Yeah the Christian Keeling effect is a real thing.
Anybody have slight concerns about whether Malik Thomas can still be a prolific scorer in the ACC? He was a 4 star recruit in HS, so he had potential from his younger days. But his two years at USC raises some questions. Hopefully it was just a matter of fit.
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Watch what he did against the zags last year and get back to me
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Yea that was impressive. But that’s one team. But then again, the first game against Gonzaga he shot 22% from the field. He also shot inefficiently against Clemson and Memphis, which makes me wonder if he’ll struggle against better competition. I think he has a strong floor. He’s a double digit (10 ppg) scorer in the ACC at the bare minimum because of his 3pt shooting and ability to get to the free throw line. The question for me is whether he’s going to continue to be an elite 19 ppg scorer. How much are ya’ll expecting from him?
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I mean even Cooper Flagg didn’t average 19.9 PPG last year, I think that’s a bit of an unfair bar. Only two to hit that mark in the ACC were Burton and the Frenchie. And that’s because they were the only guys on their team with a pulse.
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No concerns at all. He’s one of the best scorers in the country and can score in a variety of ways.
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I think it will help a lot having a few other guys to take the pressure off which we absolutely do. He will have lots of space to operate and other credible ball handlers in Hall, White, and Chance to take that pressure off as well. There will be lineups with 5 plus shooters on the court, and he will just need to beat his man to the basket.
I am a little worried about how he will be as a distributor if he’s doubled. His assist numbers have never been great, and to be our best his ability to find the open shooter will be essential.
But also his percentages are good enough that even if he takes a step back he will still be pretty efficient.
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Yea good point. I think it’ll help having a veteran point guard in Hall too. Grünloh and Onyenso will help create opportunities for Malik too.
The ACC as a conference is much closer rated to the WCC than it is to the BIG and SEC. It’s not as big of a jump from the WCC to the ACC as you might think.
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A couple of things encourage me… He led the WCC in free-throw attempts and makes.
He was the top guard in PER.
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Malik went 17-17 from the FT line in SF’s 2nd round loss to Loyola Chicago in the NIT. Scored 36 for the game
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I really think that was season changing addition. I know many others were optimistic of dancing without him, but I don’t think that was happening tbh.
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I think we’re going to be VERY happy we got Malik instead of Desmond Claude
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Kanji sword hat sounds sick…need to see the pic.
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I was soooo worried that was gonna play out the opposite way. Malik is literally a perfect fit for what this team needed. Claude will be fine for whatever team lands him, but seems like there’s gonna be plenty of complaints wherever he ends up about him being a selfish/empty calorie player
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I kinda wanna find that hat for him
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Had one too - probably like 1998?
Edit: basically this, but in blue with orange symbol. Might have been New Era, they had a whole series of schools and maybe pro teams I can’t remember
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Malik Thomas working out with Klay Thompson
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