Orlando Magic 2017 NBA Draft Preview: Who is Malik Monk?

The Good

The good thing about Malik Monk is his scoring ability from any area on the floor. In today’s NBA, it is vital to have at least one player on the roster who can create their own shot from any spot on the court. This is a key element to any shooter coming out of college as a potential top-10 pick.

When Monk gets hot he can score with the best of them.

He has shown the ability to make tough, contested, off-balance shots. If he can improve on his all-around game by getting to the basket more consistently, Monk could become a prolific scorer on the NBA level.

Monk also has a quick release on his shot. He has an uncanny ability to get to his spots frequently, which makes him a threat to score at any time. That is a high-IQ skill he has developed in his repertoire and makes it hard for defenders to disrupt his timing on his release point.

Another good thing about Monk is he played and started for Kentucky under John Calipari and earned his trust early in his career. Calipari had nothing but good things to say about Monk during his time with Kentucky. The Wildcats have a pretty good track record when it comes to college players translating to the NBA level.

Monk has also proved in college he has the clutch gene pundits talk about so much. Calipari has called his number in most clutch situations, which shows that one of the greatest collegiate coaches of all time has faith in him in the waning moments of a game.

Monk has also shown he can play big minutes in college. He averaged 32.1 minutes per game at Kentucky and played at a high level during those minutes. This will be key because most of the teams he could potential be selected by need a scorer like him to play big minutes.