Suns draft Khaman Maluach with the 10th pick

[CardNots]

fresh off the press

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Ahhh, the beginnings of a future NBA star. Just a baby in basketball years…

 

[Superbone]

fresh off the press

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Note time and score in most of those clips. Here's to more playing time in season two.

 

[Adrian]

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[MigratingOsprey]

"opportunity to pick that high you can't miss"

Ol' Legs on some hyperbole there

10th overall isn't "can't miss" territory - if you can pull a solid long term contributor there great, sometimes you get lucky and get above that - that isn't the expectation there

This isn't a top 3 or rare opportunity

It's where a lot of bad but not basement teams pick with impact rates that help them try again next year

 

[Superbone]

"opportunity to pick that high you can't miss"

Ol' Legs on some hyperbole there

10th overall isn't "can't miss" territory - if you can pull a solid long term contributor there great, sometimes you get lucky and get above that - that isn't the expectation there

This isn't a top 3 or rare opportunity

It's where a lot of bad but not basement teams pick with impact rates that help them try again next year

True. A lot of #10 picks haven't worked out over the years. IOW, a lot of teams miss there.

 

[oaken1]

"opportunity to pick that high you can't miss"

Ol' Legs on some hyperbole there

10th overall isn't "can't miss" territory - if you can pull a solid long term contributor there great, sometimes you get lucky and get above that - that isn't the expectation there

This isn't a top 3 or rare opportunity

It's where a lot of bad but not basement teams pick with impact rates that help them try again next year

I dont think he was saying you have to get a "cant miss" type player...
but that when you are picking top 10 you really need the guy to work out.

But we all know, as for star power....most drafts are fortunate to have 2 or 3

but I tend to agree with him...unless you want to stay picking around 10...you cant miss on those guys. you need for them to work out

 

[MigratingOsprey]

If he framed it with the suns have limited picks and need to find a hit at a spot that is typically ripe with rotation guys sure....... But to pair it with the opportunity to pick that high is a bit crazy

I agree though - you hit in that range and you can start to turn things

Last time the suns picked 10, the pacers grabbed haliburton 2 picks later, which obviously helped their build

It's impactful to get a real player in that range, but can never be the expectation

 

[Yuma]

"opportunity to pick that high you can't miss"

Ol' Legs on some hyperbole there

10th overall isn't "can't miss" territory - if you can pull a solid long term contributor there great, sometimes you get lucky and get above that - that isn't the expectation there

This isn't a top 3 or rare opportunity

It's where a lot of bad but not basement teams pick with impact rates that help them try again next year

I look at #10 as you are hoping for solid, not great. If that pick turns out great, obviously fantastic. If you get a solid player, that's the hope.

 

[Adrian]

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[JRakes]

Don’t resign Williams. Let’s roll the dice w the kid next season

 

[leclerc]

Williams was great for us first third of the season. So nice to have an inside presence and even on the fastbreak. But I agree to spend the money elsewhere and let Maluach be the starter. Anxious to see him and Fleming in summer league. I hope they show real and consistent development and progress from last year.

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

fleming and maluach are our future - when you look at fleming's trajectory in college there were big gains each year - rasheer utilized the offseason for improvement

i think maluach wakes up every day better than the day before - you can tell maluach has dreams of being great - wants to be a leader - most vocal and most happy guy on the court

i still hope both start (from the get) this next season - gillespie goody dunn and oso coming off the bench - that's what im talking about

 

[Yuma]

Williams was great for us first third of the season. So nice to have an inside presence and even on the fastbreak. But I agree to spend the money elsewhere and let Maluach be the starter. Anxious to see him and Fleming in summer league. I hope they show real and consistent development and progress from last year.

There should be some G League videos on Youtube of them playing together. One game I saw, they had Huntley, Bouyea, Brea, Fleming, and Maluach in a game, and they torched the other squad. I understand there were a couple games with that squad this last season at the G League level. The same grouping got to close out a game for us on the Suns, and you could see the chemistry of them playing together. Brea and Bouyea knew how to lob to Mauluach and Fleming. It was a nice little stretch to see.

 

[Mainstreet]

Don’t resign Williams. Let’s roll the dice w the kid next season

Williams was great for us first third of the season. So nice to have an inside presence and even on the fastbreak. But I agree to spend the money elsewhere and let Maluach be the starter. Anxious to see him and Fleming in summer league. I hope they show real and consistent development and progress from last year.

If the Suns can keep Williams on a cheap contract, there is not much downside. He is a talent when healthy.

 

[Yuma]

If the Suns can keep Williams on a cheap contract, there is not much downside. He is a talent when healthy.

