Meleek Thomas, 6'5, 185, PG/SG, Arkansas, Fr.

• Comp: George Hill / Jamal Murray / Immanuel Quickley

• Ceiling: ALL-NBA

• Floor: Bench

• Great shooter, has a long range

• Good with the ball in his hands, looks have been limited cause of being teammates with Darius Acuff Jr.

• Super high motor, hustler

• Passes the eye test, good body language and movement throughout games

• Solid defender already and has a lot of upside and room to grow still

• Very small frame, causes him to struggle with contact sometimes

• Not a slasher, struggles at the rim

• Not a lot of playmaking shown but he's had flashes, I think this is just cause of Acuff primarily having the ball

• Expectation: Borderline ALL-STAR; I think he'll surprise a lot of people if he gets drafted to a team that gives him a real chance to show what he can do. With his defensive potential mixed with his floor spacing if he can show that his playmaking flashes are more than flashes he'll go far

Pros:

• super high defensive motor with elite defensive profile; active in passing lanes

• high level athlete in all fields

• looks great as a jumpshooter at all levels; can shoot both C&S and off the dribble

• good connective playmaking

• can operate as a lead ball handler at times

• active off-ball mover

Cons:

• reliant on the jumper falling; prone to prolonged cold spells

• poor screen nav

• could be better finishing through contact

• has struggled statistically at rim

C: great two-way starter

F: end of rotation

STRENGTHS:

• A bomber from beyond the arc; 10 3-point attempts per 100 possessions on an elite 42% shooting. Shooting threat from all areas, particularly from the corners and on the left wing

• His shooting can be used on or off of the ball; 50% on movement 3s and 49% on his pull-up 3s, primarily from on-ball screens and in transition is where he is most dangerous as a shooter

• His off-ball shooting stems from his ability to relocate, come off of screens; in those actions, he plays within the flow of an offense

• Has the ability to defend well when engaged; 1.5 steals per game, mainly stemming from rotating really well and on-time on his close-outs. Progressively looked more engaged defensively as the season went on

WEAKNESSES:

• Has a little slower of a release on his jumper; no need for him to overhaul his form, just noting that speeding up his jumper would be a benefit

• Decision-making needs a lot of fine-tuning; looks rushed and frantic on his drives and takes a lot of difficult jumpers when he decides to drive inside the arc, explained in the next weakness 👇

• Mid-range shooting is not much of a strength; attempted a high volume (7.7 attempts per 100 possessions) and shot only 34% on those shots)

• Some of that settling stems from his unwillingness to get to the rim (59% on just under six attempts per 100 possessions) and the lack of strength and playmaking (only 13% assist rate) is really prevalent when he is not lighting it up from 3

Summary: Meleek Thomas is very much one the hot and cold flamethrowers in this draft class. His shooting versatility is some of the best in this class. Being the backcourt partner of Darius Acuff, Thomas had to operate quite a bit off of the ball, and that was where his shooting thrived the best. Whether that was spotting up, in transition or on the fast break, he was a flamethrower. Right now, despite the good stuff he has had going in regards to his shooting, his impact isn't really felt all that much offensively. The secondary playmaking and finishes at the rim were not there, as he relied on difficult jumpers, which stalled the offense. While he was a good chaser on defense and on shooters, he routinely looked lost in what defensive scheme he is supposed to be in. There is a lot of refining that needs to be done in regards to his feel and sensing what the defense gives him. Thomas will need time to season his IQ of the game, and if he can there's a 6th Man of the Year type of player here.

Player Comparison: Shades of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jordan Clarkson

Best Fits: Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks

1- Meleek Thomas- Arkansas- SG/SF- can shoot the 3, a nice passer, plays in the flow, a scorer, rebounds (defensive rebs), a lot of two way potential, in transition tough to stop (go to score or find the open player on the perimeter)

W: have to take better shots, manage shot clock better (move the ball)

As I mentioned with Darius Acuff, Pitino has an incredible history of producing NBA guards in his coaching career. What is even crazier is how often he has two at the same time (almost always both freshman), of which one is a silky smooth microwave scoring guard. That is Maleek Thomas this go around. Thomas is a natural scorer that has great pace and craftiness to his game. He is had to keep contained as he moves with a bit of a herky-jerk type motion and uses his length to bounce around the floor with ease. He loves to score the basketball and he can do it from all over the court. He gets to the free throw line and knocks them down at a very high clip as well. Right now, Thomas profiles a little bit as an undersized shooting guard who doesn't do a ton of playmaking which bumps him more into that tweener combo guard role. However, I think the same could have and likely was said of many of those prior Calipari guards of similar nature I mentioned (Jamal Murray, Tyler Herro, Malik Monk, etc) and almost all of them developed much more playmaking than was originally expected and carved out big time success at the next level. I really appreciate his competitive energy on the defensive end, something you don't always see from these big time scoring guards at this age.

NBA Comp: Jordan Clarkson