A Royal Prospect: Malik Monk
By Kyle Robert
A Royal Pain gives its analysis on NBA prospect Malik Monk and whether he would be a great addition to the Sacramento Kings.
Former University of Kentucky shooting guard Malik Monk may have the widest range of outcomes in the 2017 NBA Draft. He could be picked at #3 for the Philadelphia 76ers or he could fall to #10 when the Sacramento Kings make their second selection of the first round.
Monk is a player that is much more inline with where the NBA is headed. He is a dynamic scorer that can heat up and drop 30 points in a half like he did against the Florida Gators.
Strengths
Monk is a scorer first and foremost who can fill it up from all over the court. He shot nearly 40% from the perimeter this season on almost seven attempts per game. Monk also shot nearly 50% on two-point field goals. Maybe the most impressive, however, is the 82% he shot from the free-throw line on 4.7 attempts per game.
Scoring from the guard or wing spots is a heavily sought after commodity, especially when it comes packed with the ability to hit from three. To not only be able to score but to do it with efficiency is even better.
Weaknesses
While he is not small, at 6’3”, Monk is smaller than many of the NBA’s elite shooting guards and doesn’t have the weight at 197 pounds to make up for it. Players like Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and others will be able to rise and fire over monk.
Ideally, Monk can put on about 5-10 pounds of muscle. The key will be getting stronger without losing the height on his jump shot and the explosiveness with the ball in his hands. Physicality can even help things out a bit on the defensive end.
The other concern for Monk is the disappearing act he can sometimes perform. As we talked about earlier going off for 30 points in a half is definitely an ability Monk poses. Unfortunately, there are nights when the jumper isn’t falling with regularity. On these nights, Monk doesn’t have as much to bring to the table. He doesn’t rebound with regularity and wasn’t much of a facilitator in his one season at Kentucky.
Fit
With the Sacramento Kings, Monk would be a welcomed addition. His scoring and three-point shooting would help open up the Kings offense that needs it immensely. Monk would be a perfect compliment to a point guard that is lacking in the three-point shooting department such as De’Aaron Fox.
In the short term, Monk would provide an excellent scoring punch off the bench in a role very similar to Jamal Crawford. Sacramento could make him the offensive focal point and find ways to get him going. On nights where the Kings need offense or Monk is on fire, he could easily finish games.
As a smaller guard, I have concerns about who Monk could play with. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Malachi Richardson could play small forward in certain lineups allowing Monk to share the floor with other guards. I also don’t hate the idea of Monk spending time at point guard especially with a secondary ball handler like Bogdanovic.
In the long term, the idea of Hield, Monk, and Richardson pushing each other for minutes would create a ton of competition. The best player would get the majority of the minutes and ideally make the team much more competitive.