We "Don't" Want the Monk: The Malik Monk Thread

[Rich4114]

Anyone remember earlier in the season when we were eeking out wins with Monk and Cody Martin playing meaningful minutes while Bacon and Batum rode the pine?

[The Bandit]

Is there any hope left for Malik? Half-way through year 3 and he's out the rotation, shooting 26% from 3 on the year which was supposed to be his strength. Does he just not have the work ethic required to improve and excel at the NBA level? Turns 22 in a couple of weeks, so he's still pretty young, but I'm not sure how many chances he has left.

[euphorbus]

Is there any hope left for Malik? Half-way through year 3 and he's out of the rotation, shooting 26% from 3 on the year which was supposed to be his strength. Does he just not have the work ethic required to improve and excel at the NBA level? Turns 22 in a couple of weeks, so he's still pretty young, but I'm not sure how many chances he has left.

A lot depends on who shares the court with him. If you look at my post under "Fun with Stats!" you will see that he appears on four of the top six most effective three-man lineups, on a cumulative basis. He plays well with Batum, Graham, and Washington. (He would do better if Graham passed him the ball more often.) Over 48 minutes, Monk appears in both of the top two three-man lineups, both times with Batum. Conversely, he does not play well with Bridges and Rozier. Why? I would imagine because those two guys are not great at passing the ball, even though one plays point guard.

Yes, he is still 22. But I would also say that perhaps he is not the kind of player that does well with fluid lineup changes. Get him in a lineup that is more stable (and can hide some of his defensive deficiencies) and he can help the team. Unfortunately for him, the coach who favored rigid rotations would not put Monk on the floor long enough for him to learn how to play.

As for his three-point shot, I just think he needs better coaching. It's all about the arch. Your typical three-point shot looks like a golf shot: when it stops rising, the descent is much sharper than the the initial trajectory. You want that arch to be high in order to give yourself the greatest angle, geometrically speaking. If the ball comes in flat, then you have cut off some 50% of the possible angle to go through the hoop. You also are less likely to have the ball bounce up and in. Monk simply needs to change the trajectory of his shot to make it higher. It would also help if had more opportunities to catch and shoot, as he showed in his rookie season.

[DY_nasty]

malik will never be a good shooter as long his court iq is rockbrain status

he can't even get good shots for himself because he doesn't know how to find them. and a scorer that doesn't know how to score is in for a rough career.... he reminds me of marcus smart before smart realized he'd have to transition towards being a defensive specialist. malik doesn't have the tools for that type of transition though

[The Bandit]

It's frustrating because he'll have a stretch where he blocks a shot, catches an alley-oop, and dishes a couple of flashy dimes, but the rest of the time he just stands around with the occassional bricked 3 and consistently poor defense.

[Chapelchilla]

I would shop this guy heavily starting now. Even for a pair of future draft (2021&22) second picks from bad teams. He just is not a good player.

[Rich4114]

If we do trade him, we will quickly see him break out. I’m almost sure of it. He’s not in a situation here that could bring the best out of him, unfortunately. The lineups with Bacon, Bridges,
Rocket... ugh. He needs to be in a fluid passing lineup to be effective. When he’s in that kind of lineup he’s a playmaker and a scorer.

I look at it this way, if Malik had terry’s stats and Terry had Malik’s stats... we’d win a lot more.

[DY_nasty]

If we do trade him, we will quickly see him break out. I’m almost sure of it. He’s not in a situation here that could bring the best out of him, unfortunately. The lineups with Bacon, Bridges,
Rocket... ugh. He needs to be in a fluid passing lineup to be effective. When he’s in that kind of lineup he’s a playmaker and a scorer.

I look at it this way, if Malik had terry’s stats and Terry had Malik’s stats... we’d win a lot more.

what other situation would he need?

how many teams in the league would let him jack up shots or in our case BEG him to shoot

i don't buy the passing being some huge benefit to him (or miles/bacon for that matter) because theses guys don't even know how to fill lanes on a fast break properly. if he or any of our wings knew how to cut or move off ball, they'd have been getting fed this and last year. off ball movement isn't in their game.

we're a horrible team that's looking for anyone to step up and i'm just not really enthusiastic about making excuses for guys anymore.

[BigSlam]

If we do trade him, we will quickly see him break out. I’m almost sure of it.

How many times has this been said about other players (Kaminksy, Morrison, Okafor, Felton, Ajinça, Henderson, Vonleh etc) and it just isn't true.

Sometimes it's not the coach or the system or the team mates.

Sometimes it's just the player.

[euphorbus]

According to RealGM, the Knicks want to steal away Monk. You know, try to pick off the talented players from a bad team.

I trust Mr. Kupchak to do the right thing for the future, as the present status of the team is pretty miserable.

[UNCNYC]

If we do trade him, we will quickly see him break out. I’m almost sure of it.

How many times has this been said about other players (Kaminksy, Morrison, Okafor, Felton, Ajinça, Henderson, Vonleh etc) and it just isn't true.

Sometimes it's not the coach or the system or the team mates.

Sometimes it's just the player.

I think Felton and Kaminsky are both decent players. (well Felton used to be). Kaminsky will never BREAK OUT tho. We could make the arguement that Felton brokeout in NYC for a year or two. Kaminsky does not have the defense nor the ability to create or pass to BREAK OUT.

OAKAFOR was good but much more was expected of him for us to give him any cred.

