LOL all the talