Melbourne United recruit Stanton Kidd calls on Melo Trimble to play free and be the best in the NBL
Hailing from the same region in the USA has helped Melbourne United’s new import Stanton Kidd endear himself to struggling point guard Melo Trimble. Can the homegrown link help the young gun snap out of his funk?
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The unintended consequence can sometimes have the biggest impact.
Stanton Kidd moved to Melbourne as an injury replacement for United star Casey Prather, but what the ex-NBAer does off the court might be just as important as winning basketball games.
The 27 year-old Kidd, who served a stint at Utah Jazz last year, has emerged as a guard whisperer — of sorts — and sounding board for United import Melo Trimble.
It is a bond coach Dean Vickerman hopes will draw the best out of Trimble — more often — and, in turn, steels United’s championship run.
“My job is to try and push Melo,” Kidd said.
“Make him be the player I know he can be.”
After a solid start at Melbourne, including dashes of brilliance, ex-Cairns import Trimble has gone cold, scoring 16 points, nine and eight in his past three appearances.
But a prodigious display this week, after being relegated in practice to the “white team”, made up of second unit and development players predominantly, has helped Trimble find his way.
“He had a few games where he wasn’t shooting it well,” Kidd said.
“Our (Tuesday) practice he showed why he’s one of the best scorers in this league, he scored the ball really well and was really active defensively.
“For us to win a championship … and to finish the regular season off right, he’s going to have bring it, every day, every night, he’s the engine.”
Baltimore export Kidd knew of Upper Marlboro and University of Maryland sensation Trimble long before crossed paths in Melbourne, having grown up “down the road” from each other (about 40km) in Maryland.
“He’s one of the best guards in the league,” Kidd said.
“So all he got to do is go out there and play, play free and know that we got his back.”
Vickerman opened up about Trimble’s form this week, along with Kidd’s influence.
“(With) younger guys, if they’re not putting the ball in the hole it can impact some of the other things,” Vickerman said.
“People go through periods where (they) miss some shots, but it can’t impact you at the defensive end, you got to actually rise a level at the defensive end.
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“Melo has been a little bit down on form lately … we need him confident and I think Stanton coming from a similar area in America has really taken that on.
“When you have imports doing that, making each other better, it’s great.”
With Sydney and Perth poised to clinch the top two spots, fourth-placed United is precariously placed with eight games and a wall of teams hunting the last two playoff tickets.
“We’re going to finish where we finish, but we got everybody (team) one time,” Vickerman said, of the run home.
“I love the challenge … just one hit, give it everything you’ve got and see where it falls.”
Originally published as Melbourne United recruit Stanton Kidd calls on Melo Trimble to play free and be the best in the NBL