Carmelo Anthony on cusp of reaching Top 10 all-time in scoring

Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Tim Duncan.

Those are the players that Carmelo Anthony has passed in career scoring so far this season. After beginning the 2020-21 season ranked 15^th on the all-time scoring list, Anthony enters Monday’s game needing 10 points to pass Elvin Hayes and enter the top 10 scorers in the 75-year history of the NBA.

In his 18^th season, Anthony is currently averaging 13.6 points per game for the Portland Trail Blazers, who face the Hawks in Atlanta on Monday (8 ET, NBA League Pass), giving Carmelo an opportunity to put himself in the top 10 scorers club with just one more double-digit scoring night in a career full of them.

Top 11 Scorers – NBA History (entering Monday, May 3, 2021)

RANK	PLAYER	GP	PTS	PTS/GM	TS%
1	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	1,560	38,387	24.61	59.2
2	Karl Malone	1,476	36,928	25.02	57.7
3	LeBron James	1,307	35,299	27.01	58.7
4	Kobe Bryant	1,346	33,643	24.99	55.0
5	Michael Jordan	1,072	32,292	30.12	56.9
6	Dirk Nowitzki	1,522	31,560	20.74	57.7
7	Wilt Chamberlain	1,045	31,419	30.07	54.7
8	Shaquille O’Neal	1,207	28,596	23.69	58.6
9	Moses Malone	1,329	27,409	20.62	56.9
10	Elvin Hayes	1,303	27,313	20.96	49.1
11	Carmelo Anthony	1,185	27,304	23.04	54.2

Carmelo led Syracuse to the NCAA national championship as a freshman, then entered the 2003 NBA Draft. He was chosen as the No. 3 overall pick by the Denver Nuggets and immediately started scoring from his very first game.

In the 2003-04 season, Anthony was the highest scoring rookie, averaging 21.0 points per game. He slightly outscored the Rookie of the Year, LeBron James, who averaged 20.9 points per game. This exceptional class also included Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh among the top five picks.

Carmelo made an instant impact with the Nuggets, who went from 17-65 and 29^th in the league in scoring in 2002-03 to 43-39 and fifth in scoring in Anthony’s rookie season. He spent the first seven-and-a-half seasons of his career in Nuggets blue and yellow and made the playoffs every season.

While playing for the Nuggets, Anthony scored 13,970 points, making him the third highest scorer in the franchise’s history. He achieved this in 564 games, averaging 24.77 points per game. His shooting accuracy was 45.9% (4,989 out of 10,877) from the field, 31.1% (410 out of 1320) from the 3-point range, and 80.3% (3,582 out of 4462) from the free throw line.

Carmelo was traded to the New York Knicks in the middle of the 2010-11 season. Despite the change of scene from Colorado’s mountains to the streets of New York City, Carmelo continued to score points regularly at his new home ground, Madison Square Garden.

Indeed, the scoring continued at almost an identical rate as it was in Denver. Anthony, who averaged 24.77 points per game with the Nuggets, went on to average 27.72 points per game with the Knicks. His scoring average experienced a mere 0.05 points per game change between his initial seven-and-a-half seasons and the following six-and-a-half seasons. This amounts to 14 seasons of consistently being among the league’s top scorers.

Carmelo only earned one scoring title throughout his career (2012-13, 28.7 ppg), however, for nine consecutive seasons (2005-06 to 2013-14) he was among the top 10 scorers. Additionally, within that period, he twice finished as second for the scoring title.

After the 2016-17 season, the Knicks traded Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder, marking the beginning of the third phase of Carmelo’s career. He is currently a key reserve for the Portland Blazers, contributing to their four-game winning streak. The Blazers are aiming to secure a playoff berth for the eighth consecutive season, currently working their way out of the Play-In Tournament.

Carmelo, being Portland’s fourth highest scorer with an average of 13.6 points per game, was heavily depended on earlier in the season when CJ McCollum was benched for two months due to a foot fracture. As the postseason approaches, having a reliable veteran scorer who can confidently make open shots or create opportunities either off the dribble or in the post is a significant advantage.

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Let’s take another look at the Hall of Fame list that Carmelo has already surpassed this season and is on track to overtake this week – Tim Duncan (1997-2016), Dominique Wilkins (1982-99), Oscar Robertson (1960-74), Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002), and Elvin Hayes (1968-84). These five athletes cover almost all of NBA history, representing various positions and eras. Their unique quality is that their skills could have excelled in any period of the game. The same can be said for Carmelo Anthony.

Carmelo’s robustness sets him apart as one of the most formidable wing players in the game. He excels in post play, driving the lane, and finishing despite contact. The physical nature of past generations of the game wouldn’t have fazed him – hand checking and hard fouls would not have deterred him.

He doesn’t excessively depend on the 3-point shot, unlike many of today’s top scorers who heavily rely on it to accumulate their points. Although Carmelo has the ability to shoot the three, it isn’t his main scoring technique. As demonstrated in the above chart, most of his shots were made inside the restricted area (3,892 FGM) or in the mid-range (3,543 FGM). These two zones represent 56.2% of Anthony’s total points, while an additional 23.4% were scored from the free throw line.

Anthony may not possess remarkable speed, the ability to leap extraordinarily high, or shoot from a 40-foot distance like his current teammate, Damian Lillard. However, he leverages his size, swift initial movement, and superior footwork to constantly unsettle defenders attempting to restrain him.

If you guard him too closely, he has the ability to outmaneuver you, drive to the basket, draw a foul, or make a pull-up jump shot. On the other hand, if you give him too much space, he will seize the opportunity to land a three-pointer and jog down the court, tapping his temple thrice, as a reminder not to leave him unguarded. If your offensive play slows down or if the shot clock is running out and a shot needs to be taken, locate Carmelo in the post and allow him to take control.

Anthony is poised to enter the top 10 scorers club soon, possibly as early as Monday or sometime this week. Once he accomplishes this feat, he can aim for a higher rank on the list. His next target is Moses Malone, who currently surpasses Anthony by a mere 118 points. According to Anthony’s present scoring average, he would need nine games to overtake Malone for the ninth spot. Conveniently, the Blazers have nine games remaining in the regular season for him to achieve this.