Nicolò Melli back to Milan: 'This is an ambitious club, I'm here to achieve big results' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Nicolò Melli was officially introduced as an Olimpia Milan player today and the captain of the Italian NT didn't hide his ambitions. For him, this is a return to the club, where he had already played from 2010 to 2015, before moving to Germany and starting his climb to the highest level of European basketball.

Nicolo Melli

Team:AX Armani Exchange MilanPosition:PFAge:30Height:205 cmWeight:100 kgBirth place:Reggio Emilia, ItalyProfileNewsStatistics

"I'm here in Milan because this is an ambitious club. Last season they went just one shot shy of the Euroleague final and the club wants to remain at the highest level possible. So my decision to come here was absolutely a basketball decision. I want to win and achieve big results for this club. They showed me how much they wanted me, they even decided to let Zach LeDay go to have me, and Zach was probably the best player of last season, so that kind of commitment showed me that this was the right move for me," Melli said at the beginning of the press conference.

The Italian forward also spoke about his experience in the NBA, two seasons in which he didn't find much space but that were still very useful for his career: "I have no regrets about my experience in the NBA. For me, every single step in my career was always a learning experience. It's true that, especially in my second year, I didn't play much but I also had the opportunity to train and play against the best players in the world".

With the departure of Andrea Cinciarini, who left the team to join Reggio Emilia, Milan needs to select a new captain but Melli believes this is a decision that all the players must agree on: "If I want to be the captain of the team? I think that's something that all the players have to agree upon, we will decide as a team. I have a lot of experience with this team because I already played here for five years but it's also true that I've never played with this group of guys, aside from Datome. It's a discussion that we need to have as a team".

Olimpia will have a lot of new faces this season, including Melli, and the captain of the Italian NT said that he cannot wait to play with a couple of guys on the roster: "I'm very happy to have the opportunity to finally play together with Kyle Hines. He's an incredible player with a lot of experience and is very well respected all around Europe. We started to play against in Italian second division when he was with Veroli and I was with Reggio Emilia. He was already a fantastic player at that time. Of the newcomers, I'm intrigued by the idea of playing with Dino Mitoglou, I think we have some qualities in common so we can be interchangeable a little bit. It was very tough to play against him, I'm curious to see what we can do together".

Melli also spoke about the summer that he had with the NT. Italy was able to reach the quarter-finals in the Olympic Games and before they won the Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade. "In Belgrade, I remember that we were convinced that we had chances to win the tournament. Because we were watching the games together and we saw that Serbia was struggling a little bit so we said to ourselves 'we can do this'. Tokyo was different, we felt a lot of passion and pride, there were no televisions in the rooms so we needed to go down in the hall to watch the other Italian athletes, it was an unbelievable experience for me, especially as a captain of the team".

Gianmarco Pozzecco will be part of the Olimpia Milan coaching staff this season and Melli knows is gonna be an interesting experience: "We all know Gianmarco, Having a former player like him in the coaching staff is always a plus, both for the players and the coaches. He always brings energy and positivity. I told him already several times that now he's a coach so he has to behave in a certain way (he laughed after that)".

Melli didn't want to anticipate the kind of role that he's gonna have on the team but he knows what he can bring to the table: "About my role, we'll see, I've been here only a few days. But I consider myself kind of a secondary playmaker on the court, I like to help my teammates in finding the rhythm, I can create for them but at the same time, I want to bring my own contribution. I hope that I can replicate here what I already did with Bamberg under coach Trinchieri and in Fener under coach Obradovic".

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