopefully he will still be the player he has been for the last 10 years, if not better.