Suns need to open up sign and trade offers for him. If they get zero interest, that gives them some leverage in getting that cheap contract. They get a good offer for sign and trade, then maybe they have an option to look at.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Suns need to open up sign and trade offers for him. If they get zero interest, that gives them some leverage in getting that cheap contract. They get a good offer for sign and trade, then maybe they have an option to look at.

Not the way to create a happy player IMO. Williams is, by far, the best big man we have but as we all know, injuries are a real problem with him. So moving him makes sense but relying on Malauch and Fleming puts Booker in a bad spot.

Once again I'll beat the stinking corpse of a long dead horse and say we're better off without Devin and he's better off elsewhere. If we could keep Williams and most of the others and just move Green we could make it work with Devin. But without Williams we're just wasting Devin's best couple of years. And playing hardball when it's not really justified isn't going to improve our chances with free agents.

 

[Phrazbit]

Not the way to create a happy player IMO. Williams is, by far, the best big man we have but as we all know, injuries are a real problem with him. So moving him makes sense but relying on Malauch and Fleming puts Booker in a bad spot.

Once again I'll beat the stinking corpse of a long dead horse and say we're better off without Devin and he's better off elsewhere. If we could keep Williams and most of the others and just move Green we could make it work with Devin. But without Williams we're just wasting Devin's best couple of years. And playing hardball when it's not really justified isn't going to improve our chances with free agents.

Would you rather have a team that is entertaining to watch and maaaaaaaaaybe a "diamond in the rough" find from contention or a team that is absolutely god awful, a no man's land for free agents and praying that whatever we get for Booker is so profound that it will outweigh a half decade of hopelessness and horror show PR?

As for Williams, they gotta pray Man-Man develops, if he comes back on a short deal or signs his qualifying offer, great, but I don't see how they can trust him. He's a good player but he's a big with chronic foot problems, it is what it is.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Would you rather have a team that is entertaining to watch and maaaaaaaaaybe a "diamond in the rough" find from contention or a team that is absolutely god awful, a no man's land for free agents and praying that whatever we get for Booker is so profound that it will outweigh a half decade of hopelessness and horror show PR?

As for Williams, they gotta pray Man-Man develops, if he comes back on a short deal or signs his qualifying offer, great, but I don't see how they can trust him. He's a good player but he's a big with chronic foot problems, it is what it is.

To be clear, that is YOUR "either/or", it's certainly not mine. I think your way is disaster, our only chance is to move on from Devin while he is still a plus player or pair him with a defensive-minded center that can work the two man game with him such as a healthy Williams (not that we can afford to gamble on Williams ever being healthy).

Trading Devin doesn't fix our problems, it just gives us a slightly better chance to fix the problem over the next few years. To me, the only guarantee is that staying with Booker assures us of mediocrity or worse for the duration of this shortage we created by making a world class mistake (trading for KD).

If you're going to keep using Devin at the point, he needs a quality shooting guard and a big man that can run the two man game AND protect the paint. I believe keeping point guard Devin, IF you can't pair him with a defender down low, is almost as misguided as trading for KD in the first place. Now, if they really believe Khaman is almost ready, then fine, we can hope to repeat our play from earlier in this season. But the fact he couldn't even beat out Oso last year, even as injuries mounted and the season wore players down, suggests the staff thinks he's still not that close to ready.

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

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[Yuma]

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It's too bad guys in Wilt's era and earlier aren't counted. That list would be very different.

The NBA did not officially track blocked shots until the 1973–74 season. However, based on surviving game films and meticulous unofficial tracking by period scorekeepers like Harvey Pollack, the top shot blockers prior to the official statistic were Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Wilt Chamberlain

• Estimated Average: 8.8 blocks per game.
• Details: Based on an analysis of 112 documented games from his career, his defensive impact was staggering. There are even unofficial, legendary accounts of him recording as many as 23 to 24 blocks in a single game. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Bill Russell

• Estimated Average: ~8.1 blocks per game.
• Details: While exact game-by-game records are scattered, analysis from Boston Celtics archives and taped games indicates that Russell would have routinely averaged over 8 blocks per contest had the statistic been official during his era. [1, 2, 3]

Other Unofficial Legends:

• Nate Thurmond: Widely regarded as a defensive titan of the same era, frequently swatting 10+ shots in unrecorded games.
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Played his first four highly dominant, defensive seasons (1969–1973) before blocks became an official stat. [1, 2]

For more context on how historians estimate these unrecorded legendary performances, read the Victor Wembanyama vs. Wilt Chamberlain feature on Yahoo Sports or explore the statistical data on Basketball Reference. [1, 2]