Will Barton Calling Carmelo Anthony A Top 15 Player All Time Is Just Setting Him Up For Endless Unnecessary Slander

Alex Goodlett. Getty Images.

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Ah yes, the good 'ol eye test. You know, the thing that is completely subjective and what you hear usually when you're in a debate with someone who can't really support their argument so they just scream "eye test!" at you until you just need to move on. 

Of course, it doesn't really matter what test you use, I think any rational person can agree that Melo is not one of the greatest 15 players in NBA history. Now, if you want to say Melo is one of the best 15 scorers and offensive talents the NBA has ever seen, you would have my full support. The guy finished with 28,289 career points, which is good for 11th all time. That would be a stance that I would deem non-debatable. 

The issue here is, if you're talking about the top 15 overall players in NBA history, a lot more goes into it than just being an insane scorer. Those are two entirely different topics in my mind. For example, fellow Denver Nuggets legend Dan Issel is right behind Melo in points scored, was a 7x All Star, 5x All NBA player, and is in the HOF. Has anyone ever considered him a top 15 player all time? Of course not! The same is true for Melo. 

Unreal scorer. Absolute Hall Of Fame player. Member of the Top 75 team. All that is how he should be talked about.

Which brings me to my larger point. What I hate about these "eye test" discussions or debates is instead of just appreciating the insane talent that Melo was, instead we're going to get nothing but slander coming his way. People will talk about how it took them 2 seconds to come up with a list of 15 guys who were better all time and all this other nonsense about how Melo was overrated and wasn't a winner and blah blah blah. I bet if you look at the replies and QTs of that video that's what you'll see. 

So instead of putting Melo out there in a way that's going to get him slandered, let's instead just appreciate him for what he was. Last time I checked, it was still a pretty damn good player, even if he's not one of the 15 best to ever do it