Did the Phoenix Suns Strike GOLD with Khaman Maluach?

Did the Phoenix Suns Strike GOLD with Khaman Maluach?

hey everyone I’m Tyler Metaf and I watch the film so you don’t have to on this video we’re taking a look at Duke freshman center Kaman Malawatch and what he’s bringing to the Phoenix Suns now we know that the Suns desperately needed a point guard and they desperately needed a center they needed help with their rim protection defense um and come on Malawatch at least on paper provides that but is there more what else is there to his game let’s take a look at the film compared to some of the numbers see what’s real see if they actually struck gold or is this just fool’s gold for the Phoenix Suns welcome to film school let’s dive in with Malawatch we have to start off on the defensive end because the upside is incredibly special now it’s important to remember that Malawatch is still pretty raw and new to the game of basketball and measuring in at just under 71 barefoot at the combine with a wingspan of seven feet six and three/4ers inches he is a massive human being he has no right to be moving the way that he is throughout some of these possessions and when it’s right it is really right and from the start could totally alter and transform how the Phoenix Suns are able to defend last year they were they were 27th in the league in at rim uh defensive field goal percentage allowing opponents to shoot 68.2% at the rim you can’t win games like that this year Malawatch with Duke had a block rate of just 6.8 which is solid but not overwhelming for someone as big as him and such a dominant defense um but when he was on the court opponents shot 48.6% 6% at the rim which ranked second in the country when he was off the court that number jumped to 54.9% which ranked 88 88th so still good but it went from absolutely dominant to solidly above average malawatch’s movement skills allow him to recover in ways that guys his size typically can’t he’s able to cover a ton of ground and we’re going to dive into some of these possessions now this pos this possession I think is one of the singular most impressive clips from any prospect in this draft the way that he moves in space throughout this possession is really special so from the start they’re just running the side pick and roll going middle malawatch shows ball handler denies the screen and he’s immediately sliding his feet he’s remember he’s almost 7-1 barefoot and he’s sitting down in a stance like this most guys don’t do that that allows him to play a little cat and mouse dig at it as the ball handler retreats he sees that Seion James has just totally switched instead so he comes out to guard him without hesitation smaller quicker point guard he should be feasting on Malawatch in this situation instead Malawatch does a really good job communicating yet again switches off the br the brush screen and closes out under control to the shooter look at the footwork here someone this big should not be that low in a defensive stance closing out high hand perfect fundamentals on balance it’s stuff that you see from elite defensive wings the way that he’s moving in this possession as the ball handler drives now Malawatch is in a help situation he collapses down ball handler already doesn’t want to deal with James’ size there he pivots around just to see this mammoth of a human being in command Malawatch and he’s like “Get me out of here i don’t want this ball anymore please someone else take it.” And yet again as the kick out goes flag closes out long to make him to make the shooter uh move off his spot malawatch follows up with a secondary closeout high hand forces the rotation and he knows that Cooper flag is now out of the play momentarily so he has to collapse down as Keniple closes out long too now Kaman Malawatch is playing gap defense shutting down this drive high hands as the pass is made he immediately just pivots back opens up his hips and drops back down to the rim eat up that space when in doubt retreat to your safe space and for from Malawatch that’s definitely in the paint so now helps on the post up forces the kick out this is incredible scramble defense by Duke and it’s a lot of it is led be because of the versatility and the movement skills of Malawatch so as this ball handler attacks the space in the mid-range he goes to step but that low wide defensive stance the solid footwork allows him to then recover and make this potential layup almost impossible he doesn’t bite on a fake he stays grounded implements a little physicality and forces a turnover that’s really special stuff guys his size shouldn’t move like that and we see it again here empty corner pick and roll he’s playing at the level and he doesn’t panic a lot of young bigs in these situations when the ball handler gets to this point they panic and they try to turn and chase and they try and recover rimside they don’t need to they never need to but by staying attached here because he’s so much bigger he can just his presence alone deters any sort of shot here he forces him baseline into the help defense stays grounded forces the kick out he might have been out of bounds there but um but then again stays engaged the entire time even though that kick out comes he’s staying engaged now he’s picking up the driver sliding his feet high hands he has his left hand is in there to disrupt any crossover potentially poke the ball loose right hand is extended out 76 almost 77 uh wingspan here taking care of the ball handler disrupting passing lane over here high hand again he’s doing a really good job of using his size to eat up space he doesn’t have to be in his pocket defending him in the mid-range here because of how freaking big he is forces the kick out again now he just naturally goes out to cover the wing collapses down for the offensive rebound the way that he moves in space is