2017 NBA Mock Draft: The best choice each team can make

There’s always at least one prospect who takes a bit of a slide on draft night and this time, it’s Kentucky’s Malik Monk who spends a bit of awkward extra time in the green room. No worries. The Charlotte Hornets will gladly snatch him up here at No. 11 because of his potential to develop into an elite scorer at the next level.

Monk’s scoring ability is heavily tied to his 3-point shooting. He averaged 24.8 points per 40 minutes as a freshman while shooting 39.7 percent from deep. Monk is excellent coming off of screens and simply performing in a spot up role that can stretch the defense and open up lanes for his teammates. It’s important to remember that Monk will add value to an offense even when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.

If Monk does fall on draft night, it will be over the concerns about what else he can do. The 6-foot-4 guard is seemingly far from being a plus defender at the NBA level. He lacks the necessary length and rarely showed much defensive ability at Kentucky. There are also questions about his ability to create his own offense. This is the area where Monk may offer some additional upside, though, as he showed himself to be a decent pick-and-roll creator in Lexington.

Learn more about Malik Monk at The Step Back.