PG13 & Carmelo: 12 points combined in game 6

[moiso]

both are slowly becoming "over the hill" . I mean Melo was done 2 seasons ago

Someone will open up their pocket books for PG13... I think it will be a mistake.

George will be 28 on May 2nd .

Melo is not a superstar. He hasn't been for some time now. He is a Kyle Kuzma like player only with older legs and a self-destructive ego that is struggling to accept his new-found place in the league. Melo could be a fine 4th or 5th best player on a title team (4th best in OKC already) if he learned to accept his new limitations. Without that acceptance, he is a 15-20mpg bench player.

Paul George gets too much of a pass. His defense has fallen way off from where it was before the injuries yet everyone still talks about him as a great two-way player. He is not. He is good playing the passing lanes but is only a middle of the pack one-on-one defender and often gives lackluster effort & focus on team D. On offense, he doesn't attack his defender / the basket enough. He never did but even less since the injuries. Far too reliant on long range (often contested) jump-shots. Doesn't push himself (his talent) hard enough. Settles for good-enough most of the time (on offense, and on defense). George is still an All-Star talent but he is no longer a top 10 player in the league level player.

While I agree with you on Melo as I believe that he needs to embrace the Mark Aguirre for the Bad Boys role moving forward, so to speak, I'm afraid that I have to completely disagree about your views on George.

Granted, he does drive to the basket less since his injury, but you're really underrating the guy, imo. Did you miss the playoff series against Toronto in 2016, which was his first postseason since his horrific injury, wherein he not only averaged 27.3 ppg, but also locked Derozan and was, by far, the best player in that series?

What happened two years ago isn’t totally relevant to what just happened this year.  George plays a much more lazy game than he did a couple years ago.  He looks like he’s coasting.  I agree with Who that he doesn’t push himself to play at what his talent level would allow him to play at with more effort. 

[Green-18]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23349261/carmelo-anthony-oklahoma-city-thunder-says-come-bench-returns

So Melo is refusing to come off the bench in ANY role next season.  His lack of self awareness is ridiculous.  You don't deserve to start when you cannot impact winning in any facet of the game.  It's not as if he has any noteworthy playoff success to hang his hat on either.  There have been many clutch playoff performers who learned to adapt after their prime.  This guy can't get out of the first round and expects to be a starter.     

[Moranis]

Thunder should make it known he will be a bench player and maybe he won't opt in. Best thing that could happen for Thunder

[Fred Roberts]

They stole the supersonics. Not sorry they missed their championship window. I still rooted for them vs Lakers, Heat and others but it is over as a title threat.

PG13 back to Indiana? They were a very tough out in a supposed rebuilding year. 

[footey]

Thunder should make it known he will be a bench player and maybe he won't opt in. Best thing that could happen for Thunder

Yeah, and maybe there really is a Santa Claus.

[Beat LA]

both are slowly becoming "over the hill" . I mean Melo was done 2 seasons ago

Someone will open up their pocket books for PG13... I think it will be a mistake.

George will be 28 on May 2nd .

Melo is not a superstar. He hasn't been for some time now. He is a Kyle Kuzma like player only with older legs and a self-destructive ego that is struggling to accept his new-found place in the league. Melo could be a fine 4th or 5th best player on a title team (4th best in OKC already) if he learned to accept his new limitations. Without that acceptance, he is a 15-20mpg bench player.

Paul George gets too much of a pass. His defense has fallen way off from where it was before the injuries yet everyone still talks about him as a great two-way player. He is not. He is good playing the passing lanes but is only a middle of the pack one-on-one defender and often gives lackluster effort & focus on team D. On offense, he doesn't attack his defender / the basket enough. He never did but even less since the injuries. Far too reliant on long range (often contested) jump-shots. Doesn't push himself (his talent) hard enough. Settles for good-enough most of the time (on offense, and on defense). George is still an All-Star talent but he is no longer a top 10 player in the league level player.

While I agree with you on Melo as I believe that he needs to embrace the Mark Aguirre for the Bad Boys role moving forward, so to speak, I'm afraid that I have to completely disagree about your views on George.

Granted, he does drive to the basket less since his injury, but you're really underrating the guy, imo. Did you miss the playoff series against Toronto in 2016, which was his first postseason since his horrific injury, wherein he not only averaged 27.3 ppg, but also locked Derozan and was, by far, the best player in that series?

What happened two years ago isn’t totally relevant to what just happened this year.  George plays a much more lazy game than he did a couple years ago.  He looks like he’s coasting.  I agree with Who that he doesn’t push himself to play at what his talent level would allow him to play at with more effort.

Okay, so how about last year when he averaged 28 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 7.3 apg, and 1.8 spg against the Cavs? Does that not count for anything, either?

Don't get me wrong - I can understand as to what it is that you're saying, here - I'm not completely absolving him from guilt/responsibility, but on the other hand, George was the best and most consistent player for the Thunder in that series against Utah, and prior to game 6, he was averaging 28.6 ppg, I believe.

