PSA To All The Kids Out There: The Real "Melo" Is Actually Carmelo Anthony

Andrew D. Bernstein. Getty Images.

Now here's what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to shit all over these kids for giving LaMelo Ball as an answer to this question. For starters, they're kids. It's not their fault this is who came to mind since LaMelo is a very popular player who also happens to do shit on a basketball court that goes super viral. We've been watching his basketball highlights on the internet for years, and where do we think kids spend their time? On the internet/social apps (this is an assumption as I do not have kids, but it feels right).

If anything, I blame the parents for not giving them a solid lesson in NBA history. While LaMelo is cool and all, the real Melo is a surefire HOFer and one of the best individual scorers of his generation. I know the most recent image these kids may have of Melo is the washed up/older Thunder/Rockets/Lakers/Blazers version, so I would like to take this time to show them what they missed seeing as how they probably weren't even born yet.

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A member of the Top 75 team, 10x All Star, 7x All NBA, 11th all time in scoring, 34th all time in points per game, 27th all time in 3PM, Melo's resume speaks for itself. We don't need to get into a HOF debate, everyone with a brain knows Melo is getting in. Same with Dwight Howard too by the way. Don't overthink this.

I think the saddest part of that video isn't the fact that so few kids said Carmelo, but that we're all so old that now Melo is being forgotten. That is a GIGANTIC mindfuck for someone like me who is around the same age as Melo. In a blink of an eye, my entire generation of NBA greats are basically out of the league outside of LeBron and CP3 and that just feels….weird. In the back of our minds you always knew this day would come, but how are we here already? It feels like just yesterday that the 2003 draft class entered the league and arguably helped change it forever. A total of 4 of the first 5 picks are HOF players and 3 of those 4 are Top 75 players. We most likely won't see that too often.

It makes you wonder, if a basketball legend like Melo can be forgotten this quickly with the new generation, is any star safe? If in 20 years there's another really good young player named LeBron, will that generation forget that the original LeBron existed? What if there's another point guard who wears #3 and has the intials CP. Will Chris Paul's entire existence be forgotten? It's not like Melo was a scrub, he's one of the best 75 players ever, and even he wasn't safe! 

In the end, the biggest thing this video told me is that getting old freaking stinks. Easily the worst thing going and I think I'm starting to understand why the old heads of the league hate on the new generation. Before, it never really made sense to me but that video has opened my eyes. I get it now. I get it.