incredibly special now against NBA guys we’ll get into it later um because we have some examples of him not moving so great against NBA guys can he do that consistently early on probably not you probably want him more in a drop coverage but the rim protection the defensive versatility some of the movement skills this early in his career are special so here pick and roll initially collapses down because ball handler denies the drive malawatch’s presence and Proctor’s ability to recover there forces the kick out back into the DHO and Malawatch covers a ton of ground here i love how active he is here cuz he’s at the level he collapses down to take away the drive and a lot of bigs um especially freshman bigs at this point would be like “All right cool i’m I’m not going I’m not going back out to the perimeter i just I showed I recovered i’m good here.” And instead Malawatch knows that Proctor just bid on the fake and they’re recycling this DHO and he has to get up to the level because Hunter Dickinson’s a big dude too really good screener so Malawatch can’t give up a wide open three so he steps up flips his hips high foot gets attacked flips his hips perfectly stays on balance great job sliding his feet not crossing them not sacrificing his balance staying low in that stance and now he’s in a cat and mouse game in drop coverage really great hands zeke Mayo exposes the ball here a little bit again implementing that full seven wingspan pokes it loose gets a steal now they’re going the other way as the low man just simple help rotation stuff getting to shots that he has no right to that most people can’t ball handler does a good job of trying to put that high off the glass doesn’t matter malawatch’s timing size swats it away same thing again great rotation great timing doesn’t go too early doesn’t come too late gets the ball at its apex before it hits the glass before it’s on its way down swatch it away here we see him as the low man again it’s just a nightmare when he’s rotating over from that weak side he is a menace to deal with i love this really good drop coverage um so he’s playing drop he’s starting out at the level to make sure that there isn’t just an easy pullup that Lamont Butler can walk into and as he retreats really good balance and he’s staying attached to Amari Williams he’s making sure he doesn’t get caught in no man’s land doesn’t overcommit to give up that lob to Amari Williams um but with the high hands he’s able to stay attached and still deter Lamont Butler as Lamont goes up for the floater malawatch is in perfect position times it to perfection swats it away and again like this is this should be a layup because this is a freshman lapse where he doesn’t he’s a little late reading what’s happening here he’s anticipating Norad Omir going to set this screen and instead the ball swings and Malawatch momentarily thinks all right cool ball’s going somewhere else i’ll just uh time time to reset but instead it’s a play set up to get Nordmir curling down and get Malawatch caught up on this back screen malawatch does a really good job of recovering here the processing speed and the recognition of the play here isn’t great but this is a testament to his motor um and his physical abilities to catch up and make sure that he’s never really out of a play this should be a layup or a dunk 10 times out of 10 uh but really good help rotation holds up Omir just a little bit and then Malawatch comes through with the two-hand block swats it against the glass really good stuff so the way that Malawatch is already moving um it needs to get a little more consistent but man the highlights and the foundation of where he’s already at is insane and when we think about what he’ll look like in just a couple years as a team defender with those help rotations ability to throw out different coverages in the pick and roll couple years of NBA coaching little bit get a little bit stronger in that lower body there’s some scary scary upside with his um defense especially from a team perspective the rim protection is the number one thing with Malawatch with a bullet point but where the upside gets fun and we kind of saw it in those clip some of those clips with his team defense but it’s with his ability to switch and defend on ball in space on the perimeter is it always perfect no we’ll get to those in a minute but there is some bonkers upside with how Malawatch can defend in space he’s not just your typical 72 7-1 stoic massive big man who has to exclusively play drop when he gets switched out on the perimeter there are signs of him really moving his feet well flipping his hips being light on his feet and defending with high hands and being really disruptive in shooting and passing lanes if he continues to grow and as a player not hopefully not physically my goodness but as he continues to improve and refine some of his fundamentals and maintain that consistency and stretch these flashes into games and stretches then it’s like oh we’re talking all defensive team type stuff with him uh because the rim protection is that good the rim deterrence is that good and now if he’s pairing this type of footwork and that type of balance and discipline with the drop coverage help rim protection stuff the Suns found a defensive cornerstone for the next 10 to 15 years i on this one really good job playing at the level hard hedging blitzing the ball handler as the ball handler pivots back Tyres Proctor bails out and Duke just switches this fullon now here that’s a nasty step back that should take Malawatch out of the play completely the ball handler does a really good job here of attacking his momentum but Malawatch has really good footwork here really good balance stays low plants that left foot and does a great job of just opening up his hips and turning with the ball handler instead he doesn’t panic he just opens up those hips