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It was a fitting way for Lee Melchionni to change careers, given the job he now has.

The former Duke basketball player was sitting in his apartment in Italy when he got a phone call from out of the blue. Melchionni was playing for Cimberio Novara, a team in the Italian second division in a town outside of Milan. It was a great experience, but he didn't see it as a long-term endeavor. The person on the other end of the line had an intriguing alternative proposal.

"It's Arn, saying he wants to hire me when I stop playing basketball," Melchionni said.

Arn, as in Arn Tellem, one of the most powerful and influential agents in pro basketball. Melchionni eventually took Tellem up on that offer and since last fall has been working as a junior agent at the Wasserman Group in Los Angeles. It's an agency that has an impressive and lengthy client list, including top 2008 draft prospects like Derrick Rose and Anthony Randolph.

As a self-described "low man on the totem pole" who has only been in the agent business for less than a year, Melchionni doesn't have his own client list yet. For now, his primary responsibility is to always be ready, as he was in Italy, for that phone call out of the blue.

"It's 24-7-365," Melchionni said. "I tell guys, 'If I don't answer my phone it's because I'm either working out or dead."

When the phone does ring, it brings tasks ranging from the mundane -- coordinating rides for players and making sure they're on-time to appointments -- to the glamorous -- taking out clients to sporting events like Lakers games -- to the strange. One client needed dogs shipped to him on a plane. Another needed help arranging an order for 82 custom suits, one for each NBA regular-season game. "I don't know if I'll wear a suit 82 times in my life," Melchionni said.

The financial side of the business isn't in his job description yet. He'll begin taking night classes at Loyola Marymount in August. He will work at Wasserman in the day and then attend classes 6-10 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

What Melchionni's doing now depends more on the personal touch. It's "all about developing relationships," he said, something he acknowledges fits into his natural strengths. "You know me, you know I like to talk," he said. "I'm not shy."

That's what impressed Tellem when he met Melchionni for the first time, over dinner at the Washington Duke Inn near Duke's campus. The purpose of the meeting was for Tellem to sit down with Shelden Williams, Melchionni's close friend and teammate. Williams had a class and was running late. Melchionni showed up early. So he and Tellem began to talk. The conversation centered around what Melchionni needed to do to land a job playing baskeball overseas, but it inadvertently turned into a job interview.

"I was just being myself," Melchionni said.

Tellem went down the list -- personable, smart, knows basketball, has existing relationships in basketball -- and was able to check off each one for Melchionni. So eventually Tellem called and Melchionni's career took a different path.

Melchionni traded in jump shots for text messages -- he estimated he probably sends 1,000 a month -- and his Italian apartment for a chance to crash at Tellem's house for a few months ("the price is right on the rent," Melchionni said).

He's hoping to get a chance to sit in on contract negotiations for one of Wasserman's rookie clients after the draft, but for now Melchionni works with NBA veterans. The list of people on his speed dial includes LaMarcus Aldridge, A.C. Law, Joe Johnson and, interestingly, Shelden Williams.

Does 24-7 client service extend to a person who used to share a dorm suite with Melchionni at Duke? "I'd say, 'Hey man, call me in the morning,' Melchionni joked, before turning serious. "I would take a bullet for him anyway. I wouldn't have to be his agent."

But Melchionni is, at least partially. So the call from out of the blue may come from Williams. Or it could be that overseas client who doesn't speak the language, who needs to be chaperoned around the U.S. to different team tryouts. Or it could be just about anyone, asking Melchionni for help with just about anything.

That's all part of the business. Except to Melchionni, it's all part of the fun.

Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jim.young@news-record.com