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  1. #176
    Body Of Work Mr. Body's Avatar
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    He was attacking with purpose. And actually fighting on defense.

    When he hits his shots are buttery. Crazy that his form is still flat and in front of his face. He still gets it off though.
    Last edited by Mr. Body; 02-02-2023 at 12:57 AM.

  2. #177
    Savvy Veteran spurraider21's Avatar
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    He has these glimpses of being a natural, almost effortless scorer and then has multiple consecutive games of being invisible in 20+ minutes on the floor. His 3pt stroke still looks a bit awkward imo.

    but i think he has sixth man type potential. Don’t know if he’s a starter with his defense

  3. #178
    Veteran exstatic's Avatar
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    He was advertised as being able to create through pnr and basic playmaking. I was pleasantly surprised how poised he is as a ballhandler. I think this will help carve him more minutes than just a c&s guy. And potentially a backup PG? The team has now as ballhandlers, Tre, Sochan, JRich, Malaki, Blake, and maybe Stanley if he‘s still with the team.
    He’s good in the half court, but D’Aaron Fox was bothering him to the point that other players would bring the ball up, and then give it to Malaki to run the set.

  4. #179
    Veteran exstatic's Avatar
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    Malaki with 22pts tonight! 9-13 shooting, 3-5 from 3, 5 assists in 32 mins outing. Keep it going kid. I seriously think Malaki will be Spurs starting PG by late next season.
    Nah. As I stated in my previous post, he can be bothered and ripped just bringing the ball up. They finally had other players bring the ball over half court, then give it to Malaki. He’s got good vision, but his handle, especially against pressure, really needs work.

  5. #180
    Veteran John B's Avatar
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    He’s good in the half court, but D’Aaron Fox was bothering him to the point that other players would bring the ball up, and then give it to Malaki to run the set.
    I’m not worried. I still think he has better handles than DJ this time in their career. I’m sure Pop will be running more ball handling drills.

  6. #181
    Veteran Dejounte's Avatar
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    The weirdest thing to latch onto is wanting Malaki to be a PG. I don’t know if it’s a lack of a future at that position right now for the Spurs or what. Let Malaki be Malaki and honestly he looks more comfortable as a scorer than a distributor. Not sure why anyone would want to lessen his impact by wanting him to play PG and constantly making proclamations about it.

  7. #182
    Remember Cherokee Parks The Truth #6's Avatar
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    I think it’s OK for the young players to get forced into different positions to force their growth a little bit.

  8. #183
    Formerly Spurs21 KingKev's Avatar
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    Have to agree with Dejounte. Malaki is unlikely to become a true PG. No problem with him moonlighting at the poi t the same way Sochan has but his best skill set is as a pure scorer. I see Branham’s 2-3 year development as instant offense off the bench. Hopefully he can work on his defense as we have far too many poor defenders in our young pipeline.

    , I’m not even sure Wesley is really a point.

  9. #184
    Veteran Dejounte's Avatar
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    I think it’s OK for the young players to get forced into different positions to force their growth a little bit.
    Getting experimental with coaching players is cool. Just saying there’s a lot of things that a player that can do that are good, and to be fixated on one thing is unusual. Like Malaki, his ability to shoot stands out way more than his “PG” skills but John B here is going nuts about the latter.

  10. #185
    The Dude minds DPG21920's Avatar
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    I need to see like 2 more years of Branham..not sure where I land on him. He’s so young and has tools but also a lot that has me skeptical. Which, duh, it’s a super young rookie drafted 20th so that should be the case.

    He’s had enough moments to be excited but I just don’t know how I feel about him overall…but he has some games like this that really shine through

  11. #186
    Veteran barakz21's Avatar
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    When he got drafted, for some reason I got reminded of James Anderson. I got worried thinking he might end up like him, but gotta say.. this early on, Bran’s already put this worries to rest.

  12. #187
    Veteran Ariel's Avatar
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    Have to agree with Dejounte. Malaki is unlikely to become a true PG. No problem with him moonlighting at the poi t the same way Sochan has but his best skill set is as a pure scorer. I see Branham’s 2-3 year development as instant offense off the bench. Hopefully he can work on his defense as we have far too many poor defenders in our young pipeline.

    , I’m not even sure Wesley is really a point.
    The difference with Wesley vs Sochan and Branham is that the latter already have areas where they excel, and you don't want any progress they make elsewhere to come at the expense of their core compe ive advantages. Wesley, on the other hand, at present time has plenty raw tools (explosiveness, length, compe iveness) but no NBA level skills. Because of that, the cost of opportunity is much lower with him, and that makes it much easier to mold him into whatever role they think he's better suited for (likely PG).

  13. #188
    Remember Cherokee Parks The Truth #6's Avatar
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    I suppose I’m coming at this from the idea that true point guards don’t really exist that much anymore, and if you’re gonna be a big-time scorer, you have to handle the ball and run the pick and roll and things like that. Of course, I agree that Malachi‘s best skill so far is instant offense but I suppose I would rather him get pushed towards at least someone who plays defense and if possible someone who also can run an offense in a pinch, and then see where that goes. I don’t want him to emulate Mcbuckets as far as somebody who just shoots and has no accountability on defense.

    But is he really a true point guard? No.

  14. #189
    Veteran John B's Avatar
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    I suppose I’m coming at this from the idea that true point guards don’t really exist that much anymore, and if you’re gonna be a big-time scorer, you have to handle the ball and run the pick and roll and things like that. Of course, I agree that Malachi‘s best skill so far is instant offense but I suppose I would rather him get pushed towards at least someone who plays defense and if possible someone who also can run an offense in a pinch, and then see where that goes. I don’t want him to emulate Mcbuckets as far as somebody who just shoots and has no accountability on defense.

    But is he really a true point guard? No.
    I agree with your assessment especially with Malaki not just becoming an instant offense type like McDermont. I notice Malaki thrives under pressure and with the ball in his hands, he is more engaged vs being passive waiting for the ball, and this opportunity could open his game more. In Pop’s ultimate Beautiful Game, there’s no real PG, but 5 players moving the ball, an initial play that would create a double-team, that starts the motion of finding the best open shot with a series of passes and cuts. That’s the challenge with Tre, as much as I like him. He does not command double team. Malaki does, specially when he becomes NBA strong, he can score at will, he has long range to pick and pop, bigger to backdown opponents which he’s done in College. Malaki has more game to get the other guys open simply. If Spurs landed Wemby forcing Sochan to play PG (still another discussion) or Scoot then go back to 6th man I guess

  15. #190
    Forum Official Personal Life Coach BacktoBasics's Avatar
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    It’ll be interesting to see how he improves from here.

    The main contributing factor with his game right now is that he’s a bit more comfortable and confident in the flow of the game.

  16. #191
    Veteran K...'s Avatar
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    When he got drafted, for some reason I got reminded of James Anderson. I got worried thinking he might end up like him, but gotta say.. this early on, Bran’s already put this worries to rest.
    What do you mean “like James anderson“? Are you a foot fracture expert? You compared tape from that era and have a comment about two different shooters? Such a weird comparison

  17. #192
    The Dude minds DPG21920's Avatar
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    Branham is like Kyle Anderson level athlete except none of the defensive ability lol. Luckily, he can score at all levels better than Kyle, but he’s not as prolific a ball handler/vision as Kyle and no where near the defense.

    But his scoring is way ahead. Just have to hope the guard skills also come along.

  18. #193
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    Have to agree with Dejounte. Malaki is unlikely to become a true PG. No problem with him moonlighting at the poi t the same way Sochan has but his best skill set is as a pure scorer. I see Branham’s 2-3 year development as instant offense off the bench. Hopefully he can work on his defense as we have far too many poor defenders in our young pipeline.

    , I’m not even sure Wesley is really a point.
    Murray wasn’t either initially…. He’s gotten better over time though. It takes time to properly assess, no rush he’s only 19.

  19. #194
    Formerly Spurs21 KingKev's Avatar
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    Murray wasn’t either initially…. He’s gotten better over time though. It takes time to properly assess, no rush he’s only 19.
    Murray ran point at Washington. Wesley played the 2 at Notre Dame.


    Cue the “Wesley will be okay” comment

  20. #195
    Veteran rjv's Avatar
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    What do you mean “like James anderson“? Are you a foot fracture expert? You compared tape from that era and have a comment about two different shooters? Such a weird comparison
    i don't know. similar height and body build. they're both black. i guess i can see it now.

  21. #196
    "The ball don't lie." dbestpro's Avatar
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    When I look at the box score, the only person I am looking at is this kid. I feel he is one of the few on the team that could become special one day, and I am always looking for that growth in his play.

  22. #197
    Savvy Veteran spurraider21's Avatar
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    Branham is like Kyle Anderson level athlete except none of the defensive ability lol. Luckily, he can score at all levels better than Kyle, but he’s not as prolific a ball handler/vision as Kyle and no where near the defense.

    But his scoring is way ahead. Just have to hope the guard skills also come along.
    not just the ability, but anderson also had great length to bother players

  23. #198
    Body Of Work Mr. Body's Avatar
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    Branham is like Kyle Anderson level athlete except none of the defensive ability lol. Luckily, he can score at all levels better than Kyle, but he’s not as prolific a ball handler/vision as Kyle and no where near the defense.

    But his scoring is way ahead. Just have to hope the guard skills also come along.
    Him and Anderson aren't even in the same profile on any level. Congrats on that one

  24. #199
    Veteran barakz21's Avatar
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    What do you mean “like James anderson“? Are you a foot fracture expert? You compared tape from that era and have a comment about two different shooters? Such a weird comparison
    Nothing to do with foot fracture. But I admittedly forgot THAT injury, only remembered that he got injured very early in his rookie season. Never was the same when he came back. What I meant was I guess they’re games translating to the NBA. Anderson was supposedly a good scorer/shooter and in college and did “okay”. Granted, he never really got the chance to show what he could do because of said injury. But he wasn’t playing that much. Bran’s played a lot more and barely did anything EARLY ON in the season.

  25. #200
    The Dude minds DPG21920's Avatar
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    Him and Anderson aren't even in the same profile on any level. Congrats on that one
    Their athleticism is what I was comparing - not their games. I was making the point Branham is not a great athlete - not that their games are similar. Thought that was obvious

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