slides his feet stays attached to the hip because even though he’s giving up this driving lane it doesn’t matter as long as he’s attached as long as he’s in the vicinity he’s big and long enough where he can really not only alter shots but stay grounded gets back rimside and forces just a really brutal look and then after being in a situation that should have left him totally exposed so here we see him again playing at the the level in the screen switches on to a much smaller point guard and again that same thing point guard blows by him malawatch kind of gets toasted here but he knows that he is so much bigger and can eat up space in a hurry so he doesn’t panic because he knows he’s still in position he is letting this ball handler get to exactly where he wants him to get to where he’s comfortable allowing him to get to because he knows that once he elevates that seven Seven wingspan is gonna eat up space in a hurry and really deter that shot ball handler says screw it don’t want it nice kickout pass shooter fumbles it but really good job by Malawatch of staying attached and using his size and not panicking even when he gets beat off the dribble so similar thing here elliot Kadau does a really good job of snaking this malawatch is playing kind of that pseudo drop they’re running a little Spain pick and roll here malawatch fights through the back screen stays attached stays close and that allows him he knows that Kanipple’s rotating over gain good help defense and the fact that he’s that Malawatch is just constantly pursuing staying in the play and using his size to eat up that space without panicking without fouling staying disciplined times it to perfection pins it against the glass here we He’s just straight up guarding in isolation big men shouldn’t move their feet like this it It’s just that simple so low stance never crosses his feet doesn’t turn his hips to get parallel he keeps the ball handler on one side so that top that high foot doesn’t get exposed and his momentum can’t really get manipulated a whole lot stays attached at the hip doesn’t jump at the fake kdau makes a nice kick out but really good job by Malawatch of staying attached and just implementing sound fundamentals and allowing him by allowing the ball handler to drive and attack the block like that malawatch is was able to stay in position um but also if he tries to cut off that drive that’s when the ball handler can hit him with a couple counter moves and force him to flip his hips multiple times and that’s where it kind of gets messy good high hand opens up the hips slides his feet stays attached absorbs the bump forces the turnover really high level stuff again i mean what are we doing his man denies the screen had a little double drag going probably should have taken it uh tries to attack Malawatch’s high foot malawash does a great job of opening up his hips once slides and then does a really good job of just opening him up yet again pivoting back the other way really quick just plants that left foot spins that right hip open allows him to stay attached stay on balance and elevate perfectly with the ball handler and it’s like a big brother swatting away his little brother shot in the driveway that’s That’s too easy little drop coverage closes out high hand good footwork stays attached forces him wide cuts off that drive as Reo pivots back middle malawash just mirrors him rides the hip high hand forces a running hook shot you He has a relatively clean line here but you’re going to live with that shot 99 times out of 100 tough miss malawatcha’s biggest selling point on defense right now his go-to skill is the rim protection especially from a help standpoint um but as we’ve seen throughout these last couple minutes there is some special movement pattern stuff with him it has to get a little more little more consistent we’ll see that in just a couple seconds here where when it gets rough when it gets attacked when it gets exposed what that can look like but when it’s right when he’s locked in and moving like that he is special now unfortunately Malawatch isn’t perfect on defense because well one he’s a freshman and freshman rarely are two he’s only been playing for a couple years so understandable and three he’s a gigantic human being so some of these defensive lapses that we’ll see here with the footwork the slow feet heavy feet uh slow off the floor some of it is just physical limitations that got exposed at the college level at times but will also get exposed by NBA level athletes and guards the vast majority of his defense is really good and in time you’d hope that some of these inconsistencies that we see get filtered out and the edges get a little more refined some of the drop coverage inconsistencies of getting caught in no man’s land those should th those should probably be the quickest to get out of his system um just given time and given reps and given experience and coaching and all that kind of stuff but the more concerning ones are where he just gets totally blown by and has to h and the his teammates have to rec rotate from the weak side to cover for him um those kinds of situations are probably going to be a little more prevalent against NBA creators uh with their speed and their athleticism and then when they’re kicking out to NBA level shooters in the corners it could get a little more gross so I would expect that we don’t see Malawatch defending on the perimeter and in space quite as much as we did at Duke so here they’re playing Houston final four game and Milos Uzan just cooks them this is a nasty move by Uzan and this is one of those examples where when Malawatch can’t keep his hips in one direction and can’t keep the ball on one side of the floor he can get exposed so nice little crossover and Malawatch gets a little happy feet starts to panic a little bit and Usuzan does a really good job of