Knicks: Fatmelo: I'm the most underrated superstar

[spurraider21]

I do think he's better than people say he is, especially defensively. No way players like Harden and Curry are better than him, but most lists now indicate that.

ehh, at the max contract he's coming with, i dont see how you build a contender. i feel like it would be more plausible to do so with curry. whats an ideal roster you could put around melo (reasonable with respect to the cap, of course)

on the other hand, if the warriors spent their david lee money on a better fit, that team is elite

[Chinook]

ehh, at the max contract he's coming with, i dont see how you build a contender. i feel like it would be more plausible to do so with curry. whats an ideal roster you could put around melo (reasonable with respect to the cap, of course)

on the other hand, if the warriors spent their david lee money on a better fit, that team is elite

I think the Heat could have won in 2012 had they had Melo instead of James. Obviously, Lebron was the MVP and GOAT in my opinion, so he was the biggest part of that. But Anthony at the four with competent players around him is a deadly combination. We saw that with the Knicks that same year. The problem with them wasn't Melo; it was that JR Smith was their second option and there wasn't anyone else close. You give him Bosh and Wade over Smith and STAT, and I think people would view Melo differently.

[Malik Hairston]

I do think Carmelo is kind of underrated, he had a very good season last year with an awful supporting cast, tbh..it was arguably the best all-around season he's had in the league IIRC..

I don't believe you can win with him as your main guy, though, unless he's playing the same role Dirk played in 2011 IMO..I'm not sure that he has the understanding and discipline to play in a motion offense + complicated defensive system, though..

It's not exactly a knock on him, it's a legitimate question, as he has never really had the system or players around him to be put in that type of situation, so I don't think anybody can answer that..

I also don't believe his game could effectively translate as a #2 option, either, so you're stuck with him as your #1 IMO..

[spurraider21]

I think the Heat could have won in 2012 had they had Melo instead of James. Obviously, Lebron was the MVP and GOAT in my opinion, so he was the biggest part of that. But Anthony at the four with competent players around him is a deadly combination. We saw that with the Knicks that same year. The problem with them wasn't Melo; it was that JR Smith was their second option and there wasn't anyone else close. You give him Bosh and Wade over Smith and STAT, and I think people would view Melo differently.

that's a stretch as it is, and you yourself have discussed how difficult it is to build around lebron, and how the construction of that miami team required such ridiculous cir stances

[Chinook]

that's a stretch as it is, and you yourself have discussed how difficult it is to build around lebron, and how the construction of that miami team required such ridiculous cir stances

It's difficult to build around James because he has to be both a PG and a post threat. Melo is pretty much a post guy (both high and low) who can shoot from range when he's open. He's sort of the rich man's David West. Save for the fact that Melo's undersized for the four spot, he'd be pretty easy to build around. You need spacing and an elite defensive big. On the Knicks a couple of years ago, he had that with Chandler and the perimeter players. But he also had STAT taking up $20 Million, which pretty much destroyed any chance the Knicks had to upgrade from JR Smith as a second option. Not to mention that they were trotting out Shumpert as one of their wings back then.

A Blake/Green/Batum/Melo/Chandler lineup would have challenged for a Finals spot last year, in my opinion. , New York really screwed up passing on Lowery last season (and picking Bargnani earlier). He, Melo and Chandler would have been fine pieces to build around if they could have grabbed two strong defensive wings who could also shoot.