THE Cairns Taipans will head into the new season with a genuine three-man front court rotation after snaring the signature of import forward Rich Melzer.
Melzer played for the New Zealand Breakers in his only other NBL season in 2005-06 before being picked up by the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
The 29-year-old was most recently playing in the German Bundesliga.
"Definitely we think we picked up a pretty good player," Fearne said.
"Obviously a few years ago when he played in New Zealand he put up pretty impressive numbers (18.6 points, 7.4 rebounds per game).
"And he has matured into a much better player since those early days."
Fearne met with Melzer in Minnesota while based in the US as Nathan Jawai’s mentor earlier this year and worked the big man out to determine his credentials.
"I wanted to meet him in person and get a feel for him, get a feel for his skill package as much as I could," Fearne said.
While it was felt Melzer was a good fit for the organisation, he was not initially in the Taipans’ plans, with cost believed to be a factor.
"But things change and you want to have those options there if they come up," Fearne said.
"He had some other options but he felt this was a better opportunity now for what he wanted to do."
The fact he had played in the NBL before and the uncertainty of the European market are believed to be among the factors in Melzer’s decision to link with Cairns.
Melzer joins Ian Crosswhite and fellow Minnesotan Dusty Rychart on the Taipans roster, giving coach Aaron Fearne great versatility and depth in the front
court.
But he has not yet decided on his starters.
"I think that’ll work its way out a little bit," he said.
"Ian and Dusty are very experienced players in this league and I expect pretty big things from them.
"But the way we’re going to play we’ll need a very good three-man rotation."
Melzer’s addition further expands the internal competition at the club, something Fearne was aiming for on his roster.
"I definitely wanted to try to put together a team that was competitive in every position," Fearne said.
"I want our training environment to be very competitive, I don’t want guys to be comfortable.
"It’s a long year and things can happen and you’ve got to have guys ready to play."
Melzer’s signature leaves just one spot open on the Taipans’ roster, with Fearne saying the Snakes were close to signing their final Australian player.
