At the close of last season Malik Monk said he had been improving in the area of playmaking because he wanted to be more of an all-around player, not just a scorer.
Monk is averaging 4.4 assists this season, the highest of his career. This also is tied for 12th best among all NBA shooting guards. His Ast% (the percentage of his teammates’ made shots he assisted on) is 29%, which puts him in the 99th percentile at his position, according to Cleaning The Glass. This is the second best Ast% on the team, behind De’Aaron Fox at 29.5%, and just slightly ahead of Domantas Sabonis who is at 28.3%. So for a shooting guard, Monk is really shining in this category.
And many of his assists are point-guard-like dimes that require solid court vision, anticipation and patience. He is making them on the fast break, in the half court, off dribble drives – basically from everywhere on the court.
After the Phoenix Suns game Monk credited Mike Brown for giving him the opportunity to showcase this aspect of his game.
“I’ve always been like this I just never got a chance, and I thank Mike for giving me a chance to go out there and show everybody what I can do,” Monk said.
The Kings system is driven by spacing, pace and ball movement and that is lending itself to helping Monk’s ability to play-make. His Assist To Usage Ratio (how often a player got an assist given how much they had the ball) is in the 94thpercentile for his position. Sabonis is in the 96th percentile, according to Cleaning The Glass. Speaking of Sabonis, him and Monk have a nice two-man game going together.
“The pick and roll game has been there a lot. I feel like I’m a pick and roll player and Malik knows how to read it really well so the more I can find him on the court to get ourselves in that position I know it’s good for the team,” Sabonis said.
Let’s run the tape.
Lastly, I wanted to share this beautiful play. Sabonis eyes Monk in the corner and skips it to him. Monk pump-fakes, and drives to the basket. Sabonis immediately, and intentionally, exits the paint, which leaves only Steven Adams underneath. Sabonis leaving the paint clears room for Harrison Barnes to sneak in as Monk wraps a pass around Adams for an easy Barnes layup. The play leaves Adams spinning off the court.
Sublime basketball.
If the Kings remain competitive and in the playoff picture, Monk might have a decent shot at being a 6th Man contender this season considering he also is averaging 14.6 points per game. He might need to get his scoring average up slightly to win it, but Jamal Crawford won the award in 2015 averaging 14.2 points so he should have a decent shot.
He wants to destroy the opponent. Dunk on them viciously as soon as he sees the light. And it is so fun to watch him make plays for others. Oh yeah, and he can shoot.
Monk is a damn good addition to this team.
Lakers loss our gain. Sometimes a change of scenery makes all the difference. He is infectious.He has a tendency to change the dynamics of a game. I had a player in Arizona named Bubba who was exactly like Monk.I loved them both. Monk is still playing but Bubba died in a car accident about 3 years ago.
Oh, no. So sorry to hear about Bubba. 🙁
What I want to know is how you got Zack de la Rocha to be a BEAMTEAM tshirt model!
Rally round the family! With a pocket full of shells.
Rage Alongside The Beam!
I liked him at #10 in ‘17. So glad we didn’t take him. We would have ruined him.
Mathurin’s production would really have to fall off a cliff to be knocked off as favorite for 6th man. Plus he has the whole ‘never been done before as a rookie’ thing going for him.
It’s really interesting to me that both Brown and Walton have philisophies where different players can bring up the ball and initiate the offense and it was such a disaster with Walton but gangbusters success with Brown. I know it boils down to different personel (i.e. Buddy’s turnovers) and vastly different coaching accumen, but I can’t help noticing it.
You are probably right about Mathurin but if you ask Monk he would rather help the Kings go to the playoffs
You gave me an idea Henry, so this isn’t so much a rebuttal to you as much as the notion of just how turnover prone Buddy Hield is.
Career AST/TOV coming into this season for Buddy Hield: 1180 AST’s to 822 TOV’s for a 1.43 AST/TO ratio. Not anything great, but probably better than most might have thought.
Career AST/TOV coming into this season for Malik Monk: 627 AST’s to 389 TOV’s for a 1.61 AST/TOV ratio. I’m sure some are surprised that this is low, but you shouldn’t be. Malik Monk has taken a massive leap in playmaking this year.
