Carmelo Anthony vs. Brandon Roy: Who's the Better Player?

If Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade represent the cream of the NBA’s ultra-talented wing crop, then Brandon Roy and Carmelo Anthony help comprise the second tier of superstar wings.

Both Roy and Anthony have only been around for 24 birthdays, and each has awesome god-given abilities to put the ball in the basket.

Anthony’s five years of experience at the NBA level have given him innumerable ways to break down opponents one-on-one, while Roy understands basketball with the savvy of a 10-year NBA veteran.

And not only does each player make terrific plays and put up terrific numbers, but each is vital to their teams being as successful as they presently are this season.

But who is better? Let’s examine each players’ performance in Denver’s 106-90 victory over Portland to try and come up with an answer.

Roy: 9-16 FG, 0-2 3FG, 4-9 FT, 1 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 1 TO, 22 PTS
Anthony: 16-26 FG, 1-3 3FG, 5-6 FT, 2 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO, 38 PTS

Roy:

Roy has the talent that makes him a superstar wing, and the unselfishness that allows him to get the most out of himself and his team. This is seen through the touch distribution of what Roy did with the ball when he had it in the frontcourt.

On 53 touches, he only took 16 shots, and 12 of those touches he made simple passes to teammates to allow them to isolate, post up, or make the entry pass into whatever play call Nate McMillan drew up.

Most impressive of all was the number of shots and passes Roy forced in the game—zero! Nary a one! Every shot Roy took (except for a first quarter heave when he had to beat the shot clock) was either right at the rim, wide open, or designed to create an open look.

Never did Roy go-one-on-one and force a shot when his defender had the advantage. And every pass Roy made was the correct one with none placed in nefarious places where defenders could knock it away.

Roy’s 16 shot attempts came in a variety of different ways. Difficult reverse layups with contact, floaters in the lane after splitting traps, jab steps creating room for a mid-range jumper, a nifty right-to-left step back crossover jumper, and a right hook in the left box.

Roy even hit a spectacular elbow jumper after getting his arm bumped by Dahntay Jones, losing control of the ball on the way up, and still recovering to nail the elbow jumper.

Roy also was astute using a down-screen on the left wing to catch a pass in order to free himself for a shot. When he wasn’t comfortable with the shot, he passed the ball back to the top of the key and used a fake baseline cut, to use the same screen.

When he didn’t get open that time, he faked the baseline cut deeper, then came back for the same screen. Though he missed the shot, Roy demonstrated that he knows how to maneuver without the ball and around screens to create openings for himself.

With the ball, Roy has very convincing footwork, and an extremely tight crossover which allow him to set defenders up in one direction before exploding by them in the other. And his touch around the basket is feather soft.

Knowing that Roy is Portland’s top dog, the Nuggets sank their wings in on every isolation and screen/roll to prevent penetration and occasionally trapped his screen/rolls on the wings.

Sensing this, Roy often drove to draw the cheating wings deep before passing out to the wings or corners. Though Roy only picked up one halfcourt assist, he recorded at least four hockey assists where his passes found their way into the hands of open shooters, and countless more of his passes resulted in possible driving angles to the basket.

In fact, had the other Blazers connected on more of their open shots, Roy would have recorded plenty more assists and hockey assists.

Roy’s other three assists came on two great passes in transition leading to a Rudy Fernandez three, and an Aldridge alley-oop slam.

His third assist came when he picked up a steal and immediately looked down court to Nicholas Batum breaking ahead of the pack for an uncontested dunk.

Roy’s only turnover came when he curled off a baseline screen and fumbled the ball as he went up to make a move. He also had a dribble poked out of bounds late in the game. For those to be his only mishandles the entire game is remarkable.

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