Let's look at another pair of old, high-volume perimeter scorers that paired up.
29 YO SF that had never won a damn thing. Def. had a bit of rep as a me-first chucker. 18-20 shots/game most of career. Under 45% for 6 of his first 9 seasons.
31 YO SG that was accustomed to 20 or so shots/game every year. 4 of the previous 5 seasons (toiling away on a terrible team) were under 45%. A once great 3P shooter (and all time great) had been under 40% each of the previous 5 seasons.
Pierce and Allen teamed up, both went happily went down below 15 shots/game and saw their %s go way up.
Not the same players or the same situation, but when you see elite high volume shooters teams up the dynamic changes.
no one is saying a team up of two elite players would not workwe are saying these two players will not work
History says that the "there's only one ball" concerns will more likely translate into "he's not seeing as much defensive attention and is getting much better looks".
History also says that guys that like to take a bunch of shots don't mind taking fewer shots when it's a HOFer they are now sharing the ball with.
There's plenty of reason to doubt these two particular players, but this would be a far different situation than either has ever experienced, so I don't think we can be sure they'll react negatively.
kobe's history of sharing with HOFers is not very good
I absolutely hate having to defend Kobe, but here we go.
First of all, he shared his way to 5 rings. Some would call that good.
Sure, he didn't like playing with a lazy POS like Shaq, but they "made do" for a little while.
Now, he very much might find Carmelo to a bit lazy for him, but Kobe being the champion and elder statesman of that duo, I think it's just as likely Kobe pushes Carmelo.
Other HOFers?
Pau. They won two rings, and Pau didn't see his shots/game decrease at all upon going to LA. Pau was the perfect running mate for Kobe.
Howard and Nash? Come on. Nash is washed up. Howard was coming off surgery with god knows what going on between the ears. Then they got the worst possible coach for that trainwreck.
Not even going to bother with Malone and Payton.