Charlotte Hornets: Is Malik Monk a jumper away from being an All-Star?

Malik Monk’s sophomore season and the present

A few events occurred after the failure of the 2017/18 season. Rich Cho was fired, and longtime LA Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak took his place. Clifford was fired, with a seemingly progressive coach from the San Antonio Spurs coaching tree replacing him. The Hornets coaching staff was also revamped, seemingly to implement a more modern approach to NBA offense.

Malik seemed primed to atone for an underwhelming rookie season in spectacular fashion. After all, he had a new coach who gushed about Malik’s talent and had grandiose plans to make him a pillar of a new-look Hornets offense.  His lone Summer League performance had even the staunchest of Malik-disbelievers raving about his improvement.

And therefore, there was an internal buzz regarding Malik. Some fans placed cheeky bets on Malik to win 6MOTY and MIP. After a promising season opener vs. the Bucks and some nice-scoring games against the Heat and Thunder, Hornets fans were again dreaming of the playoffs with the supposed arrival of Kemba’s Robin.

Yet after that hot start, Malik ultimately faced the same playing time constraints he had with Clifford, warming the bench as the Hornets slumped to a third consecutive season outside the playoffs.

The advanced metrics slightly improved(-5.59 RPM as a rookie->-2.63 RPM as a sophomore, -4.16 PIPM as a rookie->-1.47 PIPM as a sophomore, rookie BPM improved from -3.4 to -3 sophomore year), which reflected his incremental improvements in shot selection, decision making, and defense. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to help the Hornets see meaningful success, and Malik again bore the blame for failing to step up to the plate.

The Hornets’ consecutive fruitless seasons lead to the franchise’s best player of all time, Kemba Walker, finally turning his back on the franchise and signing with the Boston Celtics in free agency. Anger and frustration came to a head amongst Hornets fans.

And so, skepticism regarding Monk brewed in Charlotte. For Miles Bridges, Dwayne Bacon and Devonte Graham at least, their Summer League showings + appearances in that classic off-season open gym runs at least gave Hornets fans some optimism about their development.

Meanwhile, Malik deservedly skipped out on Summer League after being a level above the previous summer, but still copped a whack for it, to the point where Dwayne Bacon leaped to Monk’s defense.

This skepticism and uncertainty clouded Malik all summer. Season reviews about Monk’s sophomore season carried a disappointed tone; suffice to say Malik’s reputation wasn’t glowing to begin his third season.

And from a surface glance, Malik’s third season hasn’t been anything outstanding either. 10.3 PPG, 43/28/82 shooting splits, with an eFG% of 49.4%, .205 FT rate, .530 TS%…very pedestrian numbers for a guard in this league, and certainly not in the realm of an all-star level guard.

However, upon taking a deeper dive into Malik’s play this season, you’ll see that the ceiling for Malik Monk could be even higher than his initial NBA draft comparisons – those high-volume scorers who are perennially coined as “borderline all-stars.”

In fact, the former microwave scorer with “shooter’s amnesia,” as Calipari coined, has become a ball-screen-denying slasher who almost never shoots mid-range jumpers, and a vigilant team defender. It’s been a complete change of heart compared to the Monk Hornets fans were expecting to draft, but a welcome change.

And despite the late-season setback with Malik being suspended for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program, there was enough progress this season for Hornets fans to believe again. The man from Arkansas was finally on the right track, and along with Devonte’ Graham, PJ Washington, Miles Bridges, and co. has given Hornets fans a ray of hope regarding the difficult rebuild ahead.

This article series will involve sizeable film analysis to contend that the moist one still has a realistic shot at becoming an all-star in this league.