Carmelo Anthony: A Superstar of the 2007 FIBA Americas Tournament & Olympics Qualifier

FIBA AMERICAS CHAMPIONSHIP & OLYMPICS QUALIFIER

CARMELO ANTHONY REACHES A HIGHER LEVEL

Carmelo Anthony tore up the court at the 2007 Federation of International Basketball Association Americas Championship. Team USA Qualification for the 2008 Olympics was achieved easily; it was clinched before the tournament was even over.

This and the successful return of K-Mart is the Nugget's ticket out of the first round this season. And they should be very competitive in the Western Conference round of four (the Conference semifinals) as long as Karl does not muck things up too badly. Can Melo take his team to the Western Conference finals or the NBA finals? It's way too early to say whether it is possible or not for this season, but let's just say for now that stranger things have happened.

SCORING

Melo finishes second, out of roughly 360 players in the tournament with 21.2 ppg. Leandro Barbosa, playing for Brazil, was first with 21.8 ppg.


TEAM USA TOP 5 SCORERS IN POINTS PER GAME

1. Carmelo Anthony 21.2
2. Lebron James 18.1
3. Kobe Bryant 15.3
4. Michael Redd 14.4
5. Amare Stoudemire 11.1

TOP 10 SCORERS OVERALL, IN POINTS PER GAME, FOR THE TOURNAMENT

1. Leandro Barbosa, Brazil 21.8
2. Carmelo Anthony, USA 21.2
3. Jason Edwin 21.0
4. Esteban Batista, Uruguay 20.8
5. Romel Beck, Mexico 20.3
6. Hector Romero, Venezuela 19.9
7. Luis Scola, Argentina 19.5
8. Elias Ayuso, Puerto Rico 19.1
9. Jaime Lloredo, Panama 18.5
10.Lebron James, USA 18.1

REBOUNDING

Melo finished 17th, among rougly 360 players in the tournament.

TOP 3 REBOUNDERS FOR TEAM USA

1. Dwight Howard 5.3
2. Carmelo Anthony 5.2
3. Tayshaun Prince 5.1

TOP 10 REBOUNDERS OVERALL, IN REBOUNDS PER GAME, FOR THE TOURNAMENT

1. Esteban Batista, Uruguay 12.4
2. Antonio Garcia, Panama 9.8
3. Augelo Reyes, Puerto Rico 9.5
4. Sam Dalembert, Canada 9.4
5. Tiago Splitter, Brazil 8.0
6. Luis Scola, Argentina 7.5
Hector Romero, Mexico 7.5
8. Peter Ramos, Puerto Rico 7.1
9. Danilo Pinnock, Panama 7.0
10.Jaime Lloreda, Panama 6.8
(Skipping 11-14 and 16)
15.Dwight Howard, USA 5.3
17. Carmelo Anthony, USA 5.2

ACCURACY

Melo finished 7th in fg% among approximately 360 players in the tournament. The USA heavily dominated this.

MOST ACCURATE SHOOTERS FOR THE USA IN % OF FIELD GOALS MADE
Note: 2 and 3 point shots are combined together for this

1. Dwight Howard, 35 field goals .814
2. Lebron James, 73 field goals .760
3. Amare Stoudemire, 37 field goals .673
4. Carmelo Anthony, 65 field goals .613


TOP 10 MOST ACCURATE SHOOTERS OVERALL, FOR THE TOURNAMNET

1. Dwight Howard, USA .814
2. Lebron James, USA .760
3. Joa Paulo Batista, Brazil .677
4. Amare Stoudemire, USA .673
5. Murillo Da Rosa, Brazil .643
6. Vladimir Kuljianin, Canada .615
7. Carmelo Anthony, USA .614
8. Romel Beck, Mexico .589
9. Valter Da Silva, Brazil .585
10.Dave Thomas, Canada .581

ASSISTS

Melo did not rank among the top 15 tournament players in this category.

TOP USA PLAYERS IN ASSISTS PER GAME

1. Lebron James 4.70
2. Jason Kidd 4.60
3. Deron Williams 4.60
4. Kobe Bryant 2.90

TOP 10 IN ASSISTS PER GAME FOR THE TOURNAMENT

1. Pablo Prigioni, Argentina 6.30
2. Lebron James, USA 4.70
3. Valter DeSilva, Brazil 4.60
Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rico 4.60
Jason Kidd, USA 4.60
Deron Williams 4.60
7. Jermaine Anderson, Canada 4.00
8. Jose Vargas, Venezuela 3.50
9. Carlos Delfino, Argentina 3.30
10.Greivis Vasquez, Venezuela 3.25

FREE THROWS MADE ACCURACY PERCENTAGE

Carmelo Anthony did not rank in the top 15 players in the tournament in this category. For the USA, only Kobe Bryant was among the top 15. He made 34 ovf 39 free throws, for a percentage of .872.

Elias Ayuso of Puerto Rico shaded Bryant by a tiny amount by making two more throws, for 36 of 41, and a percentage of .878. Mauricio Aguiar of Uruguay made 16 of 17 free throws for a percentage of .941.

