Aztecs forward Malik Pope is the highest-ranked high school recruit to ever come to San Diego State. Basketball talent drips from his pores.
Pope missed a lot of time in high school with leg injuries. He was recovering from one at the start his freshman year on the Mesa and Aztecs coach Steve Fisher brought him along slowly to avoid any physical setback.
After 22 games of his collegiate career, Pope has played 308 minutes, all of them coming off the bench. He's scored 115 points and been held scoreless more times (5) than he's reached double digits in points (3). That looks like the building block for a solid NCAA career, but not the kind of well-rounded resume one would expect for a top pro prospect.
So why is Malik Pope suddenly being touted as not just a first-round NBA Draft pick, but a possible Lottery selection?
The answer is simple: This kid is almost immorally talented. Pope's skills have him listed in several mock drafts (take that for what it's worth, but basketball is typically a lot more accurate than football with those things) as a first-round pick, and unless he slumps to end the season that won't change.
In Tuesday night's win at New Mexico, Pope showed the kind of athleticism that makes scouts and personnel director drool when he leaped to grab a Winston Shepard lob, caught it just shy of the top of the backboard, and slammed it over two Lobos "defenders." He's also shown good range shooting the ball, making nearly 43-percent from 3-point land.
Now that he's healthy, Pope could be the missing piece to help the Aztecs make a serious NCAA Tournament run by providing the scoring punch they've been missing most of the season. If he has a breakout performance during March Madness, it's almost a foregone conclusion Pope is a first round lock, and that means big guaranteed money.
But, does that mean he should head to the professional ranks after one very short season? The argument was made against Kawhi Leonard leaving SDSU early (we were wrong). Same thing for Jamaal Franklin (we were right).
The one man who might be able to block it is NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. During NBA All-Star Weekend, Silver went on the record saying he's in favor of changing the league's minimum age to 20 years old instead of 19, which would force kids to say in school an extra year. That sounds like a great idea. For every John Wall and Kyrie Irving there are 10 Xavier Henry and Tony Wrotens.
Selfishly, I'd love to see Malik stay and really blossom under Fisher for another season. Plus, not many people have hurt their future by taking more college classes and getting closer to a degree. However, if a young man has the opportunity to cash in by playing a game he loves, and he believes he's able to do it, who are we to tell him no?
