Philadelphia 76ers Add Melo Trimble To Summer League Roster
Can Melo Trimble stick with the Philadelphia 76ers?
As a 2004 graduate of the University of Maryland I have been invested in the school and in particular, the basketball program. Since the 2002 National Championship the program has seen a series of up and downs, missing the tournament some years and not making it past the Sweet Sixteen in recent years.
December 13th, 2012 marked a day in which Maryland would add a player that would become a favorite of mine, one that I would hold in the highest regard along with Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Chris Wilcox, and Greivis Vasquez, as his career progressed.
I told my friend, Taylor Bartle (Editor at SonicsRising, writer here at 16 Wins a Ring), that Melo Trimble would be the starting point guard for the Seattle SuperSonics one day after watching him in a handful of games. I had fallen in love with a basketball player who was not the most athletic (like Vasquez), but seemed to make the right plays at the right time, hit a big shot when needed (again like Vasquez), and play with a heart the size of the Maryland logo at midcourt.
Before the draft I hoped the Spurs would take a flyer on him with the 59th overall selection. They of course did not do that. The Spurs went with another player who fit their system even better and Melo’s name was not called for the 60th selection. I felt bad for the kid. Trimble knew he would more than likely not be drafted, I knew he more than likely would not be drafted, most of the basketball world it was a pipe dream.
A lot of people think his destiny is on some random club, in some random European town where he will end up being a big fish in a small pond. Maybe he will come back to the States after making some decent money over there, play in the G-League, get a ten-day contract where he plays a total of seventeen minutes, and is gone again.
Trimble deserves more than that. He works harder than that.
I am looking at Trimble through the rose (and gold) colored glasses of a fan. I gave a silent fist pump when I found out last night that he would be joining the Philadelphia 76ers Summer League roster. The Sixers drafted Markelle Fultz to be their point guard of the future. T.J. McConnell and Jerryd Bayless are also on the roster through at least next year.
Sergio Rodriguez is currently on the roster, but he’s an unrestricted free agent heading into the upcoming free agency period. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Nik Stauskas, and Gerald Henderson are the other guards on the roster. Even with a good Summer League that is a lot to overcome and Trimble is not Roman Reigns.
Or is he?
Trimble has never been the most athletic person on the floor. He makes up for that in a lot of ways. His freshman year in a double overtime game against Michigan State, a game which the Terps won. Trimble shot 2–14 from the floor, but ended up with seventeen points. He got to the line fourteen times, making twelve of the free throws. Those free throws were huge too. He understood the situation of the game, realized his shot was not going to fall, put his head down, got contact, and got to the line.
That game still sticks out in my head. That game reminds me of two current NBA players one an athletic freak and the other not so much. Both Russell Westbrook and James Harden are crafty guards like this. When their shot does not fall they get to the line, they also get their teammates involved.
The assist category is where he falls a little short, he had a hybrid point and shooting guard role carved out for him. Sometimes as Dez Wells would run the show or this past season it would be Anthony Cowan. The Maryland offense with Mark Turgeon isn’t exactly designed to create a ton of assists for the guards either. Turgeon runs an ISO-Post-Drive style of offense, which involves a lot of high guard isolation, find a big down low if he has position, or drive the basketball against the zone. Maryland did see a lot of zone with all their shooters over the past couple of seasons.
Watching Trimble the last few years the biggest hole is the athleticism (yep, I know I keep bringing this up). His game has very few holes and most of it can be fixed. His 1.2:1 assist to turnover ratio is a big red flag though. It can be fixed with the right player development system. His hands are quick, he averaged nearly 1.5 steals per game in college. He plays passing lanes very well as a high guard in a zone, deflecting a lot of passes despite his lower than desired length.
His stop-and-pop midrange game is on point. His driving ability for a guy with slow foot speed is actually quite phenomenal. This shows how crafty he is as a player, he knew his limitations, could get his defender on his hip, and carry both of them to the paint where he would shrug them off to hit a 12–16 footer or floater, or he’d take them in deeper, get more contact, and get to the line.
His finishing after contact is some of the best I’ve seen the last few seasons in the collegiate ranks and that cannot be under quantified when playing at the highest of levels.
Does Melo Trimble make the Sixers roster out of Summer League? It is very doubtful, a lot would have to open up in front of him.And, he would have to make such a statement in Las Vegas that Brett Brown would have no choice but to add him to the roster.
Trimble will most likely be playing in Europe this coming season, but just like he had done for most of his career, I hope he proves a lot of people wrong and ends up wearing the red, white, and blue of the 76ers this coming season.
