These stats show just how terrible Carmelo Anthony has been this season

The downfall of Melo has been swift and very, very sad.

Carmelo Anthony’s downfall from NBA All-Star to likely November roster waive was every bit as predictable as it is depressing. The 34-year-old forward made 10 All-Star teams, won a scoring title, and three Olympic golds, but his play rarely translated on top contenders. His career playoff record is 25-47, per StatMuse, and he reached the Western Conference Finals just once.

Anthony’s one-sidedness as a scorer was always apparent, but he was once so good at it that it made sense to feature him as a star. Now that even his bucket-getting ability has faded with age, he’s become unplayable.

At his peak, Anthony was an offensive marvel. A disciple of Kobe Bryant’s school of Shoot Everything No Matter What, Anthony was fearless in getting buckets regardless of the quality of his looks. It’s no coincidence that he and Bryant share an all-time NBA standing as the only two players in league history to score 62 or more points in a game without a single assist.

That’s part of what made Anthony a fan favorite back then. But with no championship trophy or even an NBA Finals appearance, he isn’t receiving the Bryant sendoff.

Instead, he’s become a distinct reason for the faltering of a pair of title-hopeful teams in Oklahoma City and Houston. In an NBA that’s more mindful of shooting efficiencies and more reliant on defense from its wings, Anthony’s quickly lost his place on the stage that’s paid him the seventh-most cash of any player ever.

It’s hard to understate just how awful Anthony’s been this year

After a season in OKC where Melo’s numbers plummeted, they’ve gone down some more. Anthony’s biggest strength is supposed to be his scoring, but he’s not good at that, either.

• He’s shooting 32.8 percent from three-point range. The league average is 35.1 percent.
• He’s making just 68.2 percent of his free throws. The league average is 76.1.
• His 13.4 points-per-game are a career-worst.
• His per 100 possession scoring numbers are also career lows, so he’s not even scoring at the same rate in fewer minutes

The Rockets’ losses have been ugly, but no player is responsible for a worse points discrepancy than Melo. In 294 minutes with Melo on the floor, the Rockets have been outscored by 63 points. The Rockets have outscored other teams by seven points in the 282 minutes he’s sat on the bench.

That tallies up to Houston being 11.1 points per 100 possessions better without Melo on the court (1.9 on offense and a whopping 10.1 on defense.) That’s more than enough to separate wins from losses.

This fit isn’t working

Even when Melo plays with both of the team’s best players — Chris Paul and James Harden— it hasn’t mattered. That 3-man unit has been outscored by nine points in 37 minutes, shooting 41 percent from the field and 29 percent from three.

On defense, things have been as bad as expected, too. Opposing players are shooting 3.6 percent better with Anthony guarding them on average. Within six feet of the basket, players are shooting 10.4 percent better than normal, and on 2-pointers in general, they’re converting at a 5.4-percent better rate.

The most disappointing part is that Melo has kinda bought into head coach Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system. In particular, he’s taking threes almost twice as frequently as he did in his last season with the Knicks. After launching more than 39 percent of his shots from the mid-range last year in Oklahoma City, he’s only taken 25 percent of his shots there this year. He’s even accepted a bench role, which he laughed off in OKC.

But Anthony’s been exposed. Unable to light it up anymore, his horrific defensive tendencies and bad offensive habits are more fair than ever to target.

We’re nearing the end for one of the most prolific scorers ever, and it’s been anything but a storybook ending.

And now for another observation

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Brook Lopez is a splash brother now

Brook Lopez has legitimately become one of the league’s best and most frequent deep-ball shooters. In Sunday night’s win over the Nuggets, Lopez made more threes (eight) than he had attempted in the first six years of his career (seven). And it was only a little bit weird — he’d hit six threes in two of his last three games before that.

After firing only a handful of threes a season in his first eight years, Lopez took 5.2 every night in his last season in Brooklyn, 4.4 in L.A, and is now taking 7.2 a game in Milwaukee, the fifth-most in the NBA. Altogether, nearly 75 percent percent of all shots Lopez takes are from distance, and he’s made 42 percent of them. Sheesh!

It’s even wilder when you consider that these are from wayyyy downtown. The three-point line ranges from 22 feet in the corners to 23.75 feet at the top of the arc. Nearly five of the threes Lopez takes a game are from between 25 and 29 feet. He ranks No. 22 in shots from the distance, trailing guys like Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard ... you know, point guards. No center takes shots that deep more frequently, and he shoots a pretty decent 33 percent from beyond 25 feet.

Brook Lopez is one of difference-makers that’s driven Milwaukee from an above average team to a great one. And it’s happened because he’s completely transformed his game to a place we’ve never seen anyone seven feet tall take it.