I mean, I understand that it's easy for everyone to take a dump on the guy, right now, lol, but he's not the problem. Not even close, imo.
 

[kraidstar]

Melo is not a superstar. He hasn't been for some time now. He is a Kyle Kuzma like player only with older legs and a self-destructive ego that is struggling to accept his new-found place in the league. Melo could be a fine 4th or 5th best player on a title team (4th best in OKC already) if he learned to accept his new limitations. Without that acceptance, he is a 15-20mpg bench player.

Paul George gets too much of a pass. His defense has fallen way off from where it was before the injuries yet everyone still talks about him as a great two-way player. He is not. He is good playing the passing lanes but is only a middle of the pack one-on-one defender and often gives lackluster effort & focus on team D. On offense, he doesn't attack his defender / the basket enough. He never did but even less since the injuries. Far too reliant on long range (often contested) jump-shots. Doesn't push himself (his talent) hard enough. Settles for good-enough most of the time (on offense, and on defense). George is still an All-Star talent but he is no longer a top 10 player in the league level player.

You're being way too kind to Melo. He is HORRIBLE. A poor man's Marcus Morris (no offense to Morris but there are some similarities.) He's a 40% shooter with no defense, no heart, no hustle, no general awareness. I guess he still rebounds a little bit. Woo.

In the playoffs he was basically Marcus Smart offensively but with none of Smart's intangibles.

I can't imagine any team beating the Warriors with him as their 4th or 5th-best player.

Think about it. Rozier > Melo. Same with Tatum, Brown, Smart, Monroe. Morris. Even Baynes and Theis.

He'd be like our 12th-best player and we might not be able to beat them even if we were healthy.

Best thing the Thunder can do is bench him and get his toxicity away from the team. He is selfish and will drag them down.

[cman88]

safe to say the Pacers robbed OKC in the pg13 trade? at the time I thought they got poor value for PG13,

but the two pieces of that trade...Oladipo/Sabonis have fared much better in Indiana than Paul has done in OKC.

and while those two guys are locked up....I have a feeling PG13 is leaving.

[perks-a-beast]

safe to say the Pacers robbed OKC in the pg13 trade? at the time I thought they got poor value for PG13,

but the two pieces of that trade...Oladipo/Sabonis have fared much better in Indiana than Paul has done in OKC.

and while those two guys are locked up....I have a feeling PG13 is leaving.

That would be a hoot if George went back to Indiana..theyre a good with cap space so it's not all that unlikely I guess

I wonder if anything like that has happened before in the league..

[perks-a-beast]

In hindsight the thunder should have traded Westbrook last summer instead of trading for George and Anthony..

[Phantom255x]

In hindsight the thunder should have traded Westbrook last summer instead of trading for George and Anthony..

Instead they signed him to the super-max extension of 5/205M.

So yeah, they are stuck with him and it's probably just wise of them to try and build a team around him.

[Phantom255x]

safe to say the Pacers robbed OKC in the pg13 trade? at the time I thought they got poor value for PG13,

but the two pieces of that trade...Oladipo/Sabonis have fared much better in Indiana than Paul has done in OKC.

and while those two guys are locked up....I have a feeling PG13 is leaving.

Yeah I think George leaves. In which case, IND robs them. But even if PG13 stays, I still think IND wins the trade. Sabonis is no scrub at all either, and Oladipo you could argue is a few years away from being a legit superstar in the league. Considering the circumstances leading to the George trade, IND absolutely nailed it.

[Phantom255x]

Thunder should make it known he will be a bench player and maybe he won't opt in. Best thing that could happen for Thunder

I get your point, but lol if Melo opts out of 28M for next season just because he's a bench player (aka getting payed 28M to simply come off the bench in a limited role), then he's a bigger idiot than we thought 

It's crazy to think he's getting any offers of 20M+ next season elsewhere, and even if he does it's probably on the lower end of 20M, for just 1-2 years.

[CelticsElite]

George isn’t going to stay on the team with the 2 biggest ball hogs. Carmelo just confirmed he will not come off the bench. That means less touches for george. He’s gone

[perks-a-beast]

safe to say the Pacers robbed OKC in the pg13 trade? at the time I thought they got poor value for PG13,

but the two pieces of that trade...Oladipo/Sabonis have fared much better in Indiana than Paul has done in OKC.

and while those two guys are locked up....I have a feeling PG13 is leaving.

Yeah I think George leaves. In which case, IND robs them. But even if PG13 stays, I still think IND wins the trade. Sabonis is no scrub at all either, and Oladipo you could argue is a few years away from being a legit superstar in the league. Considering the circumstances leading to the George trade, IND absolutely nailed it.

You're right about Oladipo being a superstar..I think he has the work ethic and physical tools to be a top 5 guard in the NBA...it also helps that he's out of OKC where he could have never blossomed in westbrooks shadow.

Sidenote - imagine Durant stayed and a then OKC made the Paul George trade...Westbrook/George/Durant/Kanter/Adams...oh my