Fab Melo tonight.

Monster game...15 points 16 rebounds and 14 blocked shots!!!!!!.New record for the Dleague.

Nice catch, International. I hope the Celtics will send the box score to all other NBA teams to help elevate Fab's value in case they want to include him in a trade. LOL. Seriously, I wish there were a way to get a scouting report on how he's performing in general (aside from stats).

Sam

Eyes on Claws: Melo's 14 blocks

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Fab Melo at work for the Maine Red Claws of the D-League.
The Celtics reassigned Kris Joseph to the Maine of the D-League on Saturday to get game reps when the Red Claws hosted the Erie Bayhawks. Joseph could be back with Boston as early as Sunday as he is expected to travel with the team on the upcoming four-game road trip to add emergency depth (Boston dressed a mere 10 players during Friday's overtime loss to the Bucks and Jeff Green left in the final moments after taking an elbow to the face).

Joseph had an off-shooting night against Erie, connecting on just 3-of-16 shots for 10 points and seven rebounds over 37:19 in an 85-78 loss. Maybe more noteworthy was fellow Boston rookie Fab Melo, who posted a rather ridiculous triple-double with 15 points, 14 blocks, and 16 rebounds over 36:47.

Melo set a new D-League record with his 14 blocks (yes, not even Greg Stiemsma did that).

To watch the entire game, go to:
http://redsarmy.com/2012/12/22/watch-fabs-fabulous-night-for-the-red-claws/

Prior to the game, there's also an interview with the Red Claws' coach, who mentions that the entire Red Claws team will be traveling to Boston (I believe tomorrow) to show the Celtics brass what they have to offer. One player of potential interest is Sheldon Mack, a point guard who is playing with plenty of confidence. I wonder whether he might be groomed to be a Rondo backup. Also, Micah Downs continues to have a nose for the ball and a nice scoring touch. And, of course, Joseph and Melo are the headliners.

See what you started, International? Nice work.

Sam

The light went on- I hope and pray, I'll crawl on my knees as far as I have to if this kid has any inkling of starting to get it.....monster numbers, please keep doing it and doing it good. We so need any inside play on the varsity......please for the love of god!!!!

Cow, did you watch any of the game? I watched the first half, and Fab was really active with his blocks and rebounding. He even hit a couple of baby hooks, although putbacks are not his forte.

Sam

sam wrote:Cow, did you watch any of the game? I watched the first half, and Fab was really active with his blocks and rebounding. He even hit a couple of baby hooks, although putbacks are not his forte.

Sam

i got about a minute left in the first, one baby hook was a sloppy mess - and miss, those others impressed me especialy that one off the left. i never saw him play at the college leval, but its nice seeing what he has so far.

Cow, dood, if the light just turned on for him lets get his arse up to boston quick!!

sam hooter

I'm gonna watch it, the numbers of blocks is astonishing on any level....credit to the kid for working and the coaches that must have been working/teaching this kid. Hope the best is yet to come.

cow

cowens/oldschool wrote:sam hooter

I'm gonna watch it, the numbers of blocks is astonishing on any level....credit to the kid for working and the coaches that must have been working/teaching this kid. Hope the best is yet to come.

cow

hey if the kid can bring home a triple double nightly- including 14 blocks,,, and thats his celing- I'LL TAKE IT!!!

Cow and Matty,

As the announcers said, it wasn't just the blocked shots that were impressive. Fab also altered a number of other shots. I'm not about to place too much store in one game, and there were stretches even in this game where he looked a little amateurish. Nonetheless, it's nice to see him having a mini breakout game.

Sam

sam and matty

Saw the game, was hard not to be impressed, what surprised me is just his gait running up and down the court is kind of lumbersome. He doesn't have the gait of a well oiled machine or athlete, I thought he was a soccer player. I don't know how much will translate to the next level, but hell 7 feet is 7 feet and we are so desperate for size, this couldn't come at a better time. His offense will have some trouble translating next level, he still needs to protect the ball alot better, but he obviously took a GIANT step.....I would keep him there at least another 3-4 games, let him build off that somewhat, believe this was his first double rebounding effort. Would be thrilled if he could be on the varsity in a few weeks......its great when your at that age and can add so much to your game, who knows what the ceiling is? In some predraft camp, I read he showed he belonged on the defensive end, well he sure showed it.

cow

Syracuse sure could have used that yesterday............

watched enough to see that he has improved but still so raw. Always had the timing to block shots but "good" players won't challenge that as much and if he leaves his feet too much, well you know the rest,

where I saw vast improvement was with his little baby hook, If he tried that at SU it was seldom or never.

Love to see him up here and throw him to the dogs for a couple games..... then send him down again, part to let him know he's got work to do, perhaps part to "show" him and part to see just how he survives. Bottom line he needs minutes but a couple games here would be interesting.

beat

We have some wonderful players "Down East" however they will never see the light of day in TD Garden unless Doc changes his way.

Only when he was forced to use Bradley did he see the light of day and get religion.

Hope Doc gets sun glasses!