crossing back over attacking that high foot and forcing Malawatch to open up his hips again and flip his hips now when things were good what we would see from in those previous clips what we would see from him is he’d plant that left foot and then spin just open up his hips and drop that right foot slide with the ball handler he doesn’t do that here instead he plants that right foot and then tries to spin his left hip over to follow and that’s just too slow it’s not going to work um and again in time you know more flexibility training it should should not be an issue but that’s way too easy for Uzan similar thing here against Pit just dances on him a little bit and this is where Malwatch’s heavy feet can come into play i love the defensive stance i love that he’s shading in one direction but he’s just slow to react and instead of sliding his feet he like loads up to try and recover help rotation doesn’t come in time he can’t recover in time easy layup drop coverage close out flip flips his hips a couple times and this is just a physical limitation type thing because I I like a lot of this to start high hand deters the shot flips his hips quick still in that low defensive stance active hands forces a reset but now the ball handler gets him just leaning one direction and when you’re that big it’s tough to rapidly change direction multiple times and he can’t quite recover really good rotation here to deny the layup uh Malawash may have been in position here where if the layup does go up maybe you know he might still be close enough where he can at least affect it um but the rotation frees up the corner shooter wide open nba guys that’s going in more often than not duke got punished on this possession too this is just heavy feet he’s just be being a little too slow here high in his stance you know he’s trying to disrupt his his man’s vision take away any passing lanes and just a simple rip through and Malawatch looks like a statue here ball handler is a little slow to get off the ground here this should be an a little quicker finish but you know and that’s a testament to Malawatch’s size and length and recovering or desire to recover here as he even gets a contest on the shot ends up fouling him but heavy feet slow to react and that’s something we see a little too much high foot gets attacked there right again a little too easy inside hand scoop finish can’t quite get there playing at the level again he tries to blitz him and he’s just not there in time he’s a little too slow doesn’t want to commit a foul first possession of the game um and lets the ball handler turn the corner because his footwork just wasn’t quite quick enough his foot speed wasn’t fast enough to shut off that angle completely now instead he allows him to turn the corner and now that now Duke has two defenders out of the play this should be an easy skip pass right there wide open corner shooter ball handler tries to get cute with it and he even forces the strong side corner rotation one of these corner shooters should be getting the ball duke gets a little lucky here that uh ball handler tries to get cute look off Sean James which doesn’t really work tries to force an entry pass cooper flag kicks it away again slow feet heavy feet slow to react sloppy close out closes out high hand but high in his stance and not ready to properly slide his feet just gets torched right off the bat leaves his teammates out to dry on the rotation here weak side exact same thing closes out too high in his stance kj Lewis does a really good job just attacking baseline attacking against his momentum against that high foot from here now solid rotation by Tyrese Proctor lewis can’t quite finish but that inability to consistently close out under control it’s impossible to do it every possession for guys that big but when we think about physical limitations of guys this big trying to defend in space it’s a real issue we see it every single year in the NBA and depending on how Phoenix uses him uh defensively it could be an issue there’s some really fun upsides or flashes of him doing it and thriving with it but there are also a lot of examples of him getting totally torched like Ian Jackson here quicker athlete just Malawatch isn’t fast enough um you know he’s in a decent defensive stance would like his hips to try and be opened up a little more uh so he can slide a little quicker um and stay attached to Ian Jackson because he’s a little too square here jackson’s able to attack his foot and Malawatch just isn’t fast enough jackson beats him to the rim malawatch can’t recover uh this is a little bit of a rare just like lack of defensive discipline um so Malawatch playing drop coverage casper Yakushonus driving down one of the craftier creators uh in this draft and in the country last year gets him with a little shot fake gets Malawatch up out of the air and just really nice play by Casper but a a little just an example of how Malawatch can get a little jumpy uh chasing blocks that’s more of a symptom of youth I think than anything but something definitely to keep an eye on early high pick and roll playing drop coverage and here he just gets caught in no man’s land he during the good defensive clips we saw him play that cat and mouse game really well use his length to stay attached to both the ball handler and the roller here he’s backpedaling caught in no man’s land not committing to either hands are down gives up the easy lob that’s too easy for someone his size with his defensive capabilities that kind of stuff can’t happen and again that those last couple feel way more like a symptom of youth rather than a glaring flaw just stuff he’s going to have to work on and if the Suns try and let him switch a lot and try and have him guard at the level and defend in space a lot like they did with Duke there’ll be some awesome stretches there’ll be some