I really like him too, but the one caveat for me is he is a terrible 3PT shooter. Now, if Scheyer goes big like I have been advocating for (i.e., Ngongba at the 5, Malauch at the 4) maybe many of those misses turn into 2nd chance points. That is how Malauch makes his living padding the stat sheet and he could be SO MUCH better if he were physically bigger. Which is exactly why you play him at the 4. He will be huge for that position and can still play him the same. But even if you don’t get Richmond. Playing Ngongba and Malauch should open driving lanes because of their size. Their size may block the defender from adequately bringing weak side help. And if weak side help comes on drives we should have a potential alley-oop dunk. It’s a big problem for opposing coaches, you send help it’s a dunk, you don’t you give up a potential lay up or close mid range shot and even when you give up the open shot, you have to worry about Duke getting the OREB for an easy put back.
I agree. I hope he starts attacking the basket more cause he’s a good ft shooter because if not he’s gonna have some 1-9 2-10 games unless he becomes more consistent.
Personally, I would feel utterly embarrassed if my opinion was solely dependent on highlights, rankings, and news articles. This podcast is a pure Duke podcast filled with die hard fans and we should take more pride in our work/evaluations. You wouldn’t pick a wife based on profile picks right? I mean don’t get me wrong…. Those pictures can be absolutely tantalizing 😅😅😅. But then we would only be basing a book on its cover without having read the material. I feel like watching highlights is no different. Let me hit on 2 main points with Maluach. 1) In my opinion, not coming to Durham in the summer is a HUGE mistake for his growth. I’m surprised Jon didn’t press harder on Khaman or Luol Deng for that matter to come sooner. The kid has holes in his game that he needs to work on and he’s not going to be forced to work on them playing for the South Sudanese team. His upside would be much better to start fixing his flaws now not later. The player Malauch is for the Uganda City Oilers is not the player Jon Scheyer is going to let him be. Otherwise Duke will be very hard to watch and you won’t enjoy the product. Will it be interesting to see how much he improves playing for the national team at age 16 vs age 17? Sure, I’m mostly curious to see how many minutes he actually gets and IF HE EVEN STARTS?? When he was 16, he looked strikingly identical to how Dereck Lively looked at Duke. Completely ignored and irrelevant in the offensive system. Boring to watch. His teammates clearly didn’t trust him as they didn’t get him involved much. You could say the same (lack of offensive impact) about the Nike Hoop Summit which was very recent, but I personally don’t infer much into that game and it’s a much different scenario (it’s not about trust, guys are just trying to showcase themselves). Point is Maluach’s current game is entirely built on being an NBA player. The Uganda City Oilers are absolutely awful. They don’t care about losing and will let Maluach do whatever he wants. That won’t fly at Duke which is why I said be prepared for Ngongba to replace him in the lineup if Jon indeed plays Maluach at the 5. People are absolutely clueless as to how good Ngongba is. That kid has great size and is very polished offensively. Listen, do yourselves a favor and watch Paul VI in the Chipotle Nationals. It’s free on TH-cam. Ngongba played 3 games after his foot surgery and in his first game back is diving on the floor. He comes off the bench in those games (he lacks conditioning and was out most of the season), but you will see how special he can be for this year’s Duke team, trust me. And you’ll get to see Darren Harris. If you watch the Chipotle Finals, you’ll also see Cooper Flagg. A 3 for 1 special. 2) Jon Scheyer will win a lot of games and all he has to do is play Ngongba at the 5, Malauch at the 4, and Flagg at the 3. The size is just too overwhelming. Patrick is a true 5, Malauch won’t be until he adds some serious weight. I’d make him, Flagg, and Evans drink 8 Large Smoothies a day because their BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is sky high. And they are probably in the gym all day everyday burning carbs. Hitting the weight room alone won’t solve the lack of size. Patrick is also a much better 3PT shooter too. But you play Malauch at the 4 because him and Cooper both lack girth and physicality at the 5 and 4 respectively. However, at the 4 and 3 they won’t and now you have major mismatches on both sides of the court. You can still throw the ball deep in the post to Malauch and Flagg will shoot over his opponent. In Malauch’s last game he gave up 42 points to a former Baylor PF in 2016-2018 by the name of Jo Acuil, (some of you will remember him). Maluach wasn’t defending him for all 42 points, but that was also because Acuil put him in foul trouble. You see, Maluach lacks heaviness and girth - center of gravity. And his vertical isn’t high/athletic enough to allow his 7’5” wingspan to compensate for the space lost after being separated by low post physicality. Physical college kids are going to be able to present the same problem. We could break down the Pros and Cons of Malauch’s game, which is why it feels so obvious to me that if Jon plays his cards right he could have a very dominant team just with size alone. If he doesn’t, this team may be very vulnerable and feel like a much bigger project than it should be. As for the guard spot. Duke needs an NBA player that can break down a defense, especially when the roster gets smaller. Can Foster and/or Proctor be that guy??? This is why to me, you go and get that guy in the portal if you can because it won’t be based on hope. You don’t sell an NBA-type portal addition that he will have to sit or share minutes. You sell that to one of your guys who’s already on the roster. He can’t transfer now because May 1st is right around the corner. But even if he did YOU STILL UPGRADED and just as we have seen this year, they could transfer ANYWAY…. Lastly, I don’t think Jon necessarily HAS to get any more transfers. Evans AND Knueppel basically played Point-Forward in high school. You already have 2 capable guys in Foster and Proctor obviously. Third option at PG would be Knueppel. He will drastically slow down the offense, but he’s surprisingly quick when he wants to be and can snake a defense. Let me say that again, he can SNAKE A DEFENSE. It’s fun and shocking all in one. Extremely high IQ and incredible vision meaning great passer. But he can be a slug and a defensively liability. Evans could be a liability defensively at the 3 given his lack of girth. However, I often wonder if Duke is better equipped with him at the 2. Right now I’ll stick with Proctor given his defensive impact/experience. But if he or Foster struggle I wouldn’t hesitate playing Evans at the 2. He clearly adds more length and size for the position, but he also may be Duke’s best player at breaking through a defense and getting to the rim. He shoots 84% from the FT Line too. But he will have to adjust to finishing at the rim against much bigger defenders.
Duke is going to be great this coming season 🏀⭐️Go Duke
He’s awesome baby!!!
Everyday. It’s Awesome baby😂
I’d like the guy from Seton Hall, he’s a beast
Kadary Richmond
I really like him too, but the one caveat for me is he is a terrible 3PT shooter.
Now, if Scheyer goes big like I have been advocating for (i.e., Ngongba at the 5, Malauch at the 4) maybe many of those misses turn into 2nd chance points. That is how Malauch makes his living padding the stat sheet and he could be SO MUCH better if he were physically bigger. Which is exactly why you play him at the 4. He will be huge for that position and can still play him the same.
But even if you don’t get Richmond. Playing Ngongba and Malauch should open driving lanes because of their size. Their size may block the defender from adequately bringing weak side help. And if weak side help comes on drives we should have a potential alley-oop dunk.
It’s a big problem for opposing coaches, you send help it’s a dunk, you don’t you give up a potential lay up or close mid range shot and even when you give up the open shot, you have to worry about Duke getting the OREB for an easy put back.
I just don't trust Proctor. Never know which guy is going to show up. Really needed another guard.
Roach held him back both years. Glad he’s gone
If you don't trust him, then why did you recruit him?
@@MaximusR93 Proctor held himself back. He’s too inconsistent.
I agree. I hope he starts attacking the basket more cause he’s a good ft shooter because if not he’s gonna have some 1-9 2-10 games unless he becomes more consistent.
@MaximusR93 you know nothing about basketball I see. Smdh
Personally, I would feel utterly embarrassed if my opinion was solely dependent on highlights, rankings, and news articles. This podcast is a pure Duke podcast filled with die hard fans and we should take more pride in our work/evaluations.
You wouldn’t pick a wife based on profile picks right? I mean don’t get me wrong…. Those pictures can be absolutely tantalizing 😅😅😅. But then we would only be basing a book on its cover without having read the material. I feel like watching highlights is no different.
Let me hit on 2 main points with Maluach.
1) In my opinion, not coming to Durham in the summer is a HUGE mistake for his growth. I’m surprised Jon didn’t press harder on Khaman or Luol Deng for that matter to come sooner. The kid has holes in his game that he needs to work on and he’s not going to be forced to work on them playing for the South Sudanese team. His upside would be much better to start fixing his flaws now not later.
The player Malauch is for the Uganda City Oilers is not the player Jon Scheyer is going to let him be. Otherwise Duke will be very hard to watch and you won’t enjoy the product.
