No, he's a tier below. I put him in the 1.5 category. LeBron, Wade and Kobe are 1's. He's having a great year because I think he's one of those guys who follow the tone, they don't set it. And this year you have Billups in for AI, role players brought in to play defense, a renewed commitment to playing defense on the part of the coaching staff, as well as his experiences playing alongside those guys at the Olympics and seeing how hard they work.
I have to give Melo props for making more of an effort to contest plays and rotate and help on defense. He's getting to be quite adequate at D. It just makes him that much more dynamic a player. He's got a great supporting cast, so whatever he doesn't bring you, other guys on the team can.


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