[Liver_Pooty]

According to RealGM, the Knicks want to steal away Monk. You know, try to pick off the talented players from a bad team.

I trust Mr. Kupchak to do the right thing for the future, as the present status of the team is pretty miserable.

They always try to pluck off "talented" players off of bad teams. Then the players go there and continue to be bad.

[Rich4114]

If we do trade him, we will quickly see him break out. I’m almost sure of it.

How many times has this been said about other players (Kaminksy, Morrison, Okafor, Felton, Ajinça, Henderson, Vonleh etc) and it just isn't true.

Sometimes it's not the coach or the system or the team mates.

Sometimes it's just the player.

Eh, I see your point but I think by the time those players left nobody on these boards were claiming we were going to watch them break-out somewhere else. Maybe some said that about Vonleh because it was only his second season. Monk is talented and like 20 years old. I'd say he's the best slasher/finisher on our team plus he can create right now. Many players like him break out around year 4-5. We can also keep him for another 3 years on the cheap. Now if we are trading potential late bloomers like Kevin Knox for Monk, then I can see that at least. Sometimes a change of environment and clean reputation make a world of difference. It's hard to justify selling him off for pennies on the dollar when the potential upside to keeping him and refining him into at worst a quality rotational player is still very good.

[Rich4114]

If we do trade him, we will quickly see him break out. I’m almost sure of it.

How many times has this been said about other players (Kaminksy, Morrison, Okafor, Felton, Ajinça, Henderson, Vonleh etc) and it just isn't true.

Sometimes it's not the coach or the system or the team mates.

Sometimes it's just the player.

I think Felton and Kaminsky are both decent players. (well Felton used to be). Kaminsky will never BREAK OUT tho. We could make the arguement that Felton brokeout in NYC for a year or two. Kaminsky does not have the defense nor the ability to create or pass to BREAK OUT.

OAKAFOR was good but much more was expected of him for us to give him any cred.

Has anyone on these boards ever suggested Kaminsky could break out elsewhere? lol I don't think so. Felton was coming off of the peak of his career and wanted a huge contract at the time. I was happy to replace him with Kemba, as much as I liked Felton over the years. Nobody thought Henderson and certainly Morrison would break out elsewhere. Only guys I could see making the case might've been Ajinca and Vonleh at the time.

[Benjamin Linus]

Wait were there really people that thought Morrison and Henderson were going to breakout on another team??? LMAAAAAAAAAAAO

Although I do remember the meltdown this board had when we traded Okafor for Chandler. Looking back, what a fcking steal for Charlotte. There was actually people that really thought Okafor was going to be an All-Star with Chris Paul setting him up lllol

[fatlever]

would rather trade miles honestly. he has more value, lower ceiling, and potentially keeping more impactful sf off the floor (cody m).

[Rich4114]

would rather trade miles honestly. he has more value, lower ceiling, and potentially keeping more impactful sf off the floor (cody m).

I’m going to agree with you there. Miles is awful at defense and disappears offensively for stretches. There’s still a chance he can put it together since he does have some occasional post moves that impress but that defense is way worse than I thought it’d be.

I honestly don’t think we’d be having this discussion about Monk if he could improve his 3pt%.

[BigSlam]

would rather trade miles honestly. he has more value, lower ceiling, and potentially keeping more impactful sf off the floor (cody m).

I’m going to agree with you there. Miles is awful at defense and disappears offensively for stretches. There’s still a chance he can put it together since he does have some occasional post moves that impress but that defense is way worse than I thought it’d be.

Pretty sure Bridges has our best defensive rating over the past month - whatever that means.

Back on topic though, Monk......I think he's shown more improvement this season than he has over his previous 2 seasons - so that's a good thing. I'm just not sure if he'll ever get it all together on a consistent basis.

But if our coach knows that (hence the lack of PT) then other teams are going to know that so why would they want to trade for him?

I think we're stuck with him until his rookie contract expires and then he'll just walk.

[Rich4114]

would rather trade miles honestly. he has more value, lower ceiling, and potentially keeping more impactful sf off the floor (cody m).

I’m going to agree with you there. Miles is awful at defense and disappears offensively for stretches. There’s still a chance he can put it together since he does have some occasional post moves that impress but that defense is way worse than I thought it’d be.

Pretty sure Bridges has our best defensive rating over the past month - whatever that means.

Back on topic though, Monk......I think he's shown more improvement this season than he has over his previous 2 seasons - so that's a good thing. I'm just not sure if he'll ever get it all together on a consistent basis.

But if our coach knows that (hence the lack of PT) then other teams are going to know that so why would they want to trade for him?

I think we're stuck with him until his rookie contract expires and then he'll just walk.

Does coach know that though? His playing time has been erratic all season. I know we looked a lot better when he was playing more. He’s been at “should be be our starting two guard” along with last guy in the rotation and heavily in the rotation so far the first half of this season. So who knows.

[fatlever]

would rather trade miles honestly. he has more value, lower ceiling, and potentially keeping more impactful sf off the floor (cody m).

I’m going to agree with you there. Miles is awful at defense and disappears offensively for stretches. There’s still a chance he can put it together since he does have some occasional post moves that impress but that defense is way worse than I thought it’d be.

Pretty sure Bridges has our best defensive rating over the past month - whatever that means.

??

https://stats.nba.com/team/1610612766/players-advanced/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&Month=4&sort=DEF_RATING&dir=1

monk having a rough month though