Re: Suns select Khaman Maluach #10 overall in 2025 NBA Draft
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2025 11:13 am
My general concerns are that he's typically been bigger, stronger, taller than his competition up to this point. There are some fundamentals he's lacking, like getting low and boxing out effectively because in college he could ball watch and just go up and grab a rebound. Even in college there were times when his man would slip thru and grab the OR because of that. So that's something he needs to work on and be consistent with because just being big won't work against the savvier, more experienced players who can match his size/strength/athleticism (Jokic, Zubac, AD, Gobert, MitchRob).
I also think he took bad angles or closed out too hard at times but was able to rely on his length to recover and block or change shots after getting beat, which might not happen at the NBA level.
I'm a bit less concerned about his shotblocking because you don't always need to block the shot. Changing shots and deterring them is equally as important, but most important is not biting on fakes or trying to block EVERY shot, which can lead to foul trouble or giving up ORs. With his size and length, just staying solid at the rim should be good enough.
I also think he took bad angles or closed out too hard at times but was able to rely on his length to recover and block or change shots after getting beat, which might not happen at the NBA level.
I'm a bit less concerned about his shotblocking because you don't always need to block the shot. Changing shots and deterring them is equally as important, but most important is not biting on fakes or trying to block EVERY shot, which can lead to foul trouble or giving up ORs. With his size and length, just staying solid at the rim should be good enough.