[KingPapasParticipant]

Carmelo Anthony has won on the High School level, He won a National Championship at Oak Hill Academy and he has won at the Collegiate Level at Syracuse. Does it really matter if he doesn’t win at the NBA level? He has never played with a fellow all star. I think he got the most out of the group he had in Denver but since going to New York he hasn’t had the personnel to compete, how much of that is really on him?

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 Carmelo has had a fantastic career and is one of the most gifted offensive players of this or any generation. He has been remarkably consistent and is a sure fire hall of famer without a doubt. 

Fair or not, championships will always be a standard for how great players are judged and if Carmelo never wins one it will keep him from being mentioned in the same category as contemporaries like lebron, wade, Kobe, etc. 

An interesting comparison for Carmelo in terms of historical impact could be a guy like Dirk nowitski. Dirk will probably be remembered as the better player because of that ring he won in 2011 but if the situation were reversed and Carmelo had won a ring instead of Dirk, than they would probably be judged differently from a historical perspective.

 

 

[ItsVictorOladipoParticipant]

An interesting comparison for Carmelo in terms of historical impact could be a guy like Dirk nowitski. Dirk will probably be remembered as the better player because of that ring he won in 2011 but if the situation were reversed and Carmelo had won a ring instead of Dirk, than they would probably be judged differently from a historical perspective.

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I really disagree with this. Dirk has clearly been the better player than Melo throughout his career. He is a far more efficient scorer, a better rebounder, a lower usage player (doesn’t need the ball in his hands as much), and his teams have consistently been better, not just the one season where they won a championship. Even now at the age of 37, Dirk’s play is much more conducive to team success while Melo often plays hero-ball.

Melo is a great scorer and a superstar but frankly I think he is in the same class of players like Dominique Wilkins, Adrian Dantley and Alex English. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 I agree that Dirk was better. No argument there. However, the point I was trying to make is that Dirk’s overall legacy was given a significant boost by that 2011 title run, to the point that he will pretty much unquestionably go down as a top 25-30 player of all-time and easy first ballot HOF. If Dirk had the same exact career without that championship run, it’s quite possible that his legacy wouldn’t be viewed nearly as favorably. If you remember he faced a lot of the same criticism Carmelo did prior to that year.

A better comparison for Carmelo may be Paul Pierce. Both were similar players who played in roughly the same era. Similar stats and playing styles and both had a tendency to play "hero ball" at times. However, if I had to venture a guess, I would say that most people would rate Pierce higher and the deciding factor would probably be the championship Pierce won in 2008. 

 

[ChewyParticipant]

 will drop him in the "all-time" conversations. He will be next to the Barkley and Ewing level guys, not the Kobe, TD or even Dirk. He certaintly won’t be in the MJ, Lebron, Magic, Bird category.

He is a no brainer Hall of Fame player, so I think his legacy will be just fine.

On a side note: Many people are calling D Wade the 3rd best SG ever. I wonder when we do all time rankings in 10-15 years where he will stand.

Edit: I didn’t read the comment above close enough. I absolutely agree that Dirk is rated ahead of Melo, but if that one championship was on the other hand, those rankings would be flip flopped.

 

 

 

[Tap892Participant]

 I don’t think it’s totally unfair. Chris Paul gets criticized a lot for never making a conference final, Carmelo has only made it out of the first round once I think? He’s had solid teams, I thought legacy wise he could really use a couple playoff series wins. Kind of reminds me of T-Mac, still a great player, but doesn’t always get the respect of other stars

[Memphisboy14Participant]

 If anything CP3 dodges most of the criticism that Melo gets despite the fact that he’s never even gotten past the 2nd round. (I definitely don’t believe it’s his fault though) Melo’s gotten out of the first round twice. Made it to the Western Conference Finals once. 

[ZachAttackParticipant]

 I think that rings define a player’s legacy. I’ve always liked Carmelo as a player, but he won’t ever be put in the conversation of top 10 or top 20 because he hasn’t won a ring. If he does jump onto a contender in the latter end of his career like players like Richard Jefferson, or David West have done, he can jump his way into top 20 conversation of all time. Because that’s just how the media looks at players, very similar to stats. Guys who are defensive specialists are never gonna be all stars because their stats don’t look good. Guys who don’t have rings are looked at as "losers" or players who aren’t great "leaders". But John Stockton was a great leader, but he doesn’t have a ring to prove it. He’d be in more conversations for top PG if he had a ring. I think that a ringless Carmelo is a "Top-20-less Carmelo"

On a side note, Carmelo has stated that even if he’s ringless, with a third gold medal he’ll be happy. And I think that is something the OP missed, he’s a winner on the international/global level as well. So I guess he’s won everywhere but the place that he’s paid to win at.

 

[llperez]

There’s quite a few guys I would have ahead of him. I think he is in that 30-40 range off the top of my head along with guys like Dominique Wilkins, Gary Payton and Patrick Ewing.

[TarHeelRavenParticipant]

 Melo is not an all-time NBA great in my opinion.  He is a gifted offensive player of course, but he just doesn’t have anything that stands out on his resume.  In my opinion, him signing that huge contract with the Knicks really was a piss poor CAREER decision.  Financially, it was great of course, he is a very rich man, but the Knicks are not winning anytime soon and he is in his 30’s now.  He talked about his decision to sign with the Knicks was all about winning, but that was obviously a lie.  He had other places that he could go to where they had more talent and he could win, but he chose to stay with the Knicks for the money.  You can’t blame the guy but don’t say all you want to do is win and then resign with the friggin Knicks.  He is an all-time great Olympian.  My hat goes off to him for competing in the Olympics so many times.  He has really found his niche with USA basketball.  As far as the NBA, Melo hasn’t won jack and that will probably continue the rest of his career.

[Sewok15Participant]

Iverson was an all-star in Denver…He wasn’t the MVP caliber player he was in Philly but 26 and 7 is right around what Curry put up his first MVP season.

Melo chose NY becuase Lala wanted to be in a major market….it just so happens the Knicks have been bad since but he could have went to Chicago a few years back and competed for a title.

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