You could see his bad hands on that rebound. But he looked huge out there and had great size. I think he has been working hard on his body.
Defensively, he is a better help defender and shot blocker than Collins and has great potential there. But he was clearly lost on some of the rotations and still isn't up to snuff and needs work.
I don't think his team mates like him or the they don't respect him because usually guys try to get a guy they like a point or shot when they come in. I saw several times where he was posted up and they ignored him. There could be several reasons for this: 1) They don't like him 2) They were stat padding for themselves 3) They don't trust him or 4) They see him as a threat.
Give him the ball down low when he has position!
Sully had tons of basketball IQ. I don't think Melo does save on defensive. But that is ok because I think he is a hard worker. He looked like he has been in the weight room a lot. Now he just needs to play with a tennis ball against the ball all the time until his hands improve, juggle and do ball handling Maravich drills. If he does this his hands will improve. Hands are easy to improve, foot coordination is much harder.