NBA Draft Scouting Report: Malik Monk's Strengths, Weaknesses and Comparison
As we are just a handful of days away from the NBA Draft I’ll be breaking down the scouting reports for various players across the country who are expected to be taken in the top-10 of the 2017 NBA Draft. If there is someone specific you want on here, please let me know @barstoolreags. All videos are courtesy of Synergy and Krossover and the stats will come from Synergy, Krossover and KenPom.
Malik Monk – Kentucky
6’4”, 197 lbs, 19 years old
Projected: No. 8 (DraftExpress) No. 8 (NBADraft.net)
Comparison: J.R. Smith
Background: There’s no question Malik Monk was one of the most entertaining players in college basketball last season. He broke out when he dropped 47 against North Carolina out in Las Vegas. We saw him take over games with his outside shooting and carry Kentucky in some cases. On top of that he’s a freak athlete who headhunts at the rim and looks to yam on anyone he can. He was one of the most efficient players in college basketball last year as he averaged 1.056 points per possession, good enough to land in the 91st percentile nationally. Simply put, he’s a guy that steps on to the court and looks to score. That’s his mentality and it paid off as he was a second team All-American, won an SEC Player of the Year award and won the Jerry West Award.
Strengths: The biggest thing Malik Monk is bringing to the NBA is the ability to score and the ability to shoot the ball. He shot 40% from the 3-point line last year at Kentucky and there’s a few reasons for that. First, he became more consistent with his shot and shot selection. Coming into school people questioned his shot selection as he often forced shots in high school and AAU. However, he played on what was considered a below average high school team and an AAU team with a ball-dominant point guard. At Kentucky he had De’Aaron Fox setting him up, who was good at drive and kicks. After that, it was how Monk was able to create his own shot in terms of using his jumping ability and being able to shoot both off the dribble and off the catch. Below is a graph of his shot chart off the dribble courtesy of Krossover:
That chart should give people a lot of hope when thinking of Monk as a prospect. Throw in the fact that over 50% of his shots came off the bounce and the feeling becomes even warmer. What makes him tough off the bounce is his first step being extremely quick and then his ability to rise up. He’s one of the, if not the, most explosive player in this class in terms of jumping ability, especially with a ball in his hand. He ranked in the 88th percentile nationally in shots off the bounce as he scored 1.013 points per possession per Synergy. His jumping ability allowed him to make tougher shots as he did struggle to beat people off the bounce completely to the rim. Here’s a couple examples where you can see Monk using his ability to rise and shoot over longer defenders from last season.
Monk was used pretty much in three sets last season. Spot up, transition and off screen, as those three sets made up 75.2% of his total offensive sets per Synergy. While we just spent time talking about him off the bounce, he was an extremely effective shooter in spot up sets as well. He scored 1.175 points per possession in those sets, which ranked in the 91st percentile nationally. What helped him here (obviously the jumping did) was his basketball IQ in relocating once the ball was entered into the post. He does a great job of moving without the ball along the perimeter and obviously has a ton of confidence. He showed really good range as that goes hand-in-hand with the use of his legs in his shot. On this play here you can see his footwork and moving off the ball – though it’s not much. UCLA is in its 3-2 zone and as he swings the ball back up top to Fox, you see him peek in at Briscoe setting a pseudo flare screen. He sees Holiday’s head turned and continues to slide down to the corner for an open look. It’s little plays like this that makes him good in catch and shoot situations.
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Weaknesses: The first and most talked about weakness for Monk is his size. He’s 6’3″ with sort of t-rex arms as his wingspan is just 6’4″. That’s not great size for an off ball guard, which is his natural position. He’s not a point guard and if a team tries to force him to the point guard spot it will lead to a little bit of a disaster. So that said, it’s going to be a team fit for Monk in terms of success. He fits in naturally with a team like Philadelphia, especially if they are gung-ho on playing Simmons at the point guard spot. You can let Monk guard the opposing point, without giving up size or a disadvantage off the ball. After that, he has to improve getting to the rim. When teams sit and take away his pull up game, he struggles in the halfcourt. That’s where his comparison to JR Smith comes in, especially young JR Smith. In transition he’s excellent at getting to the rim, however in the halfcourt, he struggles taking more than three dribbles. Defensively, he does have good lateral quickness and a good stance, but does get lost at times or gets too ambitious trying to go for steals. He needs to settle down, continue to sit in the stance and just work the opponent. That should come in the NBA as trapping isn’t nearly as common as in college. Finally, he has to become a better rebounder. He had rebounding percentages of just 1.1 on the offensive glass and 7.2 defensively.
Draft Stock/Projection: It’s a shame the Sixers have the third pick as that’s the best fit for him, but it’s starting to become unlikely they take him there. If they do trade back with Sacramento, you could see Monk go No. 5 to them as I mentioned earlier he can play that combo guard role next to Simmons. It wouldn’t shock me to see him become a little bit of Eric Bledsoe as they both played alongside better point guards in college and in Monk’s case he had two five-star point guards on the court with him in Fox and Briscoe. He’s shown flashes as a passer, something that is worth monitoring as he develops more in the NBA. As I said earlier though, his role coming into the season will be a scorer. His shooting and ability to score will translate and he’ll be a guy that could be the scorer off the bench.