112288

The game starts at 11:23, so fast forward to there. The Red Claw mascot wouldn't look so doofy if he didn't have that tail...

Hey Cow! You asked about his soccer playing skills? Well, at about the 13:40 mark he tries to kick the ball away from the penetrator.

At the 20 minute mark or so, he had a great block and then, on the offensive possession, almost broke the backboard on a shot.

Shelvin Mack's release on his 3s looks very smooth.








bob


.

sam wrote:Cow, did you watch any of the game? I watched the first half, and Fab was really active with his blocks and rebounding. He even hit a couple of baby hooks, although putbacks are not his forte.

Sam

Sam, I watched most of the first half. He had about 9 rebounds by then. I think he had 4 little baby hooks with 2 I think being off a pass and 2 from putbacks. He didn't have a lot of blocks from what I saw but I did see him actually getting between his man and the basket on rebounds, and he altered some shots. It just shows that he does have talent, he just needs to stay within his game. I know it won't happen but I would love to see him with the big boys and see if he could supply some blocked shots. I remember in the last couple years we stuck Steamer in the starting lineup and he was a above average player with the starters, the guy we gave away to Cleveland was also inserted in the starting lineup and he played pretty well also. (it was Erden) The thing these guys have in common was not a lot of offense but they could clog the middle and block shots. Not so sure Melo couldn't do that as well. I know I am stretching it a little, but we are getting nothing from from the guy playing with KG now. How much worse could it be?

I posted this on the wrong thread earlier...


FWIW, I'm not on the Fab Melo bandwagon yet. Yes, he had a good stat
game against Erie, but I'd like to point out there is not one 7'er on
the Bayhawks. It's not like Melo has been lighting up the D-league on a
regular basis and this was just better than usual.

Sully is a FAR more NBA-ready player than Melo and he's struggling a bit with NBA calls, defenses and players.

Let's remember that we have always considered Melo to be a multi-year project. We're not even through year 1 of "multi".


bob

Hakeen Olajuwon could do agreat job teaching this kid.Melo is agile,fast and has good lateral moves.Olajuwon will teach him low post moves and offensive tricks.Both are former soccer players and i think Celtics should consider this.

Celtics do need a big man coach.

Good point!

112288

international wrote:Hakeen Olajuwon could do agreat job teaching this kid.Melo is agile,fast and has good lateral moves.Olajuwon will teach him low post moves and offensive tricks.Both are former soccer players and i think Celtics should consider this.

international,

What a great idea!

Hell, he has worked with Kobe on his post-up game, he ought to be able to work with a real big, right?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArHU1ewSog&feature=player_detailpage



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyohV1xoDzs




Also, how about Patrick Ewing? He knows a few things about playing in the low post too and he coached Howard in Orlando.


And just to make a few greenheads explode around here, how about Kareem Abdul Jabbar? He has tutored Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBRJ2qCx5VM



bob


.

Exactly Bob ,all those ex centers that you mention can do a good job with this young big.Clifford Ray would be another alternative.The fact is that he needs a lot of practice and a lot of advise.Already he has many tools like good footwork,speed for his size,lateral movements and he only lacks experience and offensive moves.

112288,

Is that the same Doc who has played Sully in every game this season and has even had him starting—and not because of any injuries? Is that the same Doc who helped develop Steamer into a valued commodity last season?

Just asking. I guess old myths die hard.

We have some promising players in Maine. Which of them would you say has demonstrated enough potential on a consistent basis to warrant his joining the parent team other than to sit on the bench? In the videos I've seen, there have been some nice moves, but I haven't seen the kind of consistency that I thought was worthy of what would probably be a callup for practice, bench duty, and garbage time minutes when repetitions (even at the D League level) are more valuable. I liked some things I saw in the pg Mack, but there's still some lot of development needed there.

I believe it was today that the entire Maine team was brought in to show their stuff to the Celtics brass. I assume Doc was on board with that move.

Sam

Doc has indicated Melo is not ready...

Chris Forsberg: Doc Rivers seems to shoot down Fab Melo as potential big man addition: “I haven’t talked to anyone that thinks he’s ready to come up yet.” Twitter @ESPNForsberg

.. and, unfortunately, Shelvin Mack was signed by Washington.

Back to the drawing board.

Bradley's apparently back soon though!

What if we could somehow get Varejao? Then we could field a team of three Bazilian's on the floor - Varejao, Barbosa, and Melo. The Brazilian flag is mostly green. Think about it!

Sam,

Bradley was the last option available to Doc when Rondo got hurt....or do you forget. The same thing for Stemeer...when he was forced to use him when JON went down.

A perfect example of a missed opportunity was not developing E'Twaun Moore into a shooting guard when they had the chance last year when Allen went down. The kid will be a good player in the NBA and is showing promise in Orlando.

But do not take it from me...it has been Doc's MO for a number of years for not playing young players and professional sports writers have said it first, I'm just repeating what has been said in the press.

112288

Don't forget how reluctant Doc was to play Rondo during his rookie year. Still, it's all well that ends well.