Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
We begin our series on the season summaries of the 2012-2013 Boston Celtics roster with a look at rookie center Fab Melo. He had a rather uneventful first season with the green which was pretty much expected. He barely played for the big league club, but most of his basketball action took place with the Maine Red Claws of the Developmental League. All reports from there were pretty solid, but please scale back expectations. There is a reason that it is a minor league. These players are not very good or else they would be playing in the NBA. Melo has a long way to go as a player, but at least he got a lot of minutes somewhere this season.
His role in the future with the Celtics is somewhat cloudy. He certainly has a chance to fill the role that Shavlik Randolph occupied near the end of the season as an extra big man who can fill depth purposes for the club. He had a particular good stretch for the Celtics, and Melo figures to have a shot at filling that role. It makes much more sense to plug Melo into that role on his rookie contract than to sign someone for the mid-level exception who will do mostly the same things. The only difference is that player will be more expensive. The Celtics are better off allocating the mid-level exception to a guard or small forward, and that’s if they end up having enough cap room to pull it off.
Fab Melo had a very boring rookie season, but he figures to get a chance to make more of a name for himself starting next season.
Rob Lunder covers the Boston Celtics for Rant Sports. For all Celtics news go to the team home page on Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @rlunder18
