CHICAGO — Melo Trimble knows he didn’t perform as well as he could have at the NBA Draft Combine, and will now try to impress during individual workouts beginning next week.
The 6-foot-2 1/2 Maryland point guard met at the Combine with the Knicks, Dallas, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Denver and the Lakers.
He has his first workout with the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, when he will go head-to-head with former Oklahoma floor general Isaiah Cousins. Trimble then works out for Milwaukee on Thursday. He has two finals at school and must schedule his workouts around them. He also has workouts scheduled with San Antonio, Atlanta and Philadelphia.
“I think going into these workouts I’m really going to have to show what I could do best, and once I get the feedback that I need then I’ll decide what I’m going to do,” Trimble said on Friday at the Combine.
Trimble, who is projected as the No. 38 pick by DraftExpress.com, said ideally he would get a guarantee that someone will take him in the first round, although that seems unlikely at this point. He has until May 25 to withdraw from the Draft and return to campus.
“Just somewhere in the first round,” he said of his goal. “I would be happy to be early second. You look at players in the league like Isaiah Thomas and Draymond Green, they were in the second round. Isaiah was the last pick and you see what hard work gets you. And the other things don’t matter, it’s just how hard you keep working.”
After his last workout, he plans to make a decision about his future right up against the May 25 deadline.
“I just want to feel the process out,” Trimble said. “I don’t want to think ahead. Anything could change within a week. LIke I said, [on Thursday] I didn’t put on the best performance I could have put on. [Friday] was better and I’m going to do better every time we play and you can’t base someone off just one week of performance.”
Trimble did not play well on Thursday, going for just 5 points on 2-for-8 shooting with 2 assists and 2 turnovers in a 40-point loss. On Friday, he had 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting with 4 assists and 3 turns in a victory.
“[Friday] was a better outing on the court,” he said. “I’m not just the type of player to just go out there and just randomly play with five different players for one or two games. Each day if I was sticking with the same guys I’ll get better every game. Unfortunately, that can’t happen but I went out and did the best I could and hopefully I put on a good show.”
His performance prompted most of the NBA personnel and experts at the Combine to say he needed to go back to school.
“He may have no choice but to go back (to school),” ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla said on air.
The All-Go-Back-To-School Team: Melo Trimble, Nigel Hayes, Caleb Swanigan, Marcus Lee, Dedric Lawson, Troy Williams, Justin Jackson
– Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) May 13, 2016
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If nothing else, Trimble got a chance to interview with NBA teams and get experience for the future.
Of his meeting with the Knicks — who are hoping to purchase a late-first or early-second round pick — he said assistant GM Allan Houston ran the show since neither President Phil Jackson or GM Steve Mills were on hand.
“[Houston] ran that,” Trimble said. “That was cool to see. When I was very young I saw Allan Houston play and he was a good player on the Knicks. Just to have him be there is always good. He reminds me of Juan Dixon being there for us at Maryland. It’s always cool to see veteran players come back.”
As for the Sixers, he said he told them: “I’m a score-first point gaurd but I’m not a selifsh point guard. I’m just all about winning. I told them I went to Maryland where there was five transfers before I got there and the year before I got there they were 15-17 and then when I got there we went to the [NCAA] Tournament which hadn’t been done in a while so when I went there I pretty much changed the program around. So I think wherever I go I bring a winning culture.”
Because the Terps are losing Diamond Stone, Robert Carter Jr. and Jake Layman, Trimble knows if he returns next season it will be to a totally different team.
“Yeah, it makes it a lot harder,” he said. “You’re not going to have any starters come back at all. For me to be the only starter coming back, it’s going to be something difficult. But if I go back I also have people that’s been there since I’ve been there, Monte [Dodd], Jared Nickens and Dion Wiley and also Cekof [Michel Cekofsky] and everyone’s going to keep getting better. So it is tough to think about how they’re not coming back.”
Still, he believes they can be strong against next season if he returns.
“We could be really good,” he said. “I think it’s good that people will doubt us because we’re not going to have all the returners back, but in my freshman year we had a lot of people doubting us and we turned it around and we made it to the tournament.
“With the hard work that they’re going to do this summer, and if I’m there that we’re going to do this summer and the fall, I mean anyting can happen.”
Still, in the next two weeks, he hopes to get at least one team interested in drafting him.
“I’m a player that’s going to keep getting better and hopefully I see more of this in the future as far as going into the workouts,” he said, “and hopefully I lean towards keeping my name in the Draft.”
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