During his prime in the NBA, Carmelo Anthony was in the conversation for best player in the league. His jab steps, shifty moves, and nonchalant shot-making made him a nightmare to opponents. Having been one of those said opponents, Draymond Green boldly picked him over Jayson Tatum as the tougher player to guard, before explaining exactly why.
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During his time on the Club 520 Podcast, Green reminisced about just how difficult it was to guard the former #3 pick. He then explained that Melo star applied rim pressure better than anyone else he has ever seen, and how Tatum could learn from this.
“Melo [Carmelo Anthony is tougher to guard than Jayson Tatum]… The thing that Melo did different than just about anyone, was the pressure that he put on the rim. Like, Melo put crazy pressure on the rim, as opposed to, I actually have told JT [Jayson Tatum] this before, ‘Bro, get to the cup! Sometimes, you settle too much!’.
Draymond Green later even admitted to Tatum that their defensive strategy was based around the Boston Celtics superstar settling for outside jumpers in the 2022 NBA Finals. In the end, this worked wonders, as the Golden State Warriors won the series in just six games.
Perhaps this is what empowered the player to go to the rim as many times as he did in the 2024 NBA Finals. After all, there was a clear uptick in his drives to the rim, while Jaylen Brown and the others handled launching long-range bombs to sink the Dallas Mavericks. And in the end, they came out as victors for it.
Perhaps this alone should stand as proof for Draymond Green. What Jayson Tatum only started doing recently was Carmelo Anthony’s bread and butter during his prime.
Not only did he have the outside game, but also had the immense rim pressure to go along with it to confuse defenders in every way till Sunday. And in the end, perhaps he deserves a bit more recognition than what he gets today for just how dominant he was on a basketball court.
