This topic contains 18 replies, has 14 voices, and was last updated by AvatarAvatar Hale 11 years, 10 months ago.

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  • #38973
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    Vivid5292
    Participant

     So I’m eating dinner with friends of mine and a question arises of who’s a better rebounder between Carmelo Anthony & Kevin Durant. I thought the answer was obvious with it being Carmelo Anthony, but one guy went on with saying that Durant was. SMH 

    Anyways, the argument developed into who is a better player overall, despite career success and to try and even the playing field, or at least make it more reasonable, we asked who would you pick first to start a team with and build around to win a championship. This was basically the idea of a draft, so we the end question came to, "Who would you draft first coming out of college, Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant?"

    I chose Carmelo for particular reasons that I will address….one prevalent being that he led his team to a national championship, but I would like to hear other arguments/opinions on the matter. You can pick based on their play and capability today as well, but please ignore any injury history or age.

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  • #668095
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    ProudGrandpa
    Participant

    This is still an argument?

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  • #668097
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    draft2017
    Participant

    in like 5 years people are going to ask the question but instead of melo they’ll say lebron

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  • #668098
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    drk3351
    Participant

    if i could choose one now durant obviously. unless your saying when they came out of college who would you have drafted, then it would be close.

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  • #668099
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    alex23
    Participant

     durant , more efficient ,smarter , makes effort on d (although melos bee improving) and can coexist with other high volume scorers and still get his , plus younger less injuries and more potential

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  • #668106
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    Charlie Sheen
    Participant

    If we’re saying Anthony coming out of Syracuse and Durant coming out of Texas then you gotta say Anthony hands, down. Melo is the best scorer in the league becoming a more consistent defender and his ceiling is still high, as is Durants. I think most of the time it becomes more or so who you’ll be comfortable with.

    I just like Melo’s ability to create for others(when his mind is set on that).

    One thing that slowed Melo’s progession down was his support system and who he was friends with. Durant never had that problem and always looked at basketball as a game, the game he loved. If Melo didn’t lose that after his1st year he’d be in a better position now as far as how the media discusses him. He got that childhood like love for basketball back in 2008

    Like I said, if we’re saying college then Anthony, now Durant but Mike Woodson has big plans regarding Anthony and the team USA experience should be helpful for Carmelo. Between Anthony, James and Durant we dont really know who will end up being the best at the end of the day, same with Bryant, Iverson and McGrady but in the end it all played out 

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  • #668108
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    ItsVictorOladipo
    Participant

    For the record your friend is right. Durant is the better rebounder by a slight margin. The fact that you event think that it is "obvious" that Anthony is the better rebounder is ridiculous. Anthony averaged 6.3 RPG this year and 6.3 over his career. Durant has averaged 8 RPG this year and 6.6 over his career. It doesn’t really get more clearcut than that…

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  • #668110
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    Meditated States
    Participant

    In College and I would say KD now. Liked his game better than Melo’s in college too. KD is and always has been a better prospect to me.

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  • #668126
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    So raspy
    Participant

    big melo fan but the things durant has done in his short career are nuts. he cud easily end up one of the greatest scorers of all time. its kinda hard to say because their at different stages in their careers, but i think you’d have to take durant. melo is the beast on the glass tho i take him over kd in the paint gettin rebounds anyday. when he wants too

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  • #668129
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    Ghost01
    Participant

     Let me just say this….

    Melo can definitely keep up with Durant’s scoring, and by my account, thats pretty much the only thing KD does.

    And, Melo has never played with a Russell Westbrook. Westbrook may be maligned for certain things, but the fact he demands the ball so much and creates for himself doesn’t allow Durant to fall into the Melo zone, massive ballhogging, contested/bad shots, and losses. Melo and Durant are much more similar than people want to admit, thats all Im saying. I would still take Durant. 

