Poll: Who Is Better: Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Love?

[LooseCannon]

Both Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony have been talked about as possible acquisitions, so I wanted to see how people felt about the relative merits of these players.  Who is better?

I want to make clear that I am not asking who is a better fit if acquired by the Celtics or who is a better value for their contract.  If you could have one player for the next three years to start a team and cap considerations are irrelevant, who would you rather have, Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony?

[BigAlTheFuture]

Probably Kevin Love. Only slightly. They both are great scorers, but Love is a monster on the boards and he's a slightly better passer. He's also 4 years younger.

[footey]

Carmelo has more skills for sure, but given the age gap, I go with some slight Love.

[loco_91]

Love is a more efficient scorer on lower volume. Both are mediocre defenders. I'm not sure exactly how bad Melo is at defending, but even if he is better than Love, Love gets the nod for his elite rebounding. Love is also a far more valuable player to sign because of his youth. Melo, who is 4 years older, lacks Love's potential for growth or his potential to anchor the franchise for the long haul.

[SHAQATTACK]

Love is a hard worker

Melo a spoiled diva.  , non team player .....most unCeltic like player I cam imagine.

[SparzWizard]

Kevin Love does not ballhog.

Carmelo Anthony ballhogs.

Kevin Love can grab boards better than Carmelo Anthony.

Kevin Love is sold to me!

[Celtics4ever]

Love produces elitely in 2 areas.   Scoring and Rebounds.   Carmelo only one.   He is a good rebounder but not a 12 RPG guy.

[Mazingerz]

Although Love is an injury risk.

[wdleehi]

Carmelo is more talented.  He has been deep in the playoffs when he is actually surrounded by talent.  He is on a terrible run NY team. 



Love is younger and plays a harder to fill position.  (talented big man)


They are close.



I rather add Love, but Carmelo is the more talented player. 

[Moranis]

Given age and position I'd rather have Love, but Anthony is a significantly better player than Love.  Much more dynamic offensively and a much better defender. 

[fitzhickey]

Melo, better scorer, better defender and better leader.

[crimson_stallion]

Carmello by a mile...

Melo is arguably the greatest pure scorer in the entire league.  Like Pierce in his Prime, Melo can score in any manner of ways.  In the post, off the dribble, from three, from midrange, from three, on impossible fadeaway jumpers, getting to the foul line...he has no weakness in his offensive game, and he's statistically one of the greatest clutch scorers of this generation.

Melo is also more versatile.  He can play SF or PF,  and could probably even play SG at a squeeze.

For his hes an elite rebounder at his position and a very underrated passer.

Defensively hes actually pretty competent 1-on-1 but isnt a good team defender.

Love is nowhere near as versatile as a scorer and he can only play one position - PF.  Even at that position he is physically disadvantaged most of the time.  He shoots similar percentages from the field despite being a PF (wgich by position should shoot me efficiently thana Sf...but doesnt.

Melo can be a #1 option and can carry a team to the playoffs - we know this because he has many times.  In fact rarely have his teams NOT made the playoffs. Love on the other hand has never led his team to a playoff series, and there's no signs to show that his numbers arent boats by being a good player on a bad team.  Melo has maintained his scoring numbers consistently on every team he's played on,  no matter good good or bad the supporting cast has been.

Melo over Love for me is a no brainer.

Oh as for the prima Donna argument...how is love any better?  He's been on record multiple times complaining about his team and talking about going elsewhere,  and now that his contact is coming up he's already demanding a trade... Even though he's a young player who's never led his team anywhere.

[crimson_stallion]

Love produces elitely in 2 areas.   Scoring and Rebounds.   Carmelo only one.   He is a good rebounder but not a 12 RPG guy.

I would not say Love is an elite scorer.  Hes a PF who over his career has averaged 19 PPG on 45% FG. Thats a very good scorer, not an elite one. 

Carmello over his career has averaged 25 PPG on the same 45% shooting despite playing the more perimeter oriented SF position.  Hes never averaged below 20 PPG in a single season.  He has shot 48% from the field three different seasons,  while Love's most efficient offensive season was  37% FG...which he did only one ever.

Finally Love is almost always going to be at a massive physical disadvantage against most of the bigger or quicker PF's out there.  Carmelo isn't an elite athlete,  but he has enough size, speed and strength to compete with anybody at his position.

[saltlover]

Love produces elitely in 2 areas.   Scoring and Rebounds.   Carmelo only one.   He is a good rebounder but not a 12 RPG guy.

I would not say Love is an elite scorer.  Hes a PF who over his career has averaged 19 PPG on 45% FG. Thats a very good scorer, not an elite one. 

Carmello over his career has averaged 25 PPG on the same 45% shooting despite playing the more perimeter oriented SF position.  Hes never averaged below 20 PPG in a single season.  He has shot 48% from the field three different seasons,  while Love's most efficient offensive season was  37% FG...which he did only one ever.

Finally Love is almost always going to be at a massive physical disadvantage against most of the bigger or quicker PF's out there.  Carmelo isn't an elite athlete,  but he has enough size, speed and strength to compete with anybody at his position.

There's a major difference you're overlooking, and that's age.  Melo turns 30 next week.  Love is 25, and is still probably improving his game.  Additionally, while you compare their shooting percentages and say Melo is a more perimeter-oriented SF, Love has taken, on average, more 3's per game than Melo, and also made a greater percentage of them.  Normalizing for 3's is why most people look at eFG%, which is a measurement where Love surpasses Melo.  What Melo offers that Love doesn't is a better mid-range jumper.  Love has shot better at both the rim and from 3 than Melo, both last year and for their careers , but Melo is better on the shots in between.  Finally, Love averaged 26 points in 2 of the last 3 seasons.  In the season he didn't, he was hurt and played only 18 games.  If 26 points is your threshold for elite scorer (and it's how you arged Melo was elite), Love was elite his last 2 healthy seasons.

Also, Love last year average 4.4 assists per 36 minutes, which is a better number than Melo has had at any point in his career.  While not "scoring", it is unlikely that Love was hurting the offense in his assists.  Love and Melo are different players, and on different teams one may be better than the other.  The Celtics, with a strong point guard, seem to me to be a better fit for Love than Melo, as Love can create better spacing by drawing a big outside, and can find cutters at the rim from the high post, which will increase ball movement and easy shots for his teammates, especially potentially both of his guards who do not excel at jump shooting.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

I'd take either but would prefer love.