Fab Melo is a Bust. I am calling it right now.

[European NBA fan]

People are so quick to find his faults, they don't notice the positives.  He's an easy target. 

1.  His lower body looks great.  Legs look strong.   

2.  His upper body is lean.  He's lost a lot of unnecessary muscle in his upper body, but he needs to put on some good muscle in his arms.  That will help him hold on to rebounds and finish.

3.  Fab's passing looks real good.  He's a very good passer already. 

4.  His defensive rotations, and talking are much better. 

5.  His picks are much better.  They still have to improve, but he's much better. 

6.  His hook shot is coming along nicely.  With his length that will be effective in any level. 

7.  He's not a liability at the line.  The form on his jumper looks nice and he plays very unselfish not looking for his offense at all. 

8.  His game is completely tied to his confidence.  As he gets more confident he will become more productive.

You hit it on the head.

I want him to concentrate on 1 facet of his game this year & leave everything else alone.  Rebounding. Get that down & let everything else fall into place. Gotta get better at rebounding right now.

I agree on 1-7, but I disagree on #8 and think his game is completely tied to aggressiveness . I want to see him develop a nasty streak. He just seems to jolly and somewhat lackadaisical out there. You'll see him get blocked and on the next play he has a smile and is chatting with the opponent.

The two things are probably connected. In his monster games in D-League he was both confident and aggressive.

I wonder if he had some tough physical workouts during summer league. They did that with him in D-League which made him look gassed in a couple of games.

[bfrombleacher]

People are so quick to find his faults, they don't notice the positives.  He's an easy target. 

1.  His lower body looks great.  Legs look strong.   

2.  His upper body is lean.  He's lost a lot of unnecessary muscle in his upper body, but he needs to put on some good muscle in his arms.  That will help him hold on to rebounds and finish.

3.  Fab's passing looks real good.  He's a very good passer already. 

4.  His defensive rotations, and talking are much better. 

5.  His picks are much better.  They still have to improve, but he's much better. 

6.  His hook shot is coming along nicely.  With his length that will be effective in any level. 

7.  He's not a liability at the line.  The form on his jumper looks nice and he plays very unselfish not looking for his offense at all. 

8.  His game is completely tied to his confidence.  As he gets more confident he will become more productive.

You hit it on the head.

I want him to concentrate on 1 facet of his game this year & leave everything else alone.  Rebounding. Get that down & let everything else fall into place. Gotta get better at rebounding right now.

I agree on 1-7, but I disagree on #8 and think his game is completely tied to aggressiveness . I want to see him develop a nasty streak. He just seems to jolly and somewhat lackadaisical out there. You'll see him get blocked and on the next play he has a smile and is chatting with the opponent.

The two things are probably connected. In his monster games in D-League he was both confident and aggressive.

I wonder if he had some tough physical workouts during summer league. They did that with him in D-League which made him look gassed in a couple of games.

I'm guessing they do. They don't care about W/L now plus he's had a break from ball for a while.

[cltc5]

I've added my "unbiased" analysis to this list since it seems Yogi is pretty high on FAB.  For the record, I like FAb's potential, but I'm doubtful, based on his summer League effort, if he'll ever reach it.  I Get it he's not played bbal in a while, but come on he;s been in the league one full year, has had NBA level experience in the d League with some success, and he was pretty good for Syracuse in his last year.  The guy should not be looking like he just was introduced to the sport yesterday after all this time and experience.

People are so quick to find his faults, they don't notice the positives.  He's an easy target. 

