Carmelo Anthony has been labeled as one of the purest scorers of the generation. People have always said all you need to do is give the ball to Carmelo in isolation and let him go to work. I mean, he was viewed as so valuable as a player that the Knicks gave him a no trade clause when they signed him (which really came back to haunt them later). Melo is part of the famous “Banana Boat” crew along with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Paul. He was viewed as one of the best players in the league when he was in his prime. However, I have never been a Melo fan. I’ve always been skeptical of his game. Here is why

Carmelo has been named as a scoring machine and able to score at will his entire career in the NBA. I’m not here to down play Carmelo’s scoring ability. I do think he has a knack for getting the ball in the basket better than other guys. But, how has he never score 30 points a game for a whole season? Some of the most prolific scorers in the history of the NBA such as Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson, and more have averaged 30 points for a whole season. Then, how has he only won one scoring title? He won his scoring title in 2013 when he beat out Kevin Durant by .7 of a point. Now that .7 is more than what you think since it is part of the average over the course of a whole season. On the other hand, Kevin Durant played 14 more games that season than Carmelo Anthony. Maybe if you take out Kevin Durant’s lowest scoring games in the 14 more games he played than Melo that season then Melo might not have that scoring title. This is the only black mark that I know of on that scoring title. Nonetheless Carmelo earned that scoring title. But in all of this, Carmelo only has one season where he won a scoring title and has never averaged 30 points in one season. In my books, he just isn’t in the top tier of scorers.

Next, even though Carmelo won a National Championship when he played at Syracuse and has 4 Olympic gold medals he has never won in the NBA. He has only made it out of the first round twice in the NBA playoffs. His teams have made the playoffs 11 times and to only make it out of the first round twice is absolute crazy to me. The farthest he has ever been was to the Western Conference finals in 2009 where he lost to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Never to make it to the NBA Finals or just to make it to the conference finals more than once puts a huge dent in Carmelo’s legacy in the NBA. As everyone knows when it comes to the NBA, winning trumps everything else when people take a look back on your career.

Carmelo has also not been the best teammate in his years in the NBA. Carmelo has played for 3 different teams in the NBA over the span of 11 years and has somehow managed to play for 8 different coaches. Carmelo has been linked to the dismissals of multiple coaches in his NBA tenure. Also, back in 2010, Melo demanded a trade to the Knicks and refused to sign an extension with the Nuggets. This caused a drama filled season for the Nuggets and lead to the Knicks shipping away Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgof, 1 first round draft pick, 2 second round draft picks, and $3 million dollars in cash. Just to think about a Knicks team with Carmelo Anthony surrounded by those players or trade those guys for another star would be crazy, but Melo’s demanding of a trade caused the Knicks to lose a lot to get a guy they could’ve gotten a couple of months later. Now I blame the Knicks for this trade because they were the ones that threw so much into the trade. This was a trade that was poorly thought out because both sides wanted to be with each other so badly they couldn’t wait a couple of months in order to be well equipped for the future. For the Thunder Melo refused to come off the bench. His ego got in the way of a possible way for the team to get better. Obviously, with Russ and PG ahead of him, he wasn’t going to be the same player, but Melo shot 40% from the floor. Thats down from his career average of 45%.One would think if he was having the worst season of his career he would consider taking a role coming off the bench. That’s just not the way Melo goes about his business.

We went through the “Hoodie Melo” movement last summer and all of the videos of Melo preparing for last season. And here we are this summer wondering who Melo is preparing for next season because of his soon to be buyout with the Thunder. I’m sure there will be multiple teams in the hunt for Melo. He could go to the Lakers or Rockets to unite with a fellow banana boat member in either LeBron James or Chris Paul. We could see him go to the 76ers since they are “star hunting” as head coach and acting general manager Brett Brown said. Maybe there is another team that we are unaware of that could be in the hunt, but in my mind those three are probably at the top of his list. In my opinion the only team that makes sense to sign him is the Rockets because of the recent departure of Trevor Ariza. I don’t think Melo would be beneficial to the Lakers or 76ers because he could hinder the development of the younger players. It should be interesting to see where he ends up next season.

Now even though Melo wanted to go to the Knicks, he does deserve a little break since he has played for the Knicks. But Melo’s career has been one filled with a lot of special moments and times where he flashes his talent. He had some memorable moments in Madison Square Garden. But those days are over. I think people would be surprised if he can return to his peak as he starts the last chapter of his career.