Fab Melo working on game in Maine

Fab Melo is a project big man. That means that a few good games (even really, really good games) in the D-League isn't going to make him "ready" for the NBA. What is going to get him there is hard work and persistence. He's got size that you can't teach and enough talent to build and mold.

Melo being patient, working on game with Red Claws

"I've been working on what the Celtics want me to do -- develop my defensive game," said Melo. "And I've been working on my offensive game, that's something I've been doing every day. Me and J.P. (Clark), one of the assistant coaches, we work every day on post positions, we work on defensive rotations, we watch films to correct the things that I do wrong in the games. I'm just developing my basketball game. On offense, I'm working on my baby hook. That's one thing that has been pretty good for me right now. I've been working on getting post position, running up and down the court, and working on my post moves, things like that."

(Check out the rest of the interview by Jessica Camerato at the link above)

Fab Melo has a lot of work to put in but it sounds like he's doing the work and it is starting to pay dividends already. He's even got that one thing. All fringe NBA players need to have one skill that they do as well as anyone on the planet. For some it is three point shooting, for some it is rebounding. For Fab it is blocking shots (and hopefully he can translate that to all-around defense as well).

He may not be much help to us this year (when we could really use a center) but he'll be an NBA player. He might even be a pretty good one. The question is, will he be in Boston when he gets there or will he be used as trade bait this winter?