John Calipari had a knack for coining memorable one-liners during his time at Kentucky. One of his most iconic, or at least most used phrases was calling out that Anthony Davis took the fifth-most shots on the 2011-12 team. His point was effectively a recruiting pitch, showing that players can come to Kentucky, be a top pick in the NBA Draft, and maybe even win a national championship, all without being the guy who scores all the points. Cal may be gone, and this may be a new era of Kentucky basketball, but Malachi Moreno could very well fit the mold of an NBA lottery pick who took the fifth-most shots in college.
No, Moreno is not the next Anthony Davis. The part of the story that Calipari convienetly left out was that Davis also set the single-season school record in blocked shots, a milestone that may never be broken. He is also a future Hall of Famer and one of the best players to walk Planet Earth. Malachi Moreno, at least now, is not any of those things. However, after testing NBA waters this year, mock drafts had the Georgetown native hovering around the end of the first round. With a weak overall draft class in 2027, Moreno could vault himself into lottery pick discussion with a strong sophomore season. That strong season, though, may not be characterized by a plethora of scoring.
The reality is that Alex Wilkins, Milan Momcilovic, and Zoom Diallo are going to get shots up, as they should. If the legal powers that be grant Mark Mitchell a 5th year of eligibility and he joins the ‘Cats, the 18.3 point-per-game scorer at Missouri will most definitely take his share of attempts as well. That leaves potential lottery pick Malachi Moreno as the player in the starting lineup taking the fewest shots, or, more aptly, the fifth-most shots.
Even if the NCAA thwarts Mitchell’s case for an extra year, Kentucky’s starting power forward, whether that be Ousmane N’Diaye or Justin McBride, won’t be shy to hoist up their fair share of field goal attempts as well. This team could score a lot of points this season (and it may have to, if the defense is as porous as anticipated), but Moreno will be more of a steadfast anchor in that endeavor, rather than the guy the team feeds in the post when it needs a bucket.
And that’s a good thing. If one of Kentucky’s most skilled players doesn’t feel the pressure to do all of the scoring, it will create a strong overall team synergy. Is this team the next 2011-12 team? Maybe not, but with potential lottery pick Malachi Moreno shooting the fifth-most shots, you never know what could happen.