Nicolo Melli Monday
Nicolo Melli.
A player, an Italian, a legend.
On June 30th 2019 a 28 Year old Nicolo Melli, the Euro League Vet and Fenerbahce star(eche?, IDK) signed with the New Orleans. This was a brave move for the Italian who was an established player overseas. He came into a team where he would fight for minutes off the bench.
In his 82 games between 2019-21 he averaged:
15.2 Minutes
5.3 points- 2.9 REBs- 1.2 ASTs
0.5 STL- 0.2 BLKs
On atrocious shooting splits of:
39.5%-31.3%-75.0%.
Was he good? No
Was he fun to watch? No
But he was a Pelican. As an impressionable teenager who just watched Nikola Mirotic shoot his ass off for the pelicans in the the prime of his career and leave; I was ready for the European big man to fill Nikola’s size 15 shoes. Unfortunately Melli did not, and no shame to him.
Today Melli plays for Fenerbahce where he is an important cog in a championship squad. I wish him the best.