Buddy’s AST/TOV is 56 AST’s to 48 TOV’s for a 1.17 AST/TOV ratio. Monk’s AST/TOV is 87 AST’s to 38 TOV’s for a 2.29 AST/TOV ratio.
It’s just yet another example, IMO, of a player being in the right place at the right time. Do I like Monk’s game better than Hield’s? Not necessarily in a vacuum, you just have to know how to best use Buddy (and I think he’s a better than advertised playmaker). Same goes with Malik but I think his personality is a better fit in Sac than Buddy’s was. His fit with Sabonis and Fox is superb. And he’s been fun on and off the court for everyone. But so was Buddy in the couple full years under Dave Joerger (which has been conveniently forgotten by some), and I think the ending to Buddy’s time in Sac has obscured that for many.
That doesn’t mean I want Buddy back or I’m not thrilled by Malik’s play. I don’t want Buddy back and I’m very much thrilled (and surprised) by Malik’s play. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Malik ends up around 16 PPG this season because his 3PT% is slightly down from what it was last year in LA. But if you had told me the Kings would get a 15 PPG 4.5 AST guy in FA the way the Kings basically are with Malik Monk right now…..I would have taken that every day of the week. Malik’s been a lot of fun, hopefully that train continues.
If he keeps producing at about this level the rest of the year/into next year, what kind of money will he be looking for on the next contract?
I love the idea of a Sabinis, Fox, Monk big 3 and if Keegan can develop into a #2 or #3 option we should have a solid core imo
If he keeps this up all year into the next at 24 this is what Monty was looking for. A great pickup at FA and if I’m not mistaken will be a King for some time to come.For me was Monk’s decision to leave the Lakers and come to the Kings. Poor Lakers. Another bust.
As of now, the Kings can offer about a 4/78M contract based off 175% of his salary next season. It might be 4/80M based on an average salary calculation if the cap goes up alot (as people do expect).
I would say based on what Monk is producing 4/80 is right in the ballpark range of what Monk’s worth. Most bench players don’t make that type of money, and Monk, unique or not, does have his quirks too. But, as a FWIW, a 4/80 deal is a bit more than Huerter’s who is making 4/65 on his current deal.
17,405,202 Y1
18,797,618 Y2
20,190,034 Y3
21,582,450 Y4
77,975,304M would be the total value of the 175% total. And that’s just base salary. There could be incentives that could increase that number as well (although they would have to be listed as uniikely incentives to get the NBA to sign off on it).
Last but not least, there could be a scenario where the Kings have cap room and resign Monk that way as well. It’s so hard to know until about June 2024 though so that outlook will remain ever so difficult to project. But if you stick around here, I’m sure there will be 4 or 5 know it all’s who can tell you what the cap outlook looks like. 🙂
I would include Mitchell in that mix.
I don’t know about #2 but with improvement I can see a #3. Huerter to me would be the #2. Sabonis is so so much of a play maker and affects so many players on the court I really don’t know where to place him.
I feel like if Domas really wanted to, he could easily be our main option offensively but like you said he’s so much of a playmaker. He has mildly quiet scoring games where you look at the stats and go, oh he has 18 points. His passing this year is elite for a center and is giving jokic a run for his money as the best passing big man in my opinion. He’s basically bargain jokic, with non freakish wingspan.
I also don’t think we really have a true #2, 3,4 ect. It seems on any given night we have a few players who contribute and can get buckets for us when needed.
I love Domas and he is great, but he’s not really giving Jokic a run for his money.
Domas this season has his highest AST% ever at 28.2.
If you take away Jokic’ rookie year, he never had an AST% blow 28.8, and he is this season at 44.2%, which is insane for a big guy.
Or if you a raw stats guy; Domas is averaging against 6.4 assists against 8.9 by Jokic.
I think that speaks just how insane Jokic is more than anything else, but yeah Domas isn’t in Nikola Jokic’s class. At worst, Jokic is a top 4 player in the NBA. At best, Domas is a top 25.
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