He gone...
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He gone...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/lakers/status/1020108338338512896[/tweet]
Wow.
I'm sure that's a little disappointing, but that's really not a bad deal at all. His game is probably a pretty good fit in Europe, but I doubt he's going to be a superstar in any of the high paying leagues. Might as well start getting paid sooner rather than later. Go make low sixfigures with a lot of perks and hope he can scratch out a ten year career and get seven figures in the bank before has to do something else .
Not surprising; it's hard enough for 2nd round picks to make rosters, let alone UFA's. He bound for overseas from the get go.
Does anybody think if he had listened to Howland from the get go that he would have more of a chance in the NBA? Or if he had came back and spent another year under Self? He seems like a guy that can shoot but peaked in high school.
I think people like to romanticize the euro basketball player's life but it really isn't that easy and this is a daddy's boy from Jackson that we are talking about. He is gonna hate the **** outta living in Croatia or Russia or wherever it is then switching to another country in two years etc.. Newman isn't cut out for a life of travel in Europe. He should have kicked his handler and father to the curb 3 years ago.
I don't think it really would have mattered. His issue is athleticism. He could have helped himself by committing to defense, but then he's still a 6-2 shooting guard that's a little on the unathletic side for the NBA. His best case scenario was probably a 3 pt specialist that plays his hard if not great D, but there are a lot of those players available who are more in the 6-5 to 6-7 range. Or alternatively find a good college coach willing to let him play the point and spend three years in college trying to develop into a pt guard.
Eurobasketball in the better leagues is still pretty good. China pays well too. It's certainly hard for some people to live in a different country, and it looks terrible compared to teh NBA life, but it's a hell of a lot better than coaching high school basketball or being a car salesman or whatever will be the alternative for most of these players. Much better to go make six figures and see the world while you can. The coaching and sales jobs will still be available when you're done and if you're smart you can come back with a good sized nest egg. If not set for life money, at least provide a supplement to a coaching salary that makes it a pretty good life.
Now if you are only good enough to be in the leagues where teams can't even be counted on to pay their players, then yes, that's a different ball game.
If this is the case, and it appears lots here say it is, then I sympathize with Malik. It would be different if Malik himself was the one making the bad decisions. Question though, Did Malik not make it due to lack of defensive effort? Anybody got any specifics on his strengths and weaknesses?
-Below average athleticism at the NBA level
-Doesn't have a clear position - not athletic enough and doesn't handle well enough to play PG, too small for an NBA 2 (the ideal SG in the modern NBA is 6'6" 200-210)
-Mediocre defense
In order of importance in my opinion, although those three factors kind of play into each other. If he was a little bigger OR a plus athlete OR played great defense, he might have been able to stick as a 3 point specialist.
From everything I've seen and read the big issue was that he was a good athlete, but he wasn't elite as he was originally billed to be. There were rumors coming from the mcdonald AA game that he was out of his league there athletically.
To make up for that you have to be an incredible shooter, like a Reddick. He wasn't that either.
so as we saw in the NCAA tourney he had the ability to be a really, really good college player, but his size combined with his athleticism was always going to make it hard for him to make it in the NBA
Did you know that the women league in Europe pays more then WNBA? Not the case for men but I found that interesting. Also many of our women try to get to Europe in the off season to play and what is more crazy the highest paid women in their league are the Women from the WNBA. Just seem ass backwards.
Nick spoon is better player
I heard them talking about on the radio. I found the info here. This is seven years old so the numbers are probably different but the effect is the same. They were talking this a few weeks ago.
https://bizfluent.com/info-8131965-a...ll-player.html
He was coached by Ben Howland and Bill Self, two historically great coaches, and even they couldn’t get him NBA ready.
I don’t think Malik and Horatio have anyone to blame but themselves. It sure seemed like they thought it was all Howland’s fault two years ago. Clearly that wasn’t the truth.
First off, Big Train and Little Train will go in denial, they want blame themselves but will continue to point figures until it's over which will be reality.
Actually this happens a lot now days, go watch travel ball baseball and the parents dream of their kid playing MLB. It's crazy but basketball and so call agents for kids has been out of whack a lot longer.
European Women Basketball League has been around a long time. I remember working basketball camps across the country and a few "European girls" being at camps as counselors and a few European coaches. They were way ahead of women basketball players back then. Pat Summit/Tn played a huge role in making basketball popular in the USA.
It's so crazy to me that one rule is the difference between Malik being a millionaire and him having to try and make a living in Europe. The one-and-done bit him badly
In an alternate universe, Malik just finished out his multi-year, multimillion dollar rookie contract after spending almost all of his time in the D-League, and would now be heading off to europe or China with either a heft nest egg or a lot of frivolous spending in his past.
Although maybe if a team had made that investment in him adn felt obligated to keep him in the D-league, he would been shocked into realizing he was a marginal player and spent the last three years focusing on his defense and shooting enough to be an NBA role player.
Sad part is when he gets older and realizes that his ole daddy was much to blame for the outcome of a once promising career.
Of course that to say if he hasn't already.
So maybe Horatio and Malik probably knew he was too short to play the # 2 so it was playing the #1 in the NBA or nothing I guess. Maybe that was there only route.
I feel genuinely bad for him. I think he was one of these kids who is told they are so special, and he probably never had to work that hard to do well in high school. It all came naturally until he got to college and other kids were just as good. No one pushed him or held him to any standard in high school and then he has to play by the same rules as everyone else. The dad just enabled it the entire time. Most of these kids don't make, but they all want to think they're the exception. He was so sure of himself he didn't even get evaluated without an agent, which would be the smart thing to do.
I hate stories like this. Absolute shame.
I could understand leaving one school, but he was flat out dumb for leaving Kansas.