STEALS

Carmelo Anthony did not rank in the top 15 players in the tournament in this category. Two Team USA players were in the top 15 in steals:

TOP TWO TEAM USA PLAYERS IN STEALS PER GAME

1. Kobe Bryant 1.60 spg (16 steals in 10 games)
2. Lebron James 1.50 spg (15 steals in 10 games)

TOP 4 PLAYERS OVERALL IN STEALS PER GAME IN THE TOURNAMENT

1. Carlos Delfino, Argentina, 2.00 spg (20 steals in 10 games)
2. Anthony Pedrosa, Mexico, 2.00 spg (16 steals in 8 games)
3. Joel Munos, Panama, 2.00 spg (8 steals in 4 games)
4. Victor Cuthbert, 2.00 spg (8 steals in 4 games)

3-POINT FIELD GOAL ACCURACY-% MADE

Carmelo Anthony finished 5th among the approximately 360 international players in 3-Point accuracy.

TOP 5 TEAM USA PLAYERS IN 3-POINTERS % MADE

1. Jason Kidd .625 (5 of 8)
2. Lebron James .622 (23 of 37)
3. Carmelo Anthony .578 (26 of 45)
4. Deron Williams .500 (5 of 10)
5. Kobe Bryant .453 (17 of 37)

It seems like there are alot of international teams who have an even worse time defending the three than the Nuggets do.

Dave Thomas of Canada had the highest 3-pointers made percentage in the tournament with .667 on 8 of 12.

3-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE PER GAME

Carmelo Anthony finished 4th among approximately 360 players in this category.

TOP 3 TEAM USA PLAYERS IN 3-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE PER GAME

1. Michael Redd 2.90 (29 in 10 games)
2. Carmelo Anthony 2.89 (26 in 9 games)
3. Lebron James 2.30 (23 in 10 games)

Overall, Elias Ayuso of Puerto Rico led the tournament in 3-Pointers made per game with 3.70 on 37 in 10 games. Nicolas Massarino of Uruguay was 2nd with 3.13 on 25 in 8 games. Redd was 3rd and Melo was 4th for the tournament as a whole. Now can Nuggets fans finally expect Melo to be a threat in the one dimension of scoring that he hasn't yet been a big threat in during his Nuggets career, 3-point scoring? If so, that and K-Mart being back in good condition should be the ticket out of the first round this season.

BLOCKED SHOTS PER GAME

Carmelo Anthony did not rank in the top 15 players in the tournament in this category. Team USA had 2 players in the top 15:

TOP 2 TEAM USA PLAYERS IN BLOCKS PER GAME

1. Dwight Howard 1.80 (18 blocks in 10 games)
2. Tyson Chandler 1.40 (14 blocks in 10 games)

Sam Dalembert of Canada led the tournament with 2.38 blocks per game, 19 blocks in 8 games. Miguel Marriaga of Venezuala was second with 2.00 blocks per game, 16 blocks in 8 games. Then Howard was 3rd and Chandler was fourth for the tournament.

ASSIST TO TURNOVER RATIO
Carmelo Anthony did not rank in the top 15 players in the tournament in this category. Team USA cleaned up and dominated the tournament in this aspect of the game. They were able to shred defenses that were no match for the speed and intensity of the NBA game that was imported into the tournament. Team USA had 5 players among the top 15 in the tournament and, amazingly, they finished with 5 of the top 6 positions, which were as follows:

TOP 6 PLAYERS IN THE TOURNAMENT IN ASSIST TO TURNOVER RATIO

1. Jason Kidd 9.20
2. Deron Williams 4.60
3. Jermaine Anderson, Canada 4.57
4. Chauncey Billups 3.25
5. Tayshaun Prince 3.17
6. Lebron James 2.76

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS

Carmelo Anthony did not rank in the top 15 players in the tournament in this category. No Team USA player finished among the top 15 players in the tournament in offensive rebounding. Esteban Batista of Uruguay was first for the tournament with 4.38 offensive rebounds per game, 35 in 8 games to be exact. Augelo Reyes of Puerto Rico was 2nd with 3.40 offensive rebounds per game; he had 34 in 10 games.

DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS

Carmelo Anthony was 15th among roughly 360 players in the tournament in defensive rebounding, with 4.11 defensive rebounds per game, 37 in 9 games to be exact.

TOP 2 TEAM USA PLAYERS IN DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS PER GAME

1. Tayshaun Prince 4.44 (40 in 9 games)
2. Carmelo Anthony 4.11 (37 in 9 games)

TOP 5 DEFENSIVE REBOUNDERS IN THE TOURNAMENT

1. Esteban Batista, Uruguay 8.00 (64 in 8 games)
2. Antonio Garcia, Panama 7.50 (30 in 4 games)
3. Sam Dalembert, Canada 7.13 (57 in 8 games)
4. Augelo Reyes, Puerto Rico 6.10 (61 in 10 games)
5. Luis Scola, Argentina 5.70 (57 in 10 games