Will it be interesting to see how much he improves playing for the national team at age 16 vs age 17? Sure, I’m mostly curious to see how many minutes he actually gets and IF HE EVEN STARTS??
When he was 16, he looked strikingly identical to how Dereck Lively looked at Duke. Completely ignored and irrelevant in the offensive system. Boring to watch. His teammates clearly didn’t trust him as they didn’t get him involved much. You could say the same (lack of offensive impact) about the Nike Hoop Summit which was very recent, but I personally don’t infer much into that game and it’s a much different scenario (it’s not about trust, guys are just trying to showcase themselves).
Point is Maluach’s current game is entirely built on being an NBA player. The Uganda City Oilers are absolutely awful. They don’t care about losing and will let Maluach do whatever he wants.
That won’t fly at Duke which is why I said be prepared for Ngongba to replace him in the lineup if Jon indeed plays Maluach at the 5.
People are absolutely clueless as to how good Ngongba is. That kid has great size and is very polished offensively.
Listen, do yourselves a favor and watch Paul VI in the Chipotle Nationals. It’s free on TH-cam. Ngongba played 3 games after his foot surgery and in his first game back is diving on the floor. He comes off the bench in those games (he lacks conditioning and was out most of the season), but you will see how special he can be for this year’s Duke team, trust me. And you’ll get to see Darren Harris. If you watch the Chipotle Finals, you’ll also see Cooper Flagg. A 3 for 1 special.
2) Jon Scheyer will win a lot of games and all he has to do is play Ngongba at the 5, Malauch at the 4, and Flagg at the 3. The size is just too overwhelming.
Patrick is a true 5, Malauch won’t be until he adds some serious weight. I’d make him, Flagg, and Evans drink 8 Large Smoothies a day because their BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is sky high. And they are probably in the gym all day everyday burning carbs. Hitting the weight room alone won’t solve the lack of size.
Patrick is also a much better 3PT shooter too. But you play Malauch at the 4 because him and Cooper both lack girth and physicality at the 5 and 4 respectively. However, at the 4 and 3 they won’t and now you have major mismatches on both sides of the court. You can still throw the ball deep in the post to Malauch and Flagg will shoot over his opponent.
In Malauch’s last game he gave up 42 points to a former Baylor PF in 2016-2018 by the name of Jo Acuil, (some of you will remember him). Maluach wasn’t defending him for all 42 points, but that was also because Acuil put him in foul trouble.
You see, Maluach lacks heaviness and girth - center of gravity. And his vertical isn’t high/athletic enough to allow his 7’5” wingspan to compensate for the space lost after being separated by low post physicality. Physical college kids are going to be able to present the same problem.
We could break down the Pros and Cons of Malauch’s game, which is why it feels so obvious to me that if Jon plays his cards right he could have a very dominant team just with size alone. If he doesn’t, this team may be very vulnerable and feel like a much bigger project than it should be.
As for the guard spot. Duke needs an NBA player that can break down a defense, especially when the roster gets smaller. Can Foster and/or Proctor be that guy??? This is why to me, you go and get that guy in the portal if you can because it won’t be based on hope.
You don’t sell an NBA-type portal addition that he will have to sit or share minutes. You sell that to one of your guys who’s already on the roster. He can’t transfer now because May 1st is right around the corner. But even if he did YOU STILL UPGRADED and just as we have seen this year, they could transfer ANYWAY….
Lastly, I don’t think Jon necessarily HAS to get any more transfers. Evans AND Knueppel basically played Point-Forward in high school. You already have 2 capable guys in Foster and Proctor obviously. Third option at PG would be Knueppel. He will drastically slow down the offense, but he’s surprisingly quick when he wants to be and can snake a defense. Let me say that again, he can SNAKE A DEFENSE. It’s fun and shocking all in one. Extremely high IQ and incredible vision meaning great passer. But he can be a slug and a defensively liability.
Evans could be a liability defensively at the 3 given his lack of girth. However, I often wonder if Duke is better equipped with him at the 2. Right now I’ll stick with Proctor given his defensive impact/experience. But if he or Foster struggle I wouldn’t hesitate playing Evans at the 2. He clearly adds more length and size for the position, but he also may be Duke’s best player at breaking through a defense and getting to the rim. He shoots 84% from the FT Line too. But he will have to adjust to finishing at the rim against much bigger defenders.