Talked to 2 NBA People About Malachi, Lydon and Gbinije... What Mal may hear at the combine

[cuse522]

They need to be paid more than the equivalent of $12,50 an hour. There should be a salary range of $50-100K and maybe subsidized housing. At least you would be a professional at that level.

The problem is that it's a flat rate pay structure, and there are guys in the D-League who do deserve way more than 25K and guys who are lucky to be making that.

 

[cuse522]

What's funny is that G is much quicker than Mali yet everyone touts Mali's ability to create his own shot as a huge advantage while saying that G is too slow to do the same. Mali has a better set three point shot but G is a much better ball handler, much more explosive attacking the rim, has the potential to be a much better defender because he's quicker and more athletic and he'd better at shooting J's off the bounce yet G is a barely a 2nd rounder while Mali is a lottery pick? I don't understand the NBA or talent evaluators.

And yes I get that its about projection but I don't see how Mali projects into a more explosive athlete than G. Remember Mali had one or two good halves in the tourney... G was doing that for entire games during the season.

G might be faster in a straight line once he's moving, but Malachi's first step is much better. G can't get around high level opponents. When he goes up against guards as tall as him and relatively fast laterally, he can't get around them and he can't shoot over them. Basically G is athletic enough and good enough at everything to be in a very high percentile in college, whether that's the 80th or 90th, I don't know. So against most opponents he can do very well, but against the ones that he'd face in the NBA, he struggles to create much for himself. He's smart enough to play within himself in those scenarios usually, but still that won't get it done in the NBA.

Malachi can handle elite defenders because he has a little more quickness, a faster release, etc. He proved it against Brogdon.