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  • #668144
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    aarondsonixfan
    Participant

    I’m sorry but wasn’t KD the first freshman EVER to win the Naismith National Player of the Year award in College? That alone would make me want to pick him

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  • #668150
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    Charlie Sheen
    Participant

    Why? Melo lead his team to a National Championship as a freshmen, Mel was also the better prospect, I’m not using what we know now because that would be pointless to discuss but even if we were talking about now I’d pick Melo only because I THINK he’s gonna turn it around and become a more complete player than Durant

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  • #668161
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    Meditated States
    Participant

    Melo was good in college but to me I was more impressed with KD. KD is a better on D and stats show he is better on the glass.. KD better prospect IMO.

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  • #668299
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    DurantsWingspan

    They are very similar like some of you said, but you can not say Melo was better in college. Don’t get me wrong, I think Melo had probably the best college season of any freshman and that title made it look very sweet, but he was not a better player than Durant. Durant had 25.8 points 11.1 rebounds 1.3 assists 1.9 blocks and 1.9 steals while shooting 47.3% from the field, 81.6% from the line, and 40.4% from deep. Carmelo had 22.2 10.0 2.2 with 1.6 steals and .9 blocks, with 45.3%, 70.6% and 33.7% from the field which is almost as good, but you can tell that Durant had a better jumpshot.  I watched them both very close with Carmelo being my favorite player before Durant, but when I saw Durant he just blew me away because he did everything Carmelo did but not only better, but with a better attitude and with 2 or so more inches of height. Durant would have won a championship too if he had Carmelo’s team. McNamara and Hakim Warrick were great. Add in Kueth Duany, Craig Forth, and Billy Edelin and that is a solid team. Not taking a chamionship away from Melo, but you can’t say that Durant wouldn’t have done the same with that team. Now the point I can see, without having hindsight, is that Durant didn’t put up one single rep in workouts. I remember this being a big question mark for Durant. I can see this being the sole reason someone might have taken Carmelo over Durant. But with the way Durant dominated like NO ONE before, I’d go with Durant. 

    But for the people who said Melo is the obvious better rebounder and that Melo is a beast on the boards you have got to be f ing kidding me. How can you say someone is better than someone who repeatedly gets more rebounds than them at every level of basketball? ItsDwightHoward said it best. With Melo’s strength, he should be a beast on the boards and get 9 or 10 a game, or atleast 8 like Durant, but he simply doesn’t have the drive.

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  • #668365
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    estebansf
    Participant

     

     Coming out of Syracuse Carmelo was a better prospect. If I were to pick without looking at their NBA careers and just looking at college, I would take Carmelo. He had that killer instinct in college and led his team to a championship. However, since Durant has been in the league, he has surpassed Carmelo in almost everything but scoring. Without Westbrook, I think Durant gets 35 a night easy as well. 

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  • #668433
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    PulseGlazer
    Participant

    In college Durant was still taller, projected as a better defender, was a better scorer, and more athletic.  There is simply no way Melo, great and polished as he was, would have gone earlier.  It took what was supposed to be a historic center to knock Durant from #1.  I don’t see any non-Center but Lebron going before Durant over the past 15-years or so.

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  • #668591
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    Charlie Sheen
    Participant

    How are you more impressed with a guy who did nothing but score than a guy who led his team to a national championship, averaged a double-double 22 and 10 and dominated the entire NCAA tournament

    The Melo hate is becoming more and more foolish 

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  • #668598
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    Charlie Sheen
    Participant

    If we take all the players drafted from 2002-2011 as prospects the top 10 would be

    1. LeBron James

    2. Yao Ming

    3. Greg Oden

    4. Carmelo Anthony

    5. Derrick Rose

    6. Kevin Durant

    7. Jay Williams

    8. Dwight Howard

    9. Michael Beasley

    10. John Wall

    this is as they were projected as prospects, most guys thought KD was too light to be effective in the NBA, they were proven wrong but still he wasn’t as highly touted as Melo and thats a fact 

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  • #668644
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    Hale
    Participant

    I’m not sure. They were both excellent prospects coming out. Durant was a scoring machine and averaged like 12 boards, and Melo averaged 22 and 10 while winning a title. I’d lean towards Melo only because he was 233 lbs coming out and much stronger then Durant. I think he was more physically prepared to come in and be a great player.

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