It’s been over 20 years since the NBA welcomed one of its finest rookie classes. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade all came into the league together, and all three went on to have legendary careers. Melo and D-Wade have been retired for a minute or two, though somehow LeBron is still doing it as he heads into year 23.
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These days, most of the big-picture discussion surrounding LeBron is whether he or Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time. LeBron has been stacking up stats through the years, to the point where the totality of his numbers is undeniable. Still, Jordan has six rings compared to LeBron’s four, and a spotless finals record to boot.
Both icons won the Rookie of the Year in their debut seasons, so there’s no separating them there. According to Tracy McGrady, though, that distinction should have gone to Carmelo Anthony instead.
T-Mac appeared on Melo’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast yesterday, and though he didn’t mention LeBron by name, he did say that the Syracuse legend should have won the award.
“Honestly, no shade to anybody,” McGrady said, “but I thought [Anthony] should have won Rookie of the Year.” He then addressed Anthony directly and said, “You shoulda won that s***, Rookie of the Year, ’cause you took your team to the playoffs.”
“That is a tremendous accomplishment for a rookie to come in, have that spotlight on him like that, and to get slighted on Rookie of the Year, I ain’t like that at all.”
Let’s break it down. Is this a case of social desirability bias because T-Mac is on Melo’s show, speaking directly to him? Or does he have a point?
A team’s record and playoff seeding often do factor in when it comes to MVP voting, but a large percentage of Rookies of the Year win it while playing for bad teams. Melo’s Nuggets went 43-29 in his rookie campaign, a 26-win jump from the year before, but in the interest of fairness, the team also added Andre Miller and Voshon Leonard that offseason. It’s not like Melo carried that team by himself.
The 2002-03 Nuggets were truly bereft, with Juwan Howard leading them and few names that most fans would recognize today. The Cavs were just 35-47 in LeBron’s rookie year, but that was also a big jump from the previous season when they won just 17 games. Both Cavs teams were similar, with Carlos Boozer, Ricky Davis and Carlos Boozer among their best players.
Neither guy gets an edge so far since they were both so obviously important to their team. If Andre Miller were on the Cavs instead of the Nuggets, you could bet good money that Cleveland would have made the playoffs while Denver was home watching.
Statistically, it’s still neck-and-neck. Bron played three more minutes per game, but Melo played all 82 games compared to LeBron’s 79. Their scoring averages were basically identical. Melo had a slight rebounding edge, while LeBron’s 5.9 to 2.8 assists per game advantage is noteworthy.
As far as McGrady’s spotlight comment goes, it’s true that Melo had a target on his back after leading Syracuse to the national title as a freshman the year before. Let’s not forget the hype surrounding LeBron, though, as he had already been christened on the cover of Sports Illustrated as ‘The Chosen One’.
Carmelo once spoke about the Rookie of the Year race on the All the Smoke podcast, saying that he and LeBron should have been co-Rookies of the Year, the same way Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were in 1995. There was some additional precedent for that to happen, as five years later, Steve Francis and Elton Brand also shared the award.
Given their similar statistical profile and the way both players immensely raised the bar for their respective teams, you can argue that Melo has a point. T-Mac’s take isn’t crazy, but co-Rookies of the Year would have been the most just outcome.
