Hornets' decisive message to Malik Monk: Your shooting’s impressive. Now take this step.

Here’s a question every candidate to be Charlotte Hornets coach had to answer convincingly to be in the running:

What will you do to make sure drafting Malik Monk ends up a good investment?

It was an odd, disjointed season for the former Kentucky guard after he was selected 11^th overall 13 months ago. During the pre-draft auditions he suffered an ankle sprain that lingered for months. That cost him summer league and any real on-court work with the assistant coaches before his first NBA training camp.

He was in and out of then-coach Steve Clifford’s rotation. His inexperience showed up on defense and as a decision-maker with the ball, limiting his minutes until late in the season after the Hornets were out of playoff contention. He finished the season averaging 6.7 points on 36 percent shooting from the field.

It’s still not clear where the 6-foot-3 Monk will play primarily, whether it be point guard or shooting guard. But from everything new coach James Borrego has said, Monk will get every shot at a bigger role.

“Malik Monk is a major player for us next (season),” Borrego told the Observer last week. “I knew he was a shooter but being up close to him is impressive. This guy has a chance to be an elite shooter, a very consistent shooter. Someone we can play through for different stretches of a game.”

Quick choices

In the weeks Borrego has studied Monk up close, he’s become convinced Monk is so dangerous a scorer he will force rotations from opposing defenses. That’s what you want in constructing an NBA offense. The next step — one Monk is still far from mastering — is the quick choices to best exploit those rotations.

“He’s one of the guys on the court at all times who can get his own shot, create his own shot,” said Hornets assistant Jay Hernandez, who will coach the summer-league roster in Las Vegas. “We want him not only do that, but make the right play: finding teammates when they’re open, figuring out the way to get off the ball, shoot it or drive it in half a second or less.”

That last part — in half a second or less — is key. Borrego has said he wants to raise the Hornets’ pace. Part of that is attacking in the first eight seconds of a possession, hopefully before a defense is set. But it’s also making the right choice quicker, something that made San Antonio Spurs teams Borrego was associated with so efficient on offense.

Borrego said last week he doesn’t want players dribbling away the shot clock. That’s something Monk did last season, particularly early on.

“Being able to get into the painted area (the lane), deciding whether to shoot the floater or make the extra pass,” Hernandez said Monday. “I think when he has that ability to see both, it’s going to open up his game.”

Lost summer

In fairness to Monk, those months of physical activity he missed before training camp are key to getting a rookie up to speed. He said watching from the sideline was so frustrating he didn’t want to go to Orlando for summer league, but the team told him to absorb what he could from the bench.

The situation now is so different: He’s healthy, which means he’s available and as big a focus as any player this summer.

“I come here to work every day at 10 o’clock and they put me through everything. Everything they put me through, I’m getting better on every day,” Monk said.

And the new staff?

“I love them,” Monk said. “They’re opening up the court for me and giving me a chance. That’s what I’ve been looking for.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Hornets' decisive message to Malik Monk: Your shooting’s impressive. Now take this step.."