Two years after he considered putting his name into the NBA draft following a breakout freshman season at Maryland, and one year after returning to College Park following a disappointing performance at the NBA combine, Melo Trimble is leaving for good, the school announced Wednesday.
Trimble told Maryland coach Mark Turgeon at a meeting this week that he will file for early NBA draft eligibility for a second straight year. Unlike last year, Trimble will sign with the Neustadt Group, a sports management company, and be represented by Michael Kneisley.
The firm represents a number of NBA players, including Phoenix Suns rookie Dragan Bender, the No. 4 pick in last year's draft and the younger brother of Maryland forward Ivan Bender.
Kneisley wouldn't comment on Trimble's draft status, saying only that he believes "he's ready to go on to the next phase of his career. I think he's one of the best point guards in the country, no question about it. I think he's going to prove that the next couple of months."
Trimble will leave for Las Vegas on April 10 and begin working with Joe Abunassar at Impact Basketball, Kneisley said. According the company's website, Abunassar has worked with many prominent NBA players over the years, including Kevin Garnett. Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics and Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors are among his current clients.
2016-17 Maryland men's basketball pictures
"I am confident and excited to pursue an opportunity to play in the NBA," Trimble said in a statement released by the athletic department. "I am proud of what my teammates and I were able to accomplish these past three seasons at Maryland. I developed many great relationships and friendships and together we able to create some very special moments for Maryland basketball.
"I want to thank Coach Turgeon for all of his support. He always believed in me. He challenged me and really helped in the development of my overall game. I am a more complete basketball player because of Coach Turgeon and the coaching staff. To stay at home and attend the University of Maryland is the best decision that I ever made and it was truly special to play in front of my family, friends and our amazing fans. Maryland will always be home."
Said Turgeon, "Melo informed me that he has decided to enter his name in the NBA draft," Turgeon said. "Melo Trimble is a winner and helped change the face of our program. More importantly, Melo is a special person and I thoroughly enjoyed coaching him. He is extremely humble and always puts the team first.
"Melo has grown as a leader and has done an outstanding job taking our program to new heights. Melo will be celebrated as one of the all-time greats in our program's history. We are very excited for Melo as he pursues his dream of playing professional basketball."
Feelings among NBA scouts and executives about Trimble are mixed. NBA DraftExpress doesn't list Trimble in its two-round mock draft while NBA.com has him listed as the eighth-best point guard and a late-first to early second-round pick. There are a number of NBA teams that have interest in Trimble because of his ability to run the point in a pick-and-roll offense that has become so popular throughout the league.
"He might run the pick-and-roll better than any [college] guard in the country," an NBA scout said during the season.
The decision by Trimble comes after he earned first-team all-Big Ten recognition for the second time in three years. Trimble led the Terps in scoring for a third straight season with a career-high 16.8 average, but struggled with his 3-point shooting for a second straight year.
Despite finished the season missing 32 of his last 38 3-point shots _ giving him a 31.7 percent average and leaving him only a fraction of a percentage point ahead of last season (31.5). But Trimble's last 3-pointer in what turned out to be his final game at Xfinity Center will be remembered: A game-winner with 1.1 seconds left against Michigan State.
It was one of two outright game-winners he hit as a Terp, following the one he hit last season at Wisconsin with 1.2 seconds to go. At the time, Trimble said it was the first game-winning shot he had hit on any level going back to recreational basketball in Prince George's Country.
Trimble finished his career with 1,658 points, which puts him 13th all time, right behind Walt Williams (1,704) and ahead of Ernie Graham (1,607). More importantly, the Terps improved from 59-43 in Turgeon's first three years _ including 17-15 the year before Trimble arrived _ to 79-25 the past three seasons.
After he helped the Terps to a program-best 20-2 start in 2016-17, Trimble's late-season shooting slump contributed to Maryland losing seven of its last 11 games, including a 76-65 defeat to Xavier in its first game of the NCAA Tournament. Trimble scored 13 points in his final game on five-of-15 shooting, one of nine on 3-pointers.
The departure of Trimble will certainly have an impact on Maryland, though Turgeon's decision to start Anthony Cowan in every game as a freshman and allow him to share point guard responsibilities with Trimble will certainly help in the transition. Cowan averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists. His 123 assists were two more than Trimble.
The Terps will also return two other fulltime starters, 6-7 guard Kevin Huerter and 6-7 forward Justin Jackson. With the departure of senior center Damonte Dodd and senior forward L.G. Gill, Maryland will likely start rising senior Michal Cekovsky at center as long as he fully recovers from the broken ankle he sustained against Wisconsin on Feb. 20.
Turgeon will add two four-star prospects, combo guard Darryl Morsell (Mount St. Joseph) and power forward Bruno Fernando. Both should play a lot as freshman, with Fernando possibly allowing Turgeon to move Jackson to small forward and Huerter to shooting guard.
The departure of Trimble gives Turgeon the luxury of adding another freshman, a graduate transfer for the third straight year or perhaps a traditional transfer who would have to sit out next season.
