Nugg Love
Fansided

Denver Nuggets: Alex English vs. Carmelo Anthony

By Grayson Moore

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: a general view of the 50 year logo during the game between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns on January 19, 2018 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: a general view of the 50 year logo during the game between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns on January 19, 2018 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 7
Next
LANDOVER, MD – CIRCA 1989: Alex English #2 of the Denver Nuggets shoots over Bernard King #30 of the Washington Bullets during an NBA basketball game circa 1989 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. English played for the Nuggets from 1980-90. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – CIRCA 1989: Alex English #2 of the Denver Nuggets shoots over Bernard King #30 of the Washington Bullets during an NBA basketball game circa 1989 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. English played for the Nuggets from 1980-90. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Scoring

Let’s start off with the biggest strength in each of these legends games. Currently, English sits on 18th on the all-time NBA Scoring List with 25,613 points. Anthony ranks one spot below him at 19 and has 25,417 career points.

Denver Nuggets
Denver Nuggets /

Denver Nuggets

In the 2018-19 season, barring a major injury to Melo, Anthony will likely pass English on the all-time list and he will have the chance to break into the top-12 depending on how well he plays. English has played 139 more games than Anthony, which means that Melo has been more consistent and prolific when it comes to scoring. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he is better at it.

As you can see in the stats above, English has a 5.0% higher career Nuggets field goal percentage over Anthony. However, in English’s time, the 3 ball didn’t play as big of a role as it did in Melo’s. While Anthony did play in Denver a few years before Steph Curry brought about the 3-point epidemic that has now swept the league, you can see that shooting 3-pointers became gradually more and more popular as the years went on.

In English’s first year with the 3-point line(1979-80 season), the average team attempted 2.8 3’s a game. By the time he had retired(1990-91 season), the average team attempted 7.1 3’s a game. That is in stark contrast to Melo’s first and last available season.

In Anthony’s rookie year(2003-04 season), the average team attempted 14.7 3’s per game, an increase of 11.9 three-pointers a game from English’s first year with the line. In the 2010-11 season(Melo’s last year with Denver), the average team was attempting 18.0 3’s a game. So it’s fair to say that the three-pointer has become a much bigger part of the game than it was in the 80’s.

The only reason I bring this up is that it is an explanation for why English shot so much better from the floor. To see who’s really better at scoring, we’ll instead look at effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the fact that 3-pointers are more points than 2-pointers. English’s career EFG% on the Nuggets is 50.9%, while Anthony’s is 47.8%.

So, by the numbers around field goal percentage, English was a better scorer. But that isn’t the end of the story.

English had a career Nuggets usage rate of 27.8% and played with other elite scorers such as Dan Issel and David Thompson. Anthony had a Nuggets usage rate of 31.2% and had to bear much of the scoring load for the Nuggets during the first few years of his career. Anthony was also much better at drawing shooting fouls, with a Nuggets free throw rate of 41.0%, meaning on 41% of his field goal attempts, he had a free throw attempt. English’s FT rate was just 25.2%. This is perplexingly counter-intuitive to what other stats say. During the 80’s, teams averaged about 5-6 more fouls per game than in the 2000’s and 2010’s. This means that Anthony is just undoubtedly better at drawing fouls.

However, looking at what they did with the free throws, it becomes easier to give a verdict. English nailed 84.0% of his free throws as a Nugget. Melo hit just 80.3%, although he did attempt 2.6 more free throws per game.

In summary, English had a higher points per game average despite playing with some of the best scorers of all time and attempting less free throws and 3’s than Anthony. He also shot better from the floor and from the charity stripe, which makes this a fairly easy call. English grabs the win in the first skill.