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

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

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

Following his leadership in guiding Syracuse to the NCAA national championship as a freshman, Carmelo participated in the 2003 NBA Draft. He was chosen by the Denver Nuggets as the No. 3 overall pick and began scoring immediately.

In the 2003-04 season, Anthony was the highest scoring rookie, averaging 21.0 points per game. He narrowly surpassed LeBron James, who won Rookie of the Year, by scoring 20.9 points per game. This highly talented 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 accumulated 13,970 points, making him the third highest scorer in the franchise’s history, over the course of 564 games. This equates to an average of 24.77 points per game. His shooting accuracy was 45.9% from the field (4,989 successful attempts out of 10,877), 31.1% from the 3-point range (410 successful attempts out of 1,320), and 80.3% from the free throw line (3,582 successful attempts out of 4,462).

Carmelo was transferred to the New York Knicks in the middle of the 2010-11 season. His change in location from Colorado’s mountains to the streets of New York City didn’t stop him from scoring points consistently every night at his new home, Madison Square Garden.

Indeed, the scoring continued at a pace almost identical to that 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. The difference in his scoring average was a mere 0.05 points per game between his initial seven-and-half seasons and the following six-and-a-half seasons. This amounts to 14 seasons of consistently being among the league’s top scorers.

Despite only securing one scoring title throughout his career (2012-13, 28.7 ppg), Carmelo consistently ranked amongst the top 10 scorers for nine consecutive seasons (2005-06 to 2013-14). During this period, he also finished as the second-highest scorer twice.

After the 2016-17 season, Carmelo Anthony was traded by the Knicks to the Oklahoma City Thunder, marking the beginning of his career’s third phase. Currently, he plays a vital role as a key reserve for the Portland Blazers. The team has won four consecutive games and is attempting to move beyond the Play-In Tournament to secure a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season.

Carmelo, as Portland’s fourth-highest scorer averaging 13.6 points per game, played a crucial role earlier in the season when CJ McCollum was out for two months due to a foot fracture. As the postseason approaches, having a dependable veteran scorer who can successfully 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 list of Hall of Famers that Carmelo Anthony has outdone this season and is on track to surpass this week. The list includes Tim Duncan (1997-2016), Dominique Wilkins (1982-99), Oscar Robertson (1960-74), Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002), and Elvin Hayes (1968-84). These five players cover almost the complete history of the NBA, coming from different positions and eras. What sets them apart is their exceptional skills, which would have made them stand out in any period of the game. The same remark applies to Carmelo Anthony.

The robustness of earlier generations would not have troubled him – Carmelo is among the most powerful wing players in the game. He is capable of playing in the post, driving the lane, and finishing despite contact. Hand checking and hard fouls wouldn’t have discouraged him.

He doesn’t excessively depend on the 3-point shot, unlike many of today’s leading scorers who heavily rely on it to accumulate their points. Though Carmelo is capable of scoring three-pointers, it wasn’t his principal method of scoring. As demonstrated by the above chart, the bulk of his points were scored either inside the restricted area (3,892 FGM) or mid-range (3,543 FGM). These two areas contributed to 56.2% of Anthony’s total points, with an additional 23.4% coming from free throws.

Anthony may not possess lightning-fast speed, the ability to leap extraordinary heights, or shoot from 40 feet away like his current teammate Damian Lillard. However, he leverages his size, swift initial move, and excellent footwork to continually unsettle defenders attempting to restrain him.

If you guard him too closely, he can bypass you with a drive, either reaching the rim, drawing a foul, or shooting a pull-up jumper. If you guard him too loosely, he will take advantage by sinking a 3-pointer and then running down the court, tapping his temple three times as a warning not to leave him unguarded. If the offense stagnates or time is running out on the shot clock and a shot needs to be taken, pass the ball to Carmelo in the post and let him take over.

Anthony is poised to enter the top 10 scorers club, whether it happens Monday or later in the week. He can then aim to ascend further up the list. Moses Malone, who is just 118 points ahead of Anthony, is his next target. According to his present scoring average, Anthony would surpass Malone for the ninth spot in nine games. Conveniently, the Blazers have nine games remaining in the regular season for him to achieve this.