04-02-2021, 10:33 AM
(04-02-2021, 06:30 AM)david75090 Wrote: Watched the first half of the Euro-league championship with Luka and Melli. Tried to pay attention to Melli. Melli appears to be someone who lets the game come to him. He seldom forces the action. He re-acts more than acts. He was out there setting screens and moving around while others took shots and handled the ball. He took his open shots and made few mistakes. Tended to fade into the background a bit, at times. The type of player who would get underappreciated. Not flashy or in-your-face. When you look at the box-score you say "he did that?, I didn't realize!".
I think that’s a great assessment. I think he looked for his own shot maybe 3 times that game. Then you get to the end and wonder.... how did he score so much...?
I’m watching his limited minutes in the Boston game and still loving what I see. The only fault I see is the missed dunk, but things happen. Some great things he did:
1) His man defense is surprisingly good. Boston intentionally screened him to get a switch so Tatum could ISO him multiple times. His D was fantastic every time. The first time Tatum spends the ENTIRE shot clock trying to beat him and ends up missing a deep three without the ball ever touching the hands of another Celtic. He later hits a deep three, but Nico closed out quickly with a hand in his face. Just a case of good offense always beats good defense.
2) He sets very solid screens. He does a great job of anticipating both his teammate and the defender to anticipate where he needs to be to set an effective screen. And he is very good at taking advantage of the “roll to the basket/moving screen”.
3) He is a great passer. The pass to Green through traffic in the paint showed great skill and vision.
4) He moves well without the ball. He reads the defense well and moves well without the ball. He had a great back door (the dunk he missed), and several other moves without the ball to provide an outlet for Luka when the Celtics tried to double or hedge the screen. This isn’t athleticism he’s using to beat the other team, just literally shuffling his feet to be in the right place at the right time
5) He plays team defense well. He drops to help when he is on the backside. He hedges the screen to give his man time to recover. He switches when he has to. Nothing ground breaking, just another case of being in the right place at the right time.
6) Now for possibly my favorite observation of all - he boxes out! When shots go up he doesn’t stare at the ball as it heads towards the basket, he looks for a man! He prioritizes boxing out over just jumping after a rebound. I can’t say he does this every time, but he does it and it has a huge impact on a game. Even if he doesn’t end up getting the rebound it helps his teammates chances of getting it. And its little things like this that will let him play as a “big” even if he isn’t the most physical presence. I don’t care how big Gobert is. If you can get him boxed out 10ft away from the basket, he might as well be only 6ft tall.
I remain very impressed with him. I don’t think he’ll ever be a star, but I think he could become a key rotational player. Every championship team needs guys like this - guys who don’t command the ball, who do the little things well, and can quietly take advantage of being ignored while your opponents focus too much on stopping your stars.