The Charlotte Hornets’ young core is still a mystery
By Scott Overby
Malik Monk
Oh Malik, what can I say about you? The dreaded I don’t know is the first thing that comes to my mind. He has taken steps this season, decreasing his three point rate by 13 percent and shooting more from in the lane and at the rim to a very high success rate.
Malik Monk is moving his feet better on defense and has shown a genuine want to get better on that end of the court, an attitude which is refreshing to see from a prospect.
Now the bad, the decrease in his three point attempts has also come with a decrease accuracy, as Monk is on pace to shoot a career low from long range this season. The more troubling trend is that his percentage will have dropped both seasons since his rookie year.
He’s shooting a completely unsustainable 46.4% from 3-10 ft, in stark contrast to his 25% shooting from the same range last season. In short, that number will come down.
You have to be able to get easy points in the NBA and Monk only attempts 1.3 free throws per game, a red flag for an 80% FT shooter.
Defensively, he’s still not close to being a passable NBA defender, he gets caught up in screens far too often and has far too many lapses on that end. Given his physical limitations opposing shooting guards can still post him up easily or shoot right over the top of him.
The front office desperately wants this to work, but it may be time to let Monk be some other teams problem.