Reggio Emilia The season ends in glory, and how much glory Nicolò Melli. On Thursday evening Olimpia Milano, of which the athlete from Reggio is captain, won game 4 of the championship series against Virtus Bologna and thus obtained their 31st Italian title. The very tough player born and raised in Reggio was then awarded as the best Italian and best defender of the 2023-24 playoffs. For him it is the fourth Italian championship, the third consecutive since he returned to Milan after his experience in the NBA. The one from 2014, again with Olimpia, must be added to the account. This for Italy: in his career, Melli also triumphed in the German and Turkish championships. He put the icing on the cake, with the humanity that has always characterized him, at the time of the awards ceremony. As captain, it would have been his turn to lift the championship trophy, but he preferred to leave the honor to teammate Kyle Hines, a European basketball legend who arrived when he retired. Not bad, for two giants of the last decade of basketball who crossed paths for the first time in A2, when Melli was in Reggio and Hines made his debut with Trinchieri’s Veroli, a crucial coach for Nicolò’s definitive maturation. Once the celebrations on the pitch were over, he reached the stands to kiss and hug his wife, daughter, father Leo and mother Julie, always present in the important moments of the strongest player ever from Reggio Emilia. Still emotional, it is Leo Melli himself who recounts those moments. «It was all really touching, especially the gesture with Hines, he did a great thing and I think everyone appreciated it – his words -. I believe that the season could not have ended better than this, the season was complicated but this was a beautiful ending for the team and for Nicolò. Even more so considering that he is at the end of his three-year contract with Milan.”
Melli senior brings up a topic that intrigues a large part of basketball Europe. Where will Melli, still one of the most complete and effective big men on the continent, play next year? «I don’t know this yet. Certainly, with the performances he showed in the playoffs, Nicolò showed how much he is still able to impact in moments like these. We’ll see what happens, he has demonstrated his worth once again”, underlines Leo proudly. His father’s words but also facts. In Reggio, many fans always dream of the great return, but for that we will still have to wait several years. At 33 years old, Melli is still an element of a quintet in the top Euroleague, thanks to his flexibility, defensive impact, superior intelligence and mobility combined with a high-level offensive danger. He is respected, esteemed, he has traveled half the world showing that he knows how to adapt everywhere. If it’s not Milan, it will be one of the greats in Europe that will field him. The Fenerbahce for which he has already played could be a concrete hypothesis, as well as the Partizan Belgrade of the great master Obradovic, his coach in Turkey and also present at the wedding in Reggio in 2017. Within a few weeks, we will have the answer. In the meantime, rest can wait. Melli will soon join the national team, of which he is captain for a change, for the final stages of preparation for the pre-Olympic in Puerto Rico. Always on the track, always pulling the cart.
