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Melton, on the other hand, is a more proven commodity, and he was reportedly coveted by teams around the league. Now entering his fifth season, Melton is still only 24 years old, so it’s not like he’s a finished product by any means, but he’s shown he can be a productive player at the NBA level.
A big part of what made Melton such a hot commodity on the trade market is his defense. Although he stands just 6-foot-2, Melton has a 6-foot-8 wingspan and is one of the better guard defenders in the NBA. I’m not a big fan of using advanced stats for measuring defensive impact, but they almost universally love Melton on that end of the court.
A very good athlete who plays with physicality, lots of energy, and a knack for the ball, Melton gets plenty of deflections (2.8 per game), steals (1.4) and blocks (0.5) for a guard. In fact, he was one of the league leaders at his position in all of those categories on a per-minute basis (he averaged 22.7 MPG last season).
He’s also an outstanding rebounder (4.5 RPG) who likes to push the pace in transition. Those are hugely beneficial attributes for a 76ers team that ranked 29th in rebounding and 25th in pace last season.
Melton should be an excellent complement next to Maxey or James Harden, or even both. Harden tends to play better defensively against bigger players, so allowing Melton, who is a far superior defender than either of his new backcourt mates, to defend the opposing team’s best guard sounds good on paper.
He’s an immediate and major upgrade over both Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz defensively, and a better offensive player than Matisse Thybulle. Those were Philadelphia’s three primary backup guards at the end of last season.
Melton will earn $8.25M next season and his $8M salary in 2023-24 is partially guaranteed at $1.5M, so he’s on a reasonable contract and is eligible for an extension this offseason, though Philadelphia might want to take a wait-and-see approach before making that decision.
There are a few other things worth noting about Melton’s acquisition. 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey actually drafted Melton with Houston back in 2018 prior to attaching him to Ryan Anderson in a salary dump move, so Morey has been familiar with the guard’s game dating back to his lone college season with USC.
Melton was basically treated as a non-shooter during his first couple of NBA seasons, making just 29.4 percent of his three-pointers in that time, but he has improved drastically in that area over the past two seasons, shooting 38.8 percent from deep on much higher volume. Being able to space the floor around Joel Embiid is vital for Philadelphia’s offensive flow and spacing, so while Melton can run hot and cold, he should get plenty of open looks.
Finally, Melton is a combo guard, and because Harden, Embiid and Maxey control the ball so much, the fact that Melton will be an ancillary player instead of a primary ball-handler is an added benefit. That’s not to say he’s bad at playing the point, it just isn’t his main strength.
The Grizzlies’ perspective:
If Melton is such a solid young player, why were the Grizzlies willing to deal him? Why not just keep him?
Memphis is one of the few teams in the league that has a luxury of riches at multiple positions, and backcourt depth is perhaps the team’s greatest strength. Led by starters Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, the Grizzlies had Tyus Jones, Melton, John Konchar and Ziaire Williams vying for minutes at guard (Williams also spent a lot of time at forward last season and could open the season there due to Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s injury and Kyle Anderson‘s departure to Minnesota in free agency).
Melton’s strengths weren’t necessarily redundant among that group of players — he was the best defender of the guards — but moving him clears additional minutes for his former teammates. Jones re-signed with Memphis as an unrestricted free agent on a two-year, $30M deal, and the Grizzlies later gave Konchar an extension.
Melton also saw his role reduced and his offensive production decline significantly in two consecutive postseasons, averaging just 5.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG and 1.4 APG on .333/.266/.667 shooting in 15 career playoff games (16.9 MPG). That may have contributed to Memphis’ decision to move him.
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