Carmelo Anthony
He doesn’t defend, isn’t a leader, and kills ball movement. His only skill as an NBA player is scoring, and when his shooting is off, he straight up can’t be on the court. Im sorry, but mid range post ups aren’t an effective way to score the ball in the NBA anymore.
The Thunder should have benched him a long time ago to let the younger, better scorers do their thing. People talk about this guy like he’s in the same class as Lebron, D Wade, CP3…. he’s not even close. But since thats the banana boat crew, people look at Carmelo like he’s on the same level.
His points per game have bounced everywhere from 18 to 28 on mediocre shooting percentages since he was 19. He hasn’t been relevant since he lead the Nuggets to the conference finals in the 2008-2009 season.
Carmelo Anthony does not deserves to make the Hall Of Fame.
Tristan Thompson
Jalen Rose slammed the Cavs’ forward’s relationship with Khloe Kardashian back in June 2017 “I want to say what every body’s thinking,” Jalen Rose said on ESPN. “There are three things in life that are certain to me: Father-time, gravity, and the curse of the Kardashians. Tristan Thompson had zero points in two of the three [finals] games.”
Mark Jackson & Jeff Van Gundy ripped Jalen Rose for this comment, but he was right. Sure it was a joke, but what Jalen was really calling out was his mindset. He got his money and then he went Hollywood. Thompson’s recent cheating scandal is the least of his worries. I'd understand if you go through a slump, but Tristan Thompson has pretty been the worst center in the NBA since the beginning of last year's playoffs.
That cannot happen when you are in the midst of an $82 million contract. LeBron James likes to complain about what moves his GM makes, but Tristan Thompson is on this team because of him. He strong armed Dan Gilbert into putting him on the team and giving him this ridiculous contract. This ones on you Bron Bron.
Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is not the savior of the Dallas Mavericks. He shouldn't even be considered a central building block for the team, that goes to Dennis Smith Jr.
Serving as a volume scorer isn't easy, particularly when faced with an overabundance of defensive attention. He has been exposed the past 2 years since leaving the Warriors, and I don’t think its that surprising.
That 2016 summer was so crazy with the ridiculous contracts being given out, and Barnes shouldn’t be getting paid even close to what he’s making. Barnes contract has set the Mavericks back as a franchise, and at best he is an average starter in the NBA.
Hassan Whiteside
I honestly think he’s drunk, there is something going on with this guy. His facial expressions are so lackadaisical its bizarre. He cares more about snapchat fame than being a good basketball player. He is ungrateful, never accepts blame, and is a bad teammate. He was totally embarrassed vs the 76ers and any team that trades with us and takes on his horrendous contract is a fool. He brings nothing to the table, a complete joke.
Russell Westbrook
I don’t care if he has averaged a triple double in back to back seasons, I don’t care if he’s the reigning MVP, I don’t care if he’s the most athletic point guard in the NBA. Playing on a team with Russell Westbrook is difficult. He doesn’t make players around him better and cares way too much about his own stats.
The most under talked about thing in my opinion is that Russell Westbrook CANNOT play off ball. He has to be the primary ball handler on whatever team he plays on and that puts a cap on his effectiveness.
Heres the way I think about it…. Russell Westbrook is considered a Top 5 Player In The NBA, but lets replace the top teams in the NBA’s Point Guards (or at least primary ball handlers) with Westbrook. If you swapped Westbrook for Curry would the Warriors be a better team? No. If you swapped Westbrook for Kyrie Irving would the Celtics be a better team? No . If you swapped Westbrook for Chris Paul would the Rockets be a better team? No. If you swapped Westbrook for Ben Simmons would the 76ers be a better team? No. Quite frankly, if you swapped Westbrook for Ricky Rubio, Im not sure the Jazz would be a better team. TEAM is the key word. I don’t think he is capable of playing within the flow of a team system.
It has already been proven that when players leave him they are better. Oladipo is suddenly a superstar, & the combination of Harden & Durant have gone onto becoming MVP’s without him (Yes Harden is winning it this year). Paul George has had his worst NBA season this year, and he isn’t going to stay. Thats 4 superstars he has played with, and he didn’t make it work with any of them.
Even though the beef between KD and Westbrook is supposedly over, theres a new story everyday about how KD is liking pictures on Instagram or Twitter of people bashing Russell as a selfish teammate I think that speaks volumes.
Let me know what you think of my list!! Am I missing anyone?
Great insights. I was rooting for a Carmelo Anthony redemption tour in this Utah series but that's a fucking joke at this point ahahahaha. He's getting wide open looks and he's still tossing up bricks! The Thunder offense has looked so dead post-Game 1 they really could've used a potent Carmelo Anthony. And you brought up some good points about Westbrook that were cold, hard truths. That being said he's still one of my favorite players to watch when he's feasting. Also really disappointed in Hassan Whiteside this year too. I drafted him early in fantasty and he was a total bust. Injured and dude got no fuckin blocks at all and significantly less rebounds.
I'm a Miami Heat fan, so don't get me started on Whiteside!! lol. & I agree that Russell Westbrook is still one of my favorite players to watch, but doesn't necessarily mean I want to be his teammate. Melo is just a sad sad man at this point. Jazz going to beat them tonight and end it in 5 Games.
No doubt in my mind they're going down too. Let's see how the jazz do against Houston!! Love for this to be a competitive one
I disagree on Westbrook. He can make a huge difference in how well every team plays. Top 5? Maybe. Top 10? Without doubt. What about Blake Griffin?
I think Blake Griffin is top 15-20 player in the league, but its funny you bring him up, because I actually think thats one teammate Westbrook could play really well with.
Griffin should have taken his talents back home to Oklahoma (Oklahoma City) where he grew up, instead he took the money and ended up in Detroit
Funny how we can agree so perfectly on LeBron and Harrison Barnes, yet disagree so much on the other guys.
Russ: You HAVE to respect his pluck and his loyalty. He's sorta like IT, you may not like him, but he IS good at basketball, and there's certain qualities to the man you have to respect. as in, he's no Kevin Durant.
TT: Totally agree on Kardashian bullshit, just ask Harden. Disagree on his basketball, think the Cavs don't play him enough, he should be starting center with 35 minutes per game. THEN we can say if he's good or not.
Whiteside: Agree he's kinda locker-room cancer, but he IS good. His coach, if Spoelstra actually wanted to win, SHOULD play him 35 minutes assuming he's healthy. Think this merits comparing records of Miami with Whiteside playing less than 27 minutes, to Miami where Whiteside gets > 27 minutes. Willing to bet Whiteside wins this, but we're not really willing to do that work at the moment (but we will, when needing to write about Whiteside). We did this for Nerlens Noel, and it turns out if you play Nerlens, you win at a GSW rate-- that's been true in Philly AND in Dallas. but yeah, Nerlens is a pain in the royal ass, and so is Whiteside.
What if we had an entire team of ISO offense-only guys?
PG: Isaiah Thomas
sG: Devin Booker
sF: Carmelo Anthony
PF: Blake Griffin
C: Greg Monroe? Okafor?
would LOVE to see this happen, when the NBA salary prices finally come down for these types of guys. Maybe we're unfair with Blake, maybe it should be KLove? At PF there's like a jillion of them, pretty much everyone but Draymonda (and he usually plays Center anyway)