really good stuff but against NBA athletes who are so creative and so explosive they’re going to be able to manipulate his momentum way more than college guards were able to this year i think I would anticipate he’s probably way more just purely drop coverage i would guess they try and um keep him around the paint as much as possible early on as he continues to develop that hip flexibility that hip mobility and his foot speed but some of the signs some of the stretches this year were inconsistent and he struggled but the vast majority of his defense is really really exciting to finish up Malawatch is also going to immediately help the Suns with just an interior vertical spacing presence on the offensive end of the floor too last year they ranked 26th in the league in offensive rebounding rate they were last in the league in uh number of shots per game within five feet at just 18.8 the next closest was Boston at 23.5 that’s a massive gap they were purely a jump shooting team and they just didn’t really have any sort of rim pressure malawatch will help fix that immediately i this year I know there’s some intrigue with the shot i don’t really buy it maybe it comes around maybe it doesn’t um but a bonafide skill of his is his ability to pressure the rim this year he had an offensive rebounding rate of 16.5 which is very high he ranked in the 88th percentile per synergy on cuts uh 56th percentile in putbacks 99th percentile as the pick and roll um roll man and 94th percentile in frequency and the 98th percentile in points per possession in shots at the rim so he took a billion shots at the rim and finished all of them now they’re all pretty efficient looks he doesn’t If he can throw a decent lob odds are he’s going to catch it because he’s massive uh he has really good hands on lobs the hands rebounding defensively are a different question um but if you throw the ball up there he’s going to go get it and the joy of that is that passers and playmakers can put that ball in a spot where literally no one else on the floor except for maybe three guys in the league can get to it he’s got solid vertical pop really good hands on lobs and isn’t afraid to go and get it he’s purely a play finisher on offense i wouldn’t expect any sneaky playmaking stuff from him maybe it comes who knows but the expectation should be vertical spacer rim runner really good offensive rebounder and maybe in time there are some in the league who are really optimistic and think he’s going to shoot it the form looks solid when we saw him at Hoop Summit um a couple years ago he was practicing them uh top of the key type of stuff corners i don’t think that’s where the most of his value comes but maybe five years down the road who knows maybe he turns into a low volume reliable pick and pop type of big because if he can and then he also adds that to his vertical spacing and his dominance at the rim as a lob finisher as a cutter then his scoring could get really fun i wouldn’t count on it count on it but hey it’s the draft let’s be optimistic so where does that leave us with Kaman Malawatch and the Phoenix Suns personally I think they struck gold i I’ve had my hesitations about Malawatch and going to a bad team and potentially having to be the franchise cornerstone of that team because I I worry about the shot creation i don’t really buy the shot long term and I think some of the defensive stuff has to get cleaned up and a little more consistent but if you put him in positions to succeed and don’t ask him to be a switch everything type of big he’s going to be a monster for the Phoenix Suns i think they hit that pick out of the park and then continued to build on it when we think about Malawatch and the defensive end of the floor for the Suns we know they have a plethora of shooting guards and Beal Booker uh Jaylen Green whatever but now when we look at the defensive end they have a lot of pieces to help insulate those guys on that end of the floor deon Booker has gotten better as a defender every single year um but now they have someone protecting the rim and Kaman Malawatch who’s shown versatility and really impactful rim protection they also have Ryan Dunn who coming out of college was one of the most insane def college defenders in the country and they also added the size and athleticism and defensive capabilities of Rashir Fleming so when we look at that back line of Ryan Dunn Rashier Fleming come on Malawatch are there going to be some offensive issues with that trio sure whatever on the defensive end that is an insane insane amount of size length and athleticism they are going to be a nightmare to score on as long as they put Kaman Malawatch in relatively simple positions to execute simplify his level of responsibility play to his strengths make sure that you implement what he’s good at that’s when some of those flashes can kind kind of start building on each other and turn into two game stretches five game stretches a month-long stretch of real dominance there is some awesome upside with Kaman Malawatch and even the floor is incredibly safe as a rim running shot blocking big that archetype always sticks around in some form or fashion it may not hit all NBA defense like his upside suggests it could but he’s going to be a really good player likely for a really long time congrats Suns fans you should be very excited about what they did at the draft

Tyler Metcalf (@tmetcalf11) breaks down why Phoenix Suns fans should be excited about Khaman Maluach and how he could transform their defense.

0:00 Intro
0:35 Good team defense
10:49 Good on ball defense
17:47 Bad defense
27:17 Offense
30:10 Summary

Draft Guide: noceilingsnba.bigcartel.com
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-ceilings-nba-draft/id1595712943
Written work: noceilingsnba.com
Twitter: @NoCeilingsNBA
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