New York Knicks: Kevin Pelton defends Carmelo Anthony ranking
ESPN writer Kevin Pelton defended the decision to rank New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony as the No. 64 overall player in the NBA.
In a rare twist of fate, the New York Knicks have found themselves at the heart of a controversy that isn’t a result of their own doing. Franchise player Carmelo Anthony has received shockingly low rankings in multiple Top 100 lists, most notably his perceived snub by ESPN.
In response to the waves of criticism that ESPN has received for ranking Anthony as the No. 64 overall player in the NBA, a prominent writer has spoken out.
The notion that there are 63 players better than Anthony is one that hasn’t sat well ‘Melo’s peers. Multiple players have spoken out in Anthony’s defense, including Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green, Most Improved Player C.J. McCollum, two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith, and two-time league MVP Steve Nash.
According to Kevin Pelton of ESPN, a statistical decline is the reason behind Anthony’s plunge beyond Top 50 status in the NBA.
"Given Anthony has always been an indifferent defender, it’s difficult to make a statistical case that he’s still a top-50 player at this stage of his career. If you want to make the case that he belongs somewhere in the 51-to-60 range, that’s perhaps reasonable, particularly if you believe he can make the transition to better efficiency in a smaller role on another team. But I don’t think Anthony’s ranking should be cause for outrage if you’re evaluating his current ability rather than his legacy."
Anthony has struggled to provide the production expected of an elite player, but the response to his designation is one that surprises Pelton.
Some have combatted the criticism of ESPN by stating that the outrage over Anthony is founded in name value alone. Others have evaluated the substance of the claim, however, and thus come to the conclusion that it’s a ranking based on statistics without context.
Pelton claims to have limited his criticism to the statistics, and the statistics speak in favor of Anthony’s ranking of No. 64.
Anthony finished the 2016-17 regular season ranked No. 42 in the NBA in Offensive Real Plus-Minus and No. 421 in Defensive RPM.
Intriguing as those numbers may be, current and former players continue to encourage those who ranked Anthony to look at the context of his statistical decline. Between the turmoil created by team president Phil Jackson and the subpar rosters around Anthony, there have been multiple defenses.
The most common explanation, however, is that opposing coaches and players game plan for Anthony—and there aren’t many players who are game-planned for.
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Regardless of where you believe Carmelo Anthony should be ranked, some of the most prominent names in the NBA are rallying to the defense of the New York Knicks star.