NY Knicks: Who was the better small forward? Bernard King or Carmelo Anthony

NY Knicks: The final verdict

Again, this is just these player’s time with the Knicks.

Stats

In King’s time with the team he averaged 27 points, 3 assists, and 5 rebounds, shooting 54% from the field.  Melo averaged 25 points, 3 assists, and 7 rebounds, shooting 44% from the field.

Edge: King

Endurance

Bernard King tore his ACL in 1985 and missed the whole season.  While he would go on to play six more seasons in the NBA and make All-Star teams he never reached the same level of dominance he had in the first half of the 80s.  Carmelo played 7 years in New York, led the league in minutes in 2014, and frequently notched seasons where he played over 70 games.

The biggest flaw in Bernard King’s resume is how quickly his starlight burned out.

Edge:  Melo

Defense

They were both pretty meh. Not great, not terrible. King was a little more athletic and averaged more steals, Melo was stronger and could switch onto more forwards.  Moving on.

Edge:  Nobody

Playoff Success

Bernard King played with zero all-stars, zero award winners won two playoff series in four years, averaged 31.0 on 57% in the playoffs, and took a legendary Celtics team to a game 7.

Carmelo Anthony played with two All-Stars (Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire), a Defensive Player of the Year (Chandler), a Sixth Man of the Year (J.R. Smith), two 18-PPG scorers (Derrick Rose and Kristaps Porzingis), and three weeks of Linsanity.

With them, he won 1 playoff series in a 7-year tenure.

Resonance

Both New York guys in one manner or another. King’s upbringing on the blacktop of Brooklyn runs deeper than even Carmelo’s title at Syracuse. Melo was loved by NY Knicks fans but endured almost as many boos in his time in the garden as cheers.

The fans knew that they were never going to reach the promised land with Melo in the driver’s seat. He was loved yes, but there was always this undercurrent of mistrust.  Maybe it had more to do with Jimmy Dolan than Carmelo, but the feeling was tainted, and then he left for OKC.

With King it was different. You could just tell by the way he carried himself and in interviews from that era, there was nowhere else he’d rather be than New York City.

The way he was marketed as the league was first taking off, his station as the star of NYC back when the difference between that city and any other was more pronounced than ever, even his last name being ‘King’, it was all sort of this perfect storm, if for a brief period.

His style, his scoring dominance, those breakaway two-handed slams, it was loved.  He was loved. Melo was never loved like that.

Edge:  King

The Final Verdict:  Bernard King