1.  His lower body looks great.  Legs look strong. ( MEANS NOTHING IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA JUMP! HE"S OUTTA SHAPE) 

2.  His upper body is lean.  He's lost a lot of unnecessary muscle in his upper body, but he needs to put on some good muscle in his arms.  That will help him hold on to rebounds and finish.( IN OTHERWORDS HE"S DONE NOTHIG IN THE OFFSEASON TO HELP ADD NECESSARY MUSCLE)

3.  Fab's passing looks real good.  He's a very good passer already. (DURING THE SUMMER LEAGUE FAB EITHER PASSED CAUSE HE WAS TOO SLOW TO PUT THE ROCK UP OR HE MISHANDLED THE BALL)

4.  His defensive rotations, and talking are much better.( HOW CAN YOU GAUGE THAT BASED ON LIMITED SUMMER LEAGUE PLAY?) 

5.  His picks are much better.  They still have to improve, but he's much better.( HE;S STILL SLOW AND LOST.  HE"S BEHIND THE CURVE COMPARED TO ROOKIE COLT IVERSON) 

6.  His hook shot is coming along nicely.  With his length that will be effective in any level.(YEAH NICE SHOT WHEN HE"S NOT BEING STUFFED, FUMBLING THE BALL AWAY)

7.  He's not a liability at the line.  The form on his jumper looks nice and he plays very unselfish not looking for his offense at all.(HE WAS 1-4 at the LINE AT ONE GAME.  HE DOESNT LOOK FOR HIS OFFENSE BECASUE HE DOESNT KNOW WHAT TO DO.  AND THAT IS A BIG LIABILITY) 

8.  His game is completely tied to his confidence.  As he gets more confident he will become more productive.(THIS I WILL TEND TO AGREE WITH, BUT HOW LONG WILL THIS TAKE?)

[Alleyoopster]

 

People are so quick to find his faults, they don't notice the positives.  He's an easy target. 

1.  His lower body looks great.  Legs look strong.   

2.  His upper body is lean.  He's lost a lot of unnecessary muscle in his upper body, but he needs to put on some good muscle in his arms.  That will help him hold on to rebounds and finish.

3.  Fab's passing looks real good.  He's a very good passer already. 

4.  His defensive rotations, and talking are much better. 

5.  His picks are much better.  They still have to improve, but he's much better. 

6.  His hook shot is coming along nicely.  With his length that will be effective in any level. 

7.  He's not a liability at the line.  The form on his jumper looks nice and he plays very unselfish not looking for his offense at all. 

8.  His game is completely tied to his confidence.  As he gets more confident he will become more productive.

I agree...I didn't think he looked all that bad.  He blocked a number of shots.  He wasn't taking and missing  16 footers like he did last year. He scored when given the ball near the basket. And, he grabbed a fair number of rebounds. 

[Celtics Insider]

He has played one season in the NBA, calm down.

[dark_lord]

he's a stiff and will be playing in another country (or the D league without a nba team contract) in a couple years

[kozlodoev]

I agree...I didn't think he looked all that bad.  He blocked a number of shots.  He wasn't taking and missing  16 footers like he did last year. He scored when given the ball near the basket. And, he grabbed a fair number of rebounds.

3.4 rebounds in 18 minutes of playing time is not a "fair number"... unless you're a 6-foot guard.

[AB_Celtic]

I agree...I didn't think he looked all that bad.  He blocked a number of shots.  He wasn't taking and missing  16 footers like he did last year. He scored when given the ball near the basket. And, he grabbed a fair number of rebounds.

3.4 rebounds in 18 minutes of playing time is not a "fair number"... unless you're a 6-foot guard.

...

That's 6.8 per 36.

That's excellent for a guard.

...?

[sofutomygaha]

A brief excerpt from the 2012 draft night thread:

"I dislike Fab MElo with every fiber in my body. I think he is not going to add anything to this team"
-celticinorlando

"Stay away from Fab Melo"
-perks-a-beast

"No to Melo "
-bfrombleacher

"Anyone but Melo"  -
tyrone biggums

"Danny **** you if you pick MELO!!! HE HAS BUST WRITTEN ALL OVER HIM!." - TA9

"NOOOO!!!!... Ford says we are taking Fab Melo.  *barf*" - LarBrd33

"oh god, no."-Cman

"Why would you pick the obvious bust, Danny???"-Celticsfan9

"http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com" -Prof. Clutch

"dude is garbage waste of a pick when their is so many higher ranked players on the table" - WsAllDay

"Absolutely hate the Fab Melo pick. Danny just drafted another O'Bryant clone."- CoachBo

"Fab Melo is another Ryan Hollins. **** **** ****kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk"-LEHGOCELTICS

[Surferdad]

he's a stiff and will be playing in another country (or the D league without a nba team contract) in a couple years

This. I do not agree that his trajectory should be  compare to Perk and we need to be patient, big men take time, blah, blah. At best he becomes a throw in in a trade. Right now KO and even Iverson have more promise. .

[footey]

It took Perk 3-4 years to become a starting center. We should have more patience with the guy.  I don't think he will pan out, but am willing to give him some more rope.

[chambers]

think Yogi is right that much of it has to do with his on court confidence

A guy can either play or not play.  I wonder how many on this board averaged like 20+ a game.   Because you can either do it or not.  Confidence that is developed is never as good as confidence that is innate, period.  We don't have time or resources to babify Melo.   Iverson already shows as much if not more ability and a better strength level.

He is bust, he was a bust at Syracuse too.   His college career was mediocre.   He will be a journeyman center at best.

1) He can't rebound
2) His hands are suspect
3) He did not dominate in college
4) He did not dominate at Maine
5) He did not dominate in Summer League
6) Greg Kite was better than him
7) Marty Conlon was better than him
Crimmy  - Fred Roberts was better than him

He has improved his offensive but that is where we need him to impove.   He needs to improve his rebounding.   I question his strength that you claim is so strong.   He can't jump that high and routinely get's pushed off the block.   Looking strong and being strong are two different things.

He has about 1-2 more years and if he doesn't pan out he is gone or career backup.  DA usually gets rid of guys who can't play.

His hands are what he needs to concentrate as they affect all other areas of his game.   Especially his rebounding.  If a pass or ball don't come right out him he can't catch it.

As I said, he's been a bum and it seems to revolve around his confidence.
He has a chance to become an NBA player but the odds are against him. Although I think we do have the time/resources to babify him, it doesn't mean it would be worth the time considering he'll be a back up big man like Ian Mahinmi at best. It's a shame because his footwork is so good.
Just not there mentally for the most part. I'd give him a few more seasons considering we are rebuilding. No rush as yet.

[sofutomygaha]

Here's from the June 2012 thread "Is Fab Melo really a "bust"?"

"big time bust" - Birdman

"I think he is a huge bust.  I do not think he is athletic and he has had conditioning problems too.  He might be athletic to your average Joe but to the average player he is not athletic. He lacks heart and that can't be taught." - Celtics4ever

'everytime i seen dude play he was so wack lol poor rebounder low basketball IQ horrific nd clueless on offense I'd be SO heated if we picked up dat bum" - Celts Fan 92

"Bust. How many projects ever turn out to be anything in the nba? Just look at the video above where he is doing the shoot around. Missing everything within 5 feet. I rather draft Festus Ezeli, but then again i rather just have Stiesnma then." - triboy16f

"Melo has BUST written all over him. Can not score, no knowledge of playing man to man, bad rebounder, I could go on and on. If we draft him I will be really chapped."-ctrey

"Fab is Acie Earl"-jv2764

[Fred Roberts]

Did you also call Kendrick Perkins a bust after 1 season on the C's when he literally had zero positive attributes as an NBA center, other than being 6'10" and overweight?

It took him 5 seasons to become a valuable role player and he still remains a highly flawed player. He was neither quick nor coordinated.

Melo is RAW. Brand new to the game. He's got 2 inches on Perk though. He's clearly got a softer touch on his shots meaning he stands the chance of being able to make mid range jumpers at some point in time.

If Perk had a 14 block game in the D league as a rookie, we'd have been pumped. This project is going to take time. I think it would be foolish to give up so early after witnessing what hard work, patience, development and the right environment could do for a player like Perk. I see more upside in Melo.

[OsirusCeltics]

Not really going out on a limb with this one