In a seemingly minor trade, two former first-round picks from Syracuse were swapped for one another Thursday. Boston sent 2012 first-rounder Fab Melo to Memphis for the non-guaranteed contract of Donte Greene. This trade has relatively minor implications, but an impact nonetheless that will be laid out.
It would be a surprise if Greene plays a single minute for the Celtics. The former Sacramento King didn’t play last season after breaking his ankle last summer. This was after a 2011-2012 season where he shot 40.6 percent from the field (exactly his career average) and a horrific 23.8 percent from the arc.
Even with this ghastly percentage, Greene still managed to hoist two 3-pointers per content in 53 games. Perplexing. Despite being nearly 7 feet tall, he has averaged just 5.1 rebounds per 36 minutes over his four-year career.
For some reason, Memphis signed him to a non-guaranteed deal that would have paid him over $1 million this coming season. With Boston near the luxury tax line and already holding over a dozen guaranteed contracts, Greene will almost certainly be released.
On to Melo, where all indications are that Danny Ainge and team brass gave up on him. Melo played in just six games with the Celtics last season and apparently didn’t show enough progress over the summer to warrant keeping him.
Boston taking Kelly Olynyk in the first round and drafting Colton Iverson in the second round (he will play in Turkey this season) was already a vote of no-confidence for Melo. With Olynyk, Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger and Brazilian signee Vitor Faverani (ironic that the Celts are replacing one Brazilian with another, no?) in the fold, it seemed a logical enough time for Melo’s ouster.
So this begs the question: What do the Grizzlies see in Melo that the Celtics don’t? Melo played a total of 36 minutes in his rookie season, scoring seven points and hauling in three rebounds.
However, Melo led the D-League with 3.1 blocks per game last season, and his 100 defensive rating during his really brief NBA time was really good.
The Grizzlies do need a third center behind Marc Gasol and Kosta Koufos, and Melo will slide into that spot because his contract is guaranteed. He will be making just over $1.3 million this coming season, with team options the rest of the way.
There’s no question 23-year-old 7-footers with defensive ability will get a shot in the NBA. Just ask Memphis, which used Hasheem Thabeet and Hamed Haddadi as its third-string centers in the past.
So those are pretty good comparison points for Melo to see whether he will amount to anything more than a disappointing bit player in the league.
First Seas
Games, MPG
FG%
PPG
RPG
BPG
PER
O Rtg
D Rtg
WS/48
Melo
6, 6
50
1.2
0.5
0.3
4.9
77
100
0.021
Thabeet
68, 13
58.8
3.1
3.6
1.3
12.9
113
105
0.109
Haddadi
19, 6.3
48.4
2.5
2.5
0.6
19.7
109
103
0.142
These numbers don’t look so promising for Melo, albeit with a small sample size. Thabeet was the second overall pick, and understandably got more of a chance to succeed in his rookie season than Melo did. Thabeet was also a much more developed and polished player coming out of college, and his rookie season was his best year in the league. But after bouncing to Houston and Portland, Thabeet seemed to have found a nice niche as a backup with the Thunder, where he shot over 60 percent last season.
Haddadi also struggled to find playing time as his game developed, but his efficiency numbers were much better than Melo’s during his rookie season. Haddadi was traded to Phoenix at the deadline in February and did really well for himself, averaging four points and five boards in a career high 13.8 minutes per game over 17 contests.
It seems like Melo will fall within this range if he gets the opportunity. He has shown the ability in college and in the D-League to defend at a high level, and maybe that could be his NBA calling card. We will see if he gets to prove himself in his second season with the Grizzlies or if he will fall through the cracks and crevices and become another afterthought.
Shlomo Sprung loves advanced statistics and the way they explain what happens on the court. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. His website is SprungOnSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter.