Carmelo Anthony Trade Rumors: Would a Deal Involving OJ Mayo Be More Attractive?

If the source quoted is correct that the Denver Nuggets have no interest in trading for Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo, then the Nuggets franchise is indeed making the correct decision.

Judging by the way in which Mayo has been playing this season, there is no NBA team that should be interested in taking him off the hands of the Grizzlies. Therefore, the Nuggets have a twofold reason for not wanting to see Mayo included in any Anthony trade talks.

The first fold, which I already alluded to, is the poor play of Mayo so far this season. Yesterday's game against the Chicago Bulls—where Mayo played 30 minutes, scored 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, including 1-of-3 from the three-point line, missed his only free-throw attempt, grabbed two rebounds, assisted on two teammates' baskets, and turned the ball over once—is a microcosm of Mayo's season.

Looking only at the 15 points Mayo scored in the game, one might consider it a good scoring night, but he arrived at those points in an inefficient manner. For the game, Mayo's true shooting percentage was 51.9 percent. HoopData.com, although the site is usually a few games behind in updating their statistics, currently lists 54.2 percent as the league average true shooting percentage, so Mayo actually had a below-average shooting night.

Having below-average shooting nights is something to which Mayo has grown quite accustomed this year. Through 40 games, Mayo's true shooting percentage is an extremely undesirable 49.4 percent. Due to Mayo's lackluster shooting, he has only managed to produce 99 points per 100 possessions. His PER is also a below-average 12.2.

Yet, despite having the eighth-worst true shooting percentage and the seventh-worst offensive rating (points produced per 100 possession) on the Grizzlies among players who average at least 10 minutes per game, Mayo still has the third-highest usage percentage (21.8 percent) and takes the third-most field goal attempts per 36 minutes (14.6). In Mayo, the Grizzlies have an inefficient scorer who does not let the fact his shooting is hurting the team get in the way of hoisting up more shots.

The problem with Mayo's game is that it revolves entirely around his scoring, and if he is not shooting well from the field, then he is really of no use to his team, especially since he rarely gets to the free-throw line.

For his career, it has taken Mayo an average of 4.7 field goal attempts for him to attempt a free throw; this season, it is an even worse average of 5.4 field goal attempts before he makes it to the charity stripe. Therefore, he does not receive the bonus making a high number of free throws would have on his true shooting percentage.

Mayo also rarely rebounds, grabbing only 5.3 percent of available rebounds when he is on the floor, or acquires assists as his 10.4 assist percentage suggest he only comes by assists incidentally. Without more efficient shooting from Mayo, no team will benefit greatly from his presence.

If the Nuggets were to acquire Mayo, the organization would be doing so in the hopes Mayo would return to his 2009-10 form when his true shooting percentage was 55.1 percent and he produced 110 points per 100 possessions.

However, any incentive the Nuggets might have to find out if Mayo's shooting will rebound to that level is completely negated by the second fold of the twofold reasons the Nuggets have for passing on Mayo.

The Denver Nuggets already possess two players, Arron Afflalo and J.R. Smith, who play the Mayo's position better, rendering any transaction involving Mayo going to the Nuggets pointless.

Arron Afflalo is a player with a very similar offensive makeup to Mayo in that Afflalo's greatest offensive attribute is in his shooting ability since he does not rebound or dish out assists, either. The biggest difference between the two players, however, is that Afflalo's career is trending upwards.

Afflalo's true shooting percentage and offensive rating have increased in each of the past three seasons. It started with his 54.8 true shooting percentage and 107 points produced per 100 possessions in 2008-09, to his 57.6 true shooting percentage and 114 points produced per 100 possessions in 2009-10, and finally arriving at this season's 63.8 true shooting percentage and 123 points produced per 100 possessions.

Each year Afflalo has become a better player and more valuable to the Denver Nuggets. Currently, his true shooting percentage and offensive rating are second only to Nene's 69.3 true shooting percentage and 128 points produced per 100 possessions among the Nuggets who have appeared in a significant number of the team's games this season.

Without a doubt, Afflalo is a more dangerous offensive weapon than Mayo as Afflalo is averaging .3 more points per game (12.8 to 12.5) while attempting 2.8 fewer field goals per game than Mayo.

J.R. Smith is the other guard the Nuggets already have who is better than Mayo. After a down year shooting-wise last season (51.5 true shooting percentage and 101 points produced per 100 possessions), Smith has bounced back this season.

While his 53.4 true shooting percentage and 107 points produced per 100 possessions are not as impressive as the heights he reached in the three seasons of 2006-07 (58.5 true shooting percentage and 112 points produced per 100 possessions), 2007-08 (60.3 true shooting percentage and 111 points produced per 100 possessions), and 2008-09 (57.6 true shooting percentage and 111 points produced per 100 possessions), Smith is still a better offensive player than Mayo.

When the Nuggets do trade Carmelo Anthony, they should target players who play either small forward or power forward. Since Anthony plays small forward, they will obviously need one to replace his position.

The Nuggets also need another power forward because Al Harrington is a mediocre, below-average and overpaid player. According to 82games.com, power forward is the Nuggets' weakest position this season, mostly due to Harrington's ineptitude. The Nuggets also cannot afford to continually rely on power forward Kenyon Martin, who can never remain healthy.

What the Nuggets do not need is a guard like Mayo because they already possess superior talent at that position.