Fab Melo's "Bad Luck" continues as he is waived by The Mavericks
Some people like to gamble,
But you, you always lose.
Some people like to rock 'n' roll,
you're always singin' the blues
You gotta nasty disposition,
No one really knows the reason why,
You gotta bad, bad reputation,
Gonna hang your head down and cry...
[Chorus:]
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
The bad luck first began for Fab when he missed the 2012 NCAA Tournament due to academic issues effectively costing an exceptionally talented Syracuse team a shot at a national title.
Soon thereafter, his luck appeared to be turning when he was taken with the 22nd overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by one of sports' most storied franchises: The Boston Celtics.
This fairy tale once again, however, had an unhappy ending for Melo as he was demoted to the D-League for most of the season and traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Donté Greene at the end of the season having seen time in a grand total of six NBA games.
He was later waived by the Grizzlies.
Next, he had the dubious distinction of being named the second worst player in the NBA by ESPN.
Then, yesterday, as was reported by Kurt Helin for NBC Sports, he was waived by The Dallas Mavericks:
In the case of Melo his possible return to the NBA some day will be dictated by his willingness to develop his game. There have been rumors questioning his maturity and desire to work at his game since he entered the league. The fact Memphis was willing to eat his $1.3 million salary this year to let him go before camp even started should speak to that.
Drafted No. 22 by the Celtics as a project, he never got close to what the Celtics envisioned. Despite his athletic gifts and being a legit 7’0”, he got in just six games for Boston last season and spent most of the season in the D-League developing his game (he was named to the D-League All-Defensive First Team and D-League All-Rookie First Team). The most notable thing he did as a rookie was get a concussion walking into a doorway. Boston traded him to Memphis. When Memphis waived him he took a camp invite from Dallas, but that was never the long term answer.
Finally, today, Fab's spate of bad luck continued as SB Nation asked: Is Fab Melo the biggest NBA draft bust of the lottery era?
In actuality, the truth is all of Melo's struggles are self inflicted and luck has had nothing to do with any of them.
For starters, with all the resources available to a key player on a potential national championship team there's no excuse for him having been ruled ineligible and letting down his Syracuse teammates.
Not to mention, with The Celtics lack of a traditional center last season, if he would have worked hard he definitely could have garnered some time; but apparently this wasn't in his plan.
Who knows? Maybe he has The Derrick Coleman/Syracuse disease where he hopes to get by on talent alone.
The only problem with that is, although talented, he does not have the physical gifts that allowed someone like Coleman to stay in the league for an extended period of time.
The truth is, something's got to change within himself or Fab will just be another NBA cautionary tale with no team, no money and as The Sex Pistols' so eloquently crooned: "No future for you."
Follow Clint on Twitter @coolhandc
