Carmelo Anthony says he’s underrated? Why that isn’t true

Carmelo Anthony is one of the NBA‘s most underrated players…or so he thinks

Carmelo Anthony received some attention last week when he told ESPN’s Chris Broussard that he was the most underrated superstar in the NBA.

"I think I’m the most underrated superstar that’s out there, but that doesn’t matter to me…I know what I’m capable of doing. I know the grind and the hard work I put in to this. I know how consistent I’ve been over my career. To do it day in and day out and night in and night out on a very consistent basis year in year out, I know what I can do and I know the work I’ve put in. So as far as caring about if I’m underrated as a superstar, and getting the respect I deserve, I don’t worry about that. In due time if everything goes well, I will get it."

Anthony is definitely one of the top scorers in the NBA. He won the NBA scoring title in 2012, and finished second to Kevin Durant last season. But underrated superstar?

There are two items in that statement that just don’t ring true.

Is Carmelo Anthony truly a superstar?

Superstars take their teams deep into the playoffs. Sure, Anthony has been to the

playoffs in 10 of his 11 seasons as a professional (last season was the only one in which he was left out), but his teams have failed to get past the second round in all of them except for two. LeBron James took a Cleveland Cavaliers team that should have been a lottery team into the NBA Finals, so why can’t Anthony?

We are in the era of Twitter and Facebook and 24-hour media, so people tend to overblow the activities of today’s athletes. When someone makes a great dunk, he’s suddenly better than Michael Jordan.  If the masses haven’t seen a great play on Social Media or SportsCenter, then it may as well not happened.

Let’s look at Moses Malone as an example. He was a 13-time All Star, 3-time MVP, Finals MVP and NBA champion. In 1982, he averaged 31.7 points and 14.7 rebounds. When people talk about the 1980’s, however, no one ever mentions Malone. The way history remembers it, the only stars in the 80’s were Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. If you ask most fans about the best centers in the history of the NBA, you hear Dwight Howard (smh) or Shaquille O’Neal.

Is Carmelo Anthony underrated?

Here is another item of contention. How is Anthony underrated?

As I mentioned earlier, Anthony is a great offensive force. No one is disputing that fact, so he isn’t underrated offensively. What about defensively, though?

Anthony has never been a defensive force in his career. For most of his career, in fact, he has used the matador defense. When you look at Defensive Win Shares (DWS), you can see how much he struggles defensively. His career average DWS is 2.4. The highest that number has gone is 3.0.

Last season, Anthony had his best season in terms of defensive rebounding (which isn’t saying much). He averaged 6.2 defensive rebounds per game, but his average is 4.6 for his career. Looking at his steals and blocks, you see that defense is not a priority for Anthony. He averages 1.1 steals and 0.5 blocks in his career.

So, Carmelo Anthony is known as a gifted scorer, but he doesn’t make his teammates better. He isn’t able to lead his team deep into the playoffs. He doesn’t play defense.  Tell me again how he is underrated?

Remember, Anthony is a New Yorker, and New Yorkers sometimes have an over-inflated sense of themselves.

Anthony did an interview with Michael Strahan in Adweek Magazine, and was asked if he was influenced by James going back to Cleveland. “I think he saw when I came back home to New York and saw the response and saw the reaction and saw how at peace I was when I came back home… I’m pretty sure he looked at that moment and saw that that was a very special moment, and he had the opportunity to go back home himself and regain that love.”

So I guess LeBron James, the best player on the planet, was trying to figure out what to do when he saw how much at peace Melo was with staying home, so he decided to ditch Miami and go to Cleveland? Think much of yourself, Melo?

So Carmelo Anthony thinks of himself as the most underrated superstar in the NBA. The thing is, he is neither a superstar nor underrated.