gunsnewing wrote:can't jump. Wide waist
Yeah, he doesn't have any vertical explosiveness. For a guy who's a great athlete overall, it's surprising.
Melo has dunked quite a bit this year...
It would help if he'd take off his Barry Bonds or Goliath or Roman Centurion body armor so he can get better lift off the ground.
3G4G wrote:Melo has dunked quite a bit this year...
It would help if he'd take off his Barry Bonds or Goliath or Roman Centurion body armor so he can get better lift off the ground.
He gets smacked around a lot. I think he needs it.
The main reason is that he doesn't have the athleticism to dunk the ball in traffic the way other guys can. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three guys in the league who are able to consistently able to drive down the lane and dunk: Lebron, Dwight Howard, and Blake Griffin. All three of those guys are way more athletic and much stronger than Melo and Blake and Dwight are also taller. Which doesn't really matter, we don't need Melo dunking the ball all over the place. We need him to postup, drive to the basket, and rebound and defend capably.
Melo was above the rim on his alleyoop from Camby.
MSG3 wrote:Melo was above the rim on his alleyoop from Camby.
He can dunk when wide open
VCoug wrote:The main reason is that he doesn't have the athleticism to dunk the ball in traffic the way other guys can. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three guys in the league who are able to consistently able to drive down the lane and dunk: Lebron, Dwight Howard, and Blake Griffin. All three of those guys are way more athletic and much stronger than Melo and Blake and Dwight are also taller. Which doesn't really matter, we don't need Melo dunking the ball all over the place. We need him to postup, drive to the basket, and rebound and defend capably.
I'd put Westbrook and Durant in the group next to that. But it does seem Melo gets blocked more these past couple of years than his time at Denver (is that a function of his athleticism or simply that his style of play really means guys will get on top of him). I think Woodson has to protect Melo more by going after the refs for non-calls; do the Phil Jax mental juju on them.
Melo isn't really a high flyer. He can get up with a few steps, but he's not a great stand still jumper. It's not really that important. What is most important is knowing how to get your shots off and often Melo just forces his shots up with very little deception. I think he expects that he'll get the call, but we all know that this just doesn't happen.
I still wish Melo would look for more higher percentage shots. He doesn't always have to get only ISO, Post up type shots. Why we don't get him more shots off the curl play or set more picks for him to get good shots in the flow I just don't know. IMO Melo works too hard to score when he really doesn't have to. I think the same goes for Novak and JR. We could run plays much like the old Pistons did for Rip Hamilton. The more you practice catch and shoot off the curl the better you get and the shots are more balanced and in rhythm.
nixluva wrote:Melo isn't really a high flyer. He can get up with a few steps, but he's not a great stand still jumper. It's not really that important. What is most important is knowing how to get your shots off and often Melo just forces his shots up with very little deception. I think he expects that he'll get the call, but we all know that this just doesn't happen. I still wish Melo would look for more higher percentage shots. He doesn't always have to get only ISO, Post up type shots. Why we don't get him more shots off the curl play or set more picks for him to get good shots in the flow I just don't know. IMO Melo works too hard to score when he really doesn't have to. I think the same goes for Novak and JR. We could run plays much like the old Pistons did for Rip Hamilton. The more you practice catch and shoot off the curl the better you get and the shots are more balanced and in rhythm.
Novak can not come off of curls. he is a set shot, wide open shooter.
RoyBatty wrote:VCoug wrote:The main reason is that he doesn't have the athleticism to dunk the ball in traffic the way other guys can. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three guys in the league who are able to consistently able to drive down the lane and dunk: Lebron, Dwight Howard, and Blake Griffin. All three of those guys are way more athletic and much stronger than Melo and Blake and Dwight are also taller. Which doesn't really matter, we don't need Melo dunking the ball all over the place. We need him to postup, drive to the basket, and rebound and defend capably.
I'd put Westbrook and Durant in the group next to that. But it does seem Melo gets blocked more these past couple of years than his time at Denver (is that a function of his athleticism or simply that his style of play really means guys will get on top of him). I think Woodson has to protect Melo more by going after the refs for non-calls; do the Phil Jax mental juju on them.
Good point on Westbrook and Durant, I totally forgot about them.
He's too busy smiling.
Why does this thread exist?
Melo's more in the Paul Pierce mold than Lebron athletic mold.
Uses his moves and girth to create space.
ChuckBuck wrote:Melo's more in the Paul Pierce mold than Lebron athletic mold.Uses his moves and girth to create space.
paul pierce uses plenty of ball and head fakes to get to the rim and usually draws the fouls that melo doesn't get the benefit of.
melo needs to expand his game by becoming more savvy and less "bully."
It is not his game. Even when he was younger, he was never really a dunker.
jrodmc wrote:He's too busy smiling.
Why does this thread exist?
Wow, you really can't tolerate anything remotely negative about Melo. This looked like a question out of curiosity, not a scathing criticism.
dk7th wrote:ChuckBuck wrote:Melo's more in the Paul Pierce mold than Lebron athletic mold.Uses his moves and girth to create space.
paul pierce uses plenty of ball and head fakes to get to the rim and usually draws the fouls that melo doesn't get the benefit of.
melo needs to expand his game by becoming more savvy and less "bully."
Melo is like a small version of Moses Malone. I'd say 90% of his offensive rebounds are off his own misses.
