Charlotte Hornets: 3 candidates for a breakout season in 2018-19
2. Malik Monk
If there is anyone in need of a breakout season on the Charlotte Hornets, it’s guard Malik Monk. If the starting lineup works out in his favor where Nicolas Batum slides back to small forward and Jeremy Lamb takes over starting shooting guard responsibilities, Monk should have a chance to rack up more dunks like this one.
April was a good month for Malik Monk, as he posted 20 or more points in three of the five games he played in to help close his rookie year off on a strong note.
| G | Date ▼ |
Opp | MP | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | 2018-04-10 | IND | 25:10 | .375 | 3 | 10 | .300 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 62 | 2018-04-08 | IND | 24:02 | .471 | 3 | 11 | .273 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| 61 | 2018-04-06 | ORL | 26:23 | .571 | 4 | 6 | .667 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 26 |
| 60 | 2018-04-03 | CHI | 24:16 | .533 | 5 | 10 | .500 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| 59 | 2018-04-01 | PHI | 24:16 | .462 | 4 | 9 | .444 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/7/2018.
According to Basketball-Reference’s Game Score metric, the five games listed above were five of his 12 best games his rookie season. Monk shot 48 percent from the field, including 41.3 percent from 3-point range.
It’s a small sample size, but if we extrapolate Monk’s numbers for the season, he had 17.7 points, 3.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per 36 minutes in 2017-18, nearly identical to his freshman year at Kentucky.
The pressure is on the former McDonald All-American, but if given playing time, Malik Monk could have his breakout season in just his second year in the league.