Carmelo Anthony: Could He Possibly Be Worth All This Attention?

Rumor has it, the New York Knicks will be targeting Carmelo Anthony next summer to make them a championship contender.

Forget the Knicks for a second. Let's say I have a complete team and all they need to bring them up to championship level is a superstar player. They have a great nucleus of talent, young and old and now all that is between them and winning a title is that big name scoring threat who can beat you when it counts. Think of your list of who that might be. Now, where exactly is Carmelo Anthony on that list?

Really think about it. You need one guy who can give you 30 maybe 40 points on any given night, how far down is the former third overall pick out of Syracuse? He's certainly not in the top three. Is he top five? How about even top 10? No, no, and no.

Then why all this hype over a guy who has never done anything to warrant being considered a top 10 player, or at least clutch player? Don't get me wrong, 'Melo is a talented athlete and a gifted scorer. But, he has never done anything significant in the postseason despite being on a team with an All-Star point guard and three quality big men.

Should the Knicks get Carmelo, as is the expectation, then combining him with Amar'e Stoudamire would be fitting as both players are about a notch below where they need to be in order to win a championship.

Carmelo is bound to be a valuable commodity in the offseason because guys who can score from almost anywhere on the court are hard to find, but Anthony's talents are better suited when he has someone to play off of.

He can score. That's about it. Given his size, his rebounding numbers should be much better. His passing is suspect, his range is iffy, and his defense can be a little tough to watch, but boy can he score. 'Melo has perfected the mid-range jumper that many call a lost art and he can get to the rim and create, but an all-around player he is anything but.

Comparisons to LeBron vanished shortly after the first season they played. When LeBron's star was beginning to soar, Carmelo's always seemed to be an lay-away. Now that his contract is up, he's one of the game's best? Not so. Free agency tends to lend itself to the moment and the best on the market usually is portrayed as better than they actually are. That's absolutely the case here. Carmelo might as well go to Miami because otherwise he might not sniff a ring this decade.