ahhh well the stats have all the answers.... it's thinking like this that makes people believe carmelo was a great player.
Carmelo never achieved the efficiency numbers of Isaiah's pre-Boston seasons, nevermind Isaiah's historically efficient 16-17 season. It's nice to see you admit you don't actually understand the things you talk about, though.
My thoughts exactly. IT's lack of size was always going to be an issue but I think some people are forgetting how amazing he was during 16-17. IT's offensive output was far more efficient than any of Carmelo's best seasons. As you mentioned earlier, his overall efficiency was on par with Steph Curry.
To take this even further, let's compare Caremelo's deepest playoff run with IT from 2017. IT's output dropped but he still matched Carmelo in overall efficiency despite having a bad hip. It's fair to assume that he would have outperformed Melo if the hip was 100%.
As for his defensive shortcomings, I think some people are ignoring the same flaws shared by other elite scoring PG's. Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, and Kemba Walker have all been a net negative on defense throughout their careers.
I agree that a healthy IT would have received a monster contract. Not sure if it would have been a full max but I could see something similar to the Lowry deal.