Isaac
Years ago

Rich Melzer signs with Spurs for two

(Excuse the recent interest in the NZ Breakers.)

Bit of turmoil for the Breakers today after one of their imports, Rich Melzer, secured a two-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs.

Melzer had a pretty solid season with NZ last year in the NBL, especially towards the end.

His departure leaves coach Andrej Lemanis with a late hunt for an import to pair with past league MVP Brian Wethers.

Henare/?
Olson/Charleton
Wethers/Forman
?/Vukona
Pepper/Behrendorff

Admittedly, this could give the option of starting one of Forman or Vukona and getting an import PG to relegate Henare to the bench (often considered a weakpoint of the NZ starting roster).

Maybe some competition for Freeman's signature?

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twenty four
Years ago

Great news for Rich, the guy is a good athlete with some CRAZY hops, it will be interesting to see if he gets some time on the court or will just join Sean Marks on the end of the bench.

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Kent Brockman
Years ago

Vukona will finally emerge from the shadows!!!

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Isaac
Years ago

... of the sleeping bag at the foot of your bed?

Another option for NZ, cap/points permitting, might be to get a Derek Moore-type guy to replace Melzer, and then grab an unproven import PG. A guy like Perth's ex Bailey would be a big signing in that case - imagine something like this:

Bailey/Henare
Olson/Charleton
Wethers/Forman
Moore/Vukona
Pepper/Behrendorff

Although it might be questionable to take on Bailey, and Moore may have already been locked in somewhere.

Cullen is still up for grabs I think?

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brad
Years ago

geeees what a lost for NZ, he was great to watch at the dome, gave me something to get excited about!

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Kent Brockman
Years ago

Is it just me or does this signing by the Spurs make you wonder what you need to get into the NBA.

Melzer not exactly a strong performer in the NBL gets a 2 year deal while players like Freeman, Williams and even Dusty would kill him stats and game wise.

Do scouts at try outs look in to the history of where some one comes from? IE Spurs say wow this Melzer guy is great lets look at the NBL to see what he was up against.

Coach sees stats by guys like Anstey and Rychart and says scout get to Australia and tell me what these guys are like.

Just dont get how some guys get the NBA shot and others dont.

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Isaac
Years ago

Have a look here. Ignore the first half of his season. Note the second half. I'd say that he was a strong performer in the NBL, based on that.

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skyhook
Years ago

They are usually impressed by Athleticism . They can teach you to shoot if necessary (not in melzers case- doesnt need it) .

They also like "long" body types - see Bill Simmons (ESPN) taking the piss out of Jay Bilas talking about " long length" in draft picks this year . Hilarious.

Good luck to Melzer i hope he does well . He'll most likely play a reserve role in the 3 spot over there. Not bad for a guy who played Div 3 in college .

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thedoctor
Years ago

It all depends on what that particular NBA club needs at the time. Melzer would probably play a tall swingman - not the big man role he had in NBL. Just float around the perimeter, gaurd taller ball handlers, rebound a bit.

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Sawmeinhalf
Years ago

Agree, I thought he was impressive and I wasn't looking forward to the tandem of Melzer and Weathers. You would expect they'd demand enough attention to leave Oscar alone in the corner nailing threes.

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3
Years ago

They really seem to like if you have long arms in the NBA. The first thing mentioned by the likes of Jay Bilas about people such as Rajon Rondo is their wingspan. Obviously skills are important too, but length and athleticism are what seem to impress. The fact is, a lot of NBL guys are probably average in these areas by NBA standards.

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Hoops

Rich Melzer signs with Spurs for two

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