Syracuse Basketball: Grading the Orange in the NBA

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A+. . Forward. Oklahoma City Thunder. CARMELO ANTHONY

It would be really tough to put any other player in this spot, given Melo’s career. With that being said, it was a bit of a down year for the future Hall of Famer. Albeit, Melo is now in his 15th NBA season, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that his stats would be a bit down. However, as the 3rd and sometimes 4th option on the Thunder, Melo still delivered, scoring 16.2 PPG, grabbing 5.8 RPG, and dishing out 1.3 APG, per ESPN.

Anthony also had numerous accolades this season. On January 27th, Melo eclipsed the 25,000 point mark, becoming the 21st player in NBA history to reach that plateau. Along the way, Carmelo passed numerous NBA greats on the point leader board, including Allen Iverson and Reggie Miller.

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What really gives Melo the A+ grade are the sacrifices he had to give up for the Thunder to be successful. Melo took 4 less shots per game than his career average, as well as making the transition from a one on one type player to a 3-point specialist. Sure, Anthony had some troubles along the way, as he has never had this role in the entirety of his basketball career. But Melo still took on the challenge, and it allowed OKC to take home the 4-seed in the West.

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