25 College Basketball Teams in 25 Days: No. 8 USC Trojans
By Chris Stone
De’Anthony Melton is the do-it-all star for the USC Trojans
Role players are experiencing a bit of a basketball renaissance, particularly in the NBA. Whether it’s the result of the advanced stats revolution highlighting their value, a generally more engaged basketball public with deeper roster knowledge or some combination of the two, the public profiles of many of the league’s top supporting actors are growing.
Golden State’s Draymond Green is, of course, the quintessential example. Admittedly, to call the 6-foot-7 forward a role-player is a massive understatement. It’s just that Green impacts the game in so many ways without being a primary scoring threat that he fits the general mold of a player who would normally earn the moniker. He’s just sort of blown up the mold.
To a lesser extent, Philadelphia’s Robert Covington, a poster boy of “The Process,” and Cleveland’s Jae Crowder, the real reason the Cavaliers won the Kyrie Irving deal, have also been beneficiaries of the role player awakening. In college basketball, these talents are often known as “glue guys,” the sort of roster pieces that every successful team needs to do the dirty work and hold everything else together.
The No. 8 team in our countdown, the USC Trojans, have arguably the best glue guy in the country. 6-foot-4 guard De’Anthony Melton was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school but he’ll enter his sophomore season as an NBA prospect, a reflection of how highly regarded players who can do just about everything are in the professional ranks.
Melton is one of just two freshmen dating back to the 1992-93 season to average at least 4.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. The other is future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade. The difference between the two obviously comes on the offensive end where Wade’s penchant for scoring in bunches propelled him to superstar status. Melton is still trying to figure out where he fits as a scorer.
The 19-year-old averaged 12.3 points per 40 minutes last season while posting just a 53.0 true shooting percentage. A combination of poor shooting and poor creation flummoxed him as a freshman. Melton shot just 28.4 percent from behind the 3-point arc and ranked in the 33rd percentile nationally as a catch-and-shoot option, per Synergy. That poor shooting makes playing him anywhere off the ball a bit of a liability because defenders can sag off him into the paint to clog up the lane.
To counteract the poor shooting, the Trojans let Melton handle the ball plenty in the pick-and-roll. Although he was a solid passer out of those actions, he struggled mightily to score. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged just 0.475 points per possession (10th percentile) scoring out of the pick-and-roll. He currently lacks the ability to accurately pull up off the dribble and his finishing at the basket attacking off of screens was well below his season average.
So, what’s the path forward for Melton to become a productive offensive player in 2017-18? The first one is easy. Melton seems to suffer a bit of bad luck at the rim last season in pick-and-rolls. If he can finish at his average rate in those situations, his efficiency numbers should improve. The second one is a bit tougher, but there’s reason to be optimistic about Melton’s jump shot. At 3.0 3-point attempts per 40 minutes, it’s clear there’s at least some level of trust in his ability to knock down outside shots and his 70.6 free throw percentage suggests he should at least be able to get up into the 32-33 percent range as a sophomore. Accomplishing either would put Melton on the right path.
The good news is that the rest of Melton’s game is terrific. He’s a good rebounder for his position and his passing ability works well when he’s positioned as a secondary creator. More importantly, though, Melton is a bright spot on the defensive end where USC has struggled as a team. The 6-foot-4 guard possesses good off-ball instincts allowing him to break up passing lanes to turn possessions in the Trojans’ favor. He also blocks more shots than any smaller guard should. In general, Melton’s ability to excel as a passer, defensive menace and weak-side shot blocker suggests some high-level basketball IQ.
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Melton’s ability to do just about everything well fits with a USC roster that already has plenty of collegiate star power. At the point guard spot, Jordan McLaughlin is a strong shot creator and the addition of Duke transfer Derryck Thornton should give the Trojans another pick-and-roll threat. Bennie Boatwright is a prototypical stretch power forward who hit 36.4 percent of his triples last season while Chimezie Metu’s mid-range game gives the team plenty of floor to work with. At virtually every spot on the floor, USC will have talented depth but Melton is the piece that holds it all together.
Melton is already viewed as a potential first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft because of his unique combination of skills, a reflection of the value the NBA places on these high impact role-players. This season, those around college basketball will have a chance to give the young sophomore the praise he rightly deserves.