MELO FIRES SNAKES UP
MELO Trimble’s career with the Cairns Taipans is only one game old and the comparisons have already started.
The silky 23-year-old from Maryland announced himself on the NBL landscape with a coming-out party on Saturday night – dropping 32 points, the most by a Taipan on debut ever.
He has only played 32 minutes and three seconds for the Far North club but the Taipans’ social media account is already using the Trimble name in the same breath as prodigal son Scottie Wilbekin, who has gone on to become one of the top European-based guards.
Trimble dropped 12 of his 32 in the final quarter with the game on the line, to finish with nine more points than Wilbekin did on his debut in 2015.
The laid-back former Iowa Wolf was unfazed after his first win in Australia when asked if his match-winning performance would put a target on his back for the rest of the NBL
“I try not and think about that, I just want to go into practice every day and get better,” Trimble said.
“If teams are going to scout us, we need to have a counter for that.
“I try not to worry about me as an individual, I just worry about the team and how we are going to win.
“I tried not to panic, stay poised, stay confident and looking for a shot to hit.
“But I don’t try to worry about me individually, I worry about the team and how we’re going to win.”
Trimble had a rough night beyond the arc, hitting two of six bombs, but was untroubled from everywhere else, scoring in the painted area whenever he felt like and as well as shooting more free-throws than the entire Bullets team.