On draft night, the Philadelphia 76ers decided that they did not need to add a rookie to a roster that has championship aspirations. Therefore, they traded the No. 23 pick in the draft along with Danny Green to the Memphis Grizzlies to acquire De’Anthony Melton and bolster their bench.
Melton averaged 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 37.4% from deep for the Grizzlies in the 2021-22 season as he was a big piece of their bench unit. The hope now is that he can bring that to Philadelphia and be a big piece for them on a title run.
Melton sat down with Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer and he discussed what he can bring to the Sixers and his reaction to the trade:
“I feel like that’s what this team needs to create easy buckets,” Melton said. ” … I’ve got a quick trigger and I’m ready just to get straight to it. I don’t really do too much dribbling around and stuff like that.”
“I’m ready to be a dog,” Melton said. “I’m ready to get out to the city. I’m ready to embrace it. I’m ready for them to embrace me. I’m ready for the love.”
Melton had a steal percentage of 2.5 and a block percentage of 1.1 which ranked him in the top 5 percentile per Cleaning the Glass in both categories. The turnovers that he can create can help the Sixers get out in transition and be able to use the talent they have on their roster in order to get easy buckets. Philadelphia is a much better team when they are able to get out and run and Melton will certainly help in that regard.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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