{"id":253037,"date":"2021-12-20T14:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T13:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=253037"},"modified":"2021-12-20T14:30:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T13:30:32","slug":"the-crossover-welcomes-nicolo-melli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/the-crossover-welcomes-nicolo-melli\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crossover welcomes Nicolo Melli"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the child of an Olympic volleyball player who grew up in basketball-crazy Reggio Emilia, Italy, and then found success playing basketball in four different countries, Nicolo Melli is now back in his native country with AX Armani Exchange Milan. Melli shares some stories from his childhood and the major moments of his career in this episode of The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas.<\/p>\n

Melli came to basketball naturally, thanks to the combination of his father, who had played basketball, the influence of his hometown and his great size.<\/p>\n

[10:25] \u201cReggio Emilia is like half an hour away from Bologna and Bologna is called Basket City in Italy because they have Virtus and Fortitudo. Reggio Emilia has a very long tradition, mostly with the youth program. And I was lucky to be born there, grew up there and, honestly, I was always the tallest guy in the classroom in school. It was a very natural and easy decision to play basketball,\u201d Melli explained.<\/p>\n

His career could have been over before it started; Melli was the victim of several injuries during his youth career. However, he persevered and was able to sometimes even beat the expected recovery times. The talent Melli showcased with Reggio Emilia led to EuroLeague club Milan signing a then 19-year-old Melli to a multi-year deal in 2010.<\/p>\n

Melli\u2019s career took a major leap forward when he went abroad to play for Brose Bamberg in Germany in 2015 under Coach Andrea Trinchieri. His role and his numbers jumped off the charts and in his second season there Melli was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team.<\/p>\n

[25:40] \u201cThat decision to go and play in Germany for Bamberg, for Andrea, that was the decision. Probably I wouldn\u2019t be here if it wasn\u2019t for that decision,\u201d Melli said. \u201cI wanted to play. I wanted to prove, mostly to myself, that I could be something else than a three-and-D power forward. That was basically my role in my years in Milan.”<\/p>\n

By the team he finished his two-year commitment to Bamberg, Melli was one of the premier big men in European basketball. That\u2019s when he fielded a call from defending champion Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, where he slid right into the rotation for legendary coach Zeljko Obradovic. In their first season together, Fenerbahce reached the EuroLeague championship game in Belgrade and Melli shined with 28 points against Real Madrid, but it wasn\u2019t enough to successfully defend the title. Nevertheless, Melli\u2019s memories from that weekend will last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

[47:10] \u201cThat\u2019s probably the best weekend of my career. I\u2019ll tell you this. Even though we lost the final, it was my first Final Four, I experienced so many emotions during those two days. It was just special,\u201d he said.
\n[48:10] \u201cWe lost and then after, I was crushed, to be honest. If I still think about it, it still hurts and it will hurt forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

After two seasons with Fenerbahce, Melli went overseas and spent two seasons with New Orleans and Dallas in the NBA. And then over the summer, he was able to return home to Italy and play again for Milan, which has been a special experience for Melli.<\/p>\n

[58:30] \u201cWhat they\u2019ve built here is unbelievable,\u201d Melli said of the club. \u201cEverything we need we have it. So, I am really happy to be back\u2026 I\u2019m really happy to be a part of this group because I\u2019ve found an incredible group, not as basketball players, but as human beings, as characters. Great guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rest assured, Melli does not feel that since he has come full circle and returned to Milan with a leading role, he can rest on his laurels. Just the opposite. He feels that he is only getting started, as he explained:<\/p>\n

[1:03:45] \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I got here and, okay, it\u2019s done\u2026 I want to do stuff. I want to win. I want to challenge myself. I want to challenge my teammates. I want to challenge my team. Mostly I want to win. And do I don\u2019t feel, okay I got here, I\u2019m good. No. Now we start to do stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a one-hour format of exclusive one-on-one interviews, The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas goes well beyond the playing court with each podcast to delve into the life experiences that have made his guests protagonists and legends of the EuroLeague. The Crossover debuted in 2018 and has featured such current stars as\u00a0Mario Hezonja<\/a>,\u00a0Vasilije Micic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Walter Tavares<\/a>, coaching greats such as\u00a0Dimitris Itoudis<\/a>,\u00a0Andrea Trinchieri<\/a>,\u00a0Pablo Laso<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Zeljko Obradovic<\/a>, and legends like\u00a0Theo Papaloukas<\/a>,\u00a0Nikola Vujcic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mike Batiste<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n

The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas is available on\u00a0Youtube<\/a>,\u00a0iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0Google Podcasts\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0other platforms<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Milan big man talks about his life and career with Joe Arlauckas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":253038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[15725],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-253037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-euroleague","typology-comunicato"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Crossover welcomes Nicolo Melli - Sportando<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/the-crossover-welcomes-nicolo-melli\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Crossover welcomes Nicolo Melli - 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