The Pelicans are finalizing a deal to bring a EuroLeague forward to New Orleans before the NBA’s free agent signing period.
A league source confirmed Sunday morning that Nicolò Melli, an Italian 28-year-old forward playing with Istanbul, Turkey’s Fenerbahçe Beko, is close to signing a two-year deal with the Pelicans.
ESPN’s Adrian Wjonarowski was the first to report the move. According to a report from Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, the deal will be fully guaranteed and worth $8 million over two years.
Melli will become the team’s first international player signed by David Griffin, who took over as the Pelicans’ executive vice president of basketball operations in April. The forward also follows the franchise drafting Brazilian guard Marcos Louzada Silva with the No. 35 pick of the draft June 20.
The team’s general manager, former Nets assistant GM Trajan Langdon, had a storied international basketball career and was hired with the idea of being a major asset in the overseas game with his connections and intuitions on the game around the world. He played nine seasons with teams in Russia, Turkey and Italy after playing three seasons in Cleveland as the No. 11 overall pick in the 1999 draft.
“I do have good connections over there, having played nine seasons at very good organizations and at a high level,” Langdon said during his introductory news conference. “We have the ability to infiltrate some organizations over there and talk with people to get information on players that other organizations don’t have, which was a competitive advantage in Brooklyn.
“More than anything, it’s about hard work and getting over there to see players in person, making calls, watching tape and trying to discern the right people and players to bring into the organization, whether it’s draft picks or free agents to sign onto the roster.”
Melli, at 6-foot-9 and 235 pounds, has played professionally overseas since 2007 when he was just 16 years old. He entered the 2013 NBA draft but was not selected. He has played with Fenerbahçe in Turkey’s Basketball Super League and the EuroLeague since 2017.
Melli has carved out a fairly successful career, winning the Italian League championship in 2014, the German Cup in 2017, the Turkish League championship in 2018 and the Turkish Cup in 2019.
With Fenerbahçe, Melli was named to the All-EuroLeague second team in 2017 and was the EuroLeague Finals top scorer in 2018, scoring 28 points in Fenerbahçe’s 85-80 loss to Real Madrid.
During his last four seasons in the EuroLeague, Melli has shot 42.1 percent from 3-point range; the Pelicans’ front court has a need for a shooting presence off the bench to place alongside first-round picks Zion Williamson and Jaxson Hayes.
The Pelicans roster. Last season, the team signed Dairis Bertans, the older brother of the San Antonio Spurs’ Davis Bertans, to a two-year deal with a team option for 2019-2020. Bertains previously played for the Italian team Olimpia Milano.
Melli played with the team’s current unrestricted free agent Darius Miller in the German League from 2015-17 with Brose Baskets Bamburg, winning back-to-back German League titles. Miller has spent his past two seasons in New Orleans.
Nikola Mirotic, whom the Pelicans traded for during the 2017-2018 season then traded away just before last season’s deadline, also played in the EuroLeague before making the jump to the NBA in 2014.
Mirotic will be going back overseas to play for FC Barcelona Lassa after reportedly agreeing to a deal with the EuroLeague squad Saturday.
Before the deal with Melli, the Pelicans had more than $30 million in cap space heading into the free agency period after completing a combination of trades that includes dealing All-Star forward Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers and off-loading Solomon Hill’s $12.8 million contract to the Atlanta Hawks on draft day.
The league’s moratorium period begins at 5 p.m. Sunday and lasts until July 6 when contracts can officially be signed.
#Pelicans #finalizing #2year #deal #bring #EuroLeague #Nicolò #Melli #Orleans #Pelicans
Source link
