Player Maliq Brown

[DurhamSon]

 

[rome8180]

 

[rome8180]

How about Maliq Brown versus Flagg at the 4? How about Maliq Brown versus sophomore Stewart? How about Maliq Brown versus an actual floor spacer?

 

[LastHearth]

Is it official?

 

[DurhamSon]

Is it official?

I thought it was? The video is just a placeholder for whatever tweet comes out first and because he had a pretty good game

 

[DrKlahn]

Syracuse had one guy who was actually pretty good—is this the guy?

 

[Pantone287]

Seeing Sean pop up in those highlights is like walking into a bar and seeing the girl who just dumped you.

 

[dukeboy911]

^assuming so. Know nothing about him.

 

[Grit]

Seeing Sean pop up in those highlights is like walking into a bar and seeing the girl who just dumped you.

Isn't it more specifically like the girl who left after you cheated?

I'm feeling down in general about all the transfers right now but these highlights were kind of underwhelming (if Brown was being prioritized over the guys who by all accounts played hard and honored their Duke commitments).

 

[dukeboy911]

Apparently he's good at steals. Our defense could be quite good next season.

 

[Dukenation12]

Lead the ACC with over 2 steals a game.

 

[LastHearth]

I hear from Syracuse fans that he gets like 10 deflections a game because of how active his hands are, like a lot of them end up being steals for other guys but he was the guy who actually should get credit for them because he poke it away first.

 

[CK86]

 

[dukeboy911]

Lets go

 

[LastHearth]

Great job, he's exactly what this current roster needs.

 

[Dukenation12]

“Another plus with Maliq Brown is that the analytics absolutely love him. In Bart Torvik’s PORPAGATU! (PRPG!) metric measuring player efficiency and usage rate, Brown came in as a top-20 player in the ACC this season. He scored the No. 6 defensive box plus-minus despite playing for a mediocre team and was the leader in steal rate.”

“Syracuse was also much better as a team with him on the floor. Maliq Brown posted the highest box plus-minus numbers for the 2024 team and it wasn’t even close. And, he hardly missed a shot, converting 73.6% of his 2-point attempts and 36.8% on his handful of 3-point tries.”

 

[Dukenation12]

“Recorded just the 3rd 5x5 game since 2008 vs. Louisville (11 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocks, 5 steals, 5 assists)” Really solid get for Duke for 2 years!

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Some key takeaways on paper:

1. 73% TS is great, no matter what the usage is. The only Duke player to match that in recent history was sophomore Mark Williams, a potential 15-year NBA starter. No one was higher than 60% TS for Duke last season. Of course, low usage (13%) helps, but that’s unlikely to change much at Duke.

2. It’s easy to see how Brown is so efficient. He’s like an analytics robot. 88% of his shots were at the rim, where he made 75%. The number that makes me happiest is 1.1% - that’s his percentage of his shots from midrange. 11% of his shots were from 3, and 100% of his 3pt makes were assisted. This guy doesn’t take anything but open catch and shoot 3s or layups. His somewhat low FT attempt rate (33%) suggests he’s not taking many contested layups, which is good, but Duke might be better off with him trying to finish in traffic more often - his 72% FT is pretty good for a big, and Duke would be more than happy with 1.44 points per possession, not even accounting for and-one opportunities.

3. Already showed significant improvement as a shooter from freshman to sophomore years, though the sample sizes are so small that it could just be noise. Taking 19 3s as a sophomore isn’t very encouraging, until you see he took zero as a freshman. His FT% improved from 57% to 72%. Taken together, despite the small samples, there’s a believable narrative that Brown is a smart player who has been working hard on his shot because he knows it’s his only path to a pro career. I would hope to see him go from 0 to 19 to around 100 3pt attempts next season. Mark Mitchell was essentially given up on by this coaching staff after not improving his shot as a sophomore (along with all the other poor indicators, his 3pt attempts went from 54 to 40). This adds credence to the story of Brown being a guy who fully understands the need to take and make more 3s, with the Duke staff onboard while knowing Brown will need to provide spacing around Flagg.

4. Basic defensive numbers aren’t worth much, though it’s notable that he has both the best DRtg and DBPM on Syracuse’s roster despite not having a great defensive rebounding rate or block rate. That’s rare. Naheem McLeod on Syracuse had a 14% block rate compared with Brown’s 3.2%, and McLeod’s overall defensive numbers weren’t as good. It suggests Brown was actually great at defense, as in he provided good help defense, stayed in front of his man and forced misses, rather than just grabbing rebounds and swatting shots out of bounds. The lack of shot blocking is a bit concerning for his own potential, but with Flagg and Maluach on the court, Duke wouldn’t need more rim protection. The 4.2% steal rate is exceptional, similar to Blakes’ 4.4% and Goldwire’s 4.5% in their final seasons at Duke. His defensive activity is probably similar to what Blakes and Goldwire provided in short bursts. As another point of reference, Zion’s steal rate was 3.9%.

 

[DurhamSon]

The first of the Oats-consultant targeted transfers, I would imagine.

Gbinije officially avenged

 

[2001Dukechamps]

Syracuse fans have expressed that he can guard 1–5 and regret losing him. That’s enough for me to like this addition. I’m excited to see how his physicality and high energy impact this roster.



If our young centers aren’t playable, he’s good enough to man the 5.