New Orleans Pelicans: 3 Nicolo Melli Trades That Improve the Defense
The New Orleans Pelicans can improve their defense by trading Melli.
The New Orleans Pelicans finished the season ranked 20th defensively and looked even worse than that down the stretch.
The Pels can definitely score with anyone, but when it comes to getting stops they need a lot of work.
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They lack wing defenders, rim protectors and guys who play with energy on the defensive end. If they want to improve their defense on the wing without disrupting the core of the team, then they don’t have many ways to do it.
Trading Nicolo Melli may be one of them.
We already outlined one potential trade of Melli, but there are more out there, as Melli has a team-friendly contract that can definitely be moved.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Case for Trading Nicolo Melli
Overall Melli had a nice season for the Pelicans. He made the Rising Stars Challenge (hilarious since he is 29), and when he was rolling, he was a valuable stretch-four.
But Melli fell off the map sometime in February and wasn’t doing the one thing the Pels pay him to do, which is knock down open shots.
His shot will come back and it was a small sample size. Melli’s 3-point percentage was around 35-36% for most of the season until he fell off before and after the hiatus. Melli can shoot the rock, that isn’t really a concern.
However, what became clear is that Melli doesn’t offer the type of defense or rim protection the Pelicans need. Even if he was hitting everything in the bubble it wouldn’t have mattered because he couldn’t stop anyone and neither could anyone else.
They need defenders, and as nice as it is to have a stretch-four around Zion Williamson, it really doesn’t matter if you can’t defend and the Pelicans’ offense would be fine without Melli.
What teams could trade for Nicolo Melli?
The teams most likely to want Melli’s services would be those who need to improve their 3-point shooting. All of these potential trades are with teams that rank at the bottom of the league in 3-pointers made per game.
They are also teams that might have a defender who doesn’t get a lot of playing time, or need to shake up their rosters to get more shooting.
Here are three trades that make sense for both sides.