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Now they're just ing around.
Rich Melzer, one of the key players for the New Zealand Breakers, has secured a two-year NBA contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
The 26-year-old Melzer got his break after impressing in the Orlando Magic summer league and 10 days in camp with the Spurs last month.
Despite his good fortune, Melzer admitted to having mixed emotions because his heart was set on returning to New Zealand.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about being signed," he said.
"But at the same time I'm also a little saddened because I've been waiting to go back to the Breakers ever since I left after the last season.
"I attribute a lot of this success to Andrej, John and the team because I really believe I wasn't a professional ball player until my experiences in New Zealand.
"I'm really going to miss the team, but I'll try and do everyone proud and represent New Zealand and Australian basketball 100 percent," he said.
Melzer's good fortune has upset the planning for the Breakers.
Coach Andrej Lemanis said: "It's a great opportunity for Rich and we wish him every success.
"It's a positive reflection on our recruitment policy to see him make the NBA and it shows players can develop here as part of our programme and that we are a viable pathway to the big time.
"John Dorge worked extensively with the big men last season and Rich himself acknowledges that he's a better player because of that input."
Now that recruitment policy will be put to the test again as the Breakers look for a replacement.
"Rich not only knew our systems and culture, he is a talented player with unique skills and we need to determine the balance of our roster and sign a quality import that fits in with the make-up of the team," Lemanis said.
Melzer made his mark in the latter half of the season last year when the Breakers finished strongly.
He led the team is scoring, steals and blocked shots. He spent time with the Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls as well as the Magic and Spurs before securing his contract.
Earlier in his career he led the Sioux Skyforce to the CBA Championship in 2005 and was the MVP in the finals when helping San Carlos to win the Dominican Republic League.
At school he finished as second on the all-time scoring list for Wisconsin-River Falls with 2363 points. He was the school's third-best rebounder with 821 boards and the all-time shot blocker with 186 rejections.
http://www.sportal.co.nz/basketball.asp?i=news&id=85429
Now they're just ing around.
Holy crap???
Well they have to fill out the IR, don't they?
Is this for real? What position does he play, when did this happen??
2 year deal? Who is this kid and why?
who?
He's a forward.
So the spurs think he's better than Javtokas?
seriously the team he plays for is a scrub team in nbl
stupid spurs should went for chris anstey who use to play in nba, who is last seasons mvp in nbl, and can shoot from 3, he even outperformed bogut in the game against NZ a few days ago.
atleast he can block
wtf???
6-foot-8 long small forward. Played in a tiny college. I watched a couple of games of him in summer league last year and wasn't impressed at all. IIRC, he shot like 33% for the camp and looked too skinny for the NBA.
I guess the Spurs want a practice dummy for Elson
Wow... where did this come from?
I guess a welcome aboard is in order.
the le is ours
the spurs FO a one step away of losin a few fans.........
im pissed that they didnt sign javtokas or scola, instead on this guy who is unknown player, playin on one man team. dont tell me he is the long 3....
I'm trying to find out if it's true from another source.
It's odd that he would get signed before Rocky Mt Revue.
He was on Orlando's team in the Orlando summer league. He only played 2 of their 4 games (remember Pop was spotted in Orlando at the games).
Here's his stats from those games.
http://www.nba.com/media/magic/06slstats_magic.pdf
Has spent time with the Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and the Magic in the last two years led the Sioux Falls Skyforce to the CBA Championship in 2005 won a le with San Carlos in the Dominican Republic league and was voted MVP of the National Finals named Division III Player of the Year by the NABC and the D-III News as a senior at college earned First Team All-America honours from the NABC his junior and senior seasons named All-WIAC his last three seasons and was named league MVP his final two years finished career as the schools second all-time leading scorer with 2,363 points, the third all-time leading rebounder with 821 boards, and the all-time leading shot-blocker with 186 rejections averaged 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in his first season with the Breakers.
Smallball, baby.
Well, without seeing him play within the last year I can tell you he's a better signing than Elson. It's odd that the Spurs would give him a deal before summer league begins.
if the spurs spent 1.5-2mill on him, i be very n pissed they signed an unproven player, instead of signin javtokas.
They can't put international signings into the NBDL, right? So this dude is here no matter what, right?
Just one question- what are the Spurs going to do with all these guys? And I thought they wanted a center?
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