Charlotte Hornets: How good can Malik Monk really be?

The Floor Career Outcome: Numbers Don’t Lie

Here’s a scary stat from Basketball-Reference. Malik Monk averaged the exact same amount of field goal attempts per 100 possessions as one other player on the Hornets: Kemba Fricken Walker (24.3). In other words, Monk came in and jacked up shots at a comparable rate to the best player in franchise history who is playing in his prime. Spoiler Alert: They weren’t going in as often as Kemba’s shots.

Sure, Monk was normally in the game as a part of the second unit, and he rarely shared the court with Walker. There’s an argument to be made that somebody needed to take the shots.

Still, he finished with a ghastly 36% FG percentage. You don’t need to be a basketball expert to know that hitting only one out of three shots that leaves your hands is a bad way to earn a place in the league.

At this point in his career, making shots is all we can really expect of Malik Monk until his body and vision improve to an NBA-level, yet he simply wasn’t able to prove that he can hit shots consistently.

This isn’t irredeemable for a 19-year-old in a stagnant offensive situation. However, let’s say that Borrego’s system doesn’t unlock anything new for Monk (unlikely, in my opinion, but possible) and Monk’s shot selection never takes the leap to an elite or even above average level. If he can’t choose shots correctly, he’s also probably not developing into a great team defender or passer either. These types of basketball IQ skills tend to go hand-in-hand as you pick up the speed of the game.

Another hidden statistical red flag for Monk: his FT/FGA is ugly. That is the stat that measures how many free throws a player shoots per field goal that he attempts. Big guys like Dwight Howard and drive-heavy players like James Harden tend to have much higher numbers since they spend time banging in the paint or charging toward defenders.

League average was .193 this past year. Monk had a .089 according to Basketball-Reference.

But he’s an undersized guard who needs to avoid contact, right? Tell that to Steph Curry (career low FT/FGA: .159) or Lou Williams (career low: .250) or even 6’0″ Yogi Ferrell (career low: .141). Making free throws is awesome, but you have to get to the line to have an impact. Malik Monk did so at a lower average rate than any other Hornet last season. Yikes.

This data smacks of a player who relies too heavily on step-backs and fadeaways rather than attacking the basket and cutting off the ball.

Related Story: Why the Hornets should NOT trade Kemba Walker

When you aren’t making shots or at least getting easy shots, the limitations in the rest of your game suddenly become really problematic. I’ve coached plenty of guys at the prep level under 5’6,” and they only get on the court if they can score and pass at a high level. Guys with below average size need the ball to influence the game; they just do. And they can’t afford to not make good-to-great things happen when they get it.

And all of this fails to mention the fact that Monk hasn’t demonstrated the ability to stay healthy, missing all of last year’s summer league and almost all of this year’s too. There is a chance he’s never going to be a 75+ game player.

If all of these sad things came to pass (which, believe me, I am hoping for the opposite), we’d be looking at a rich man’s Damon Stoudamire or a poor man’s Nick Van Exel, neither of which sounds very appealing to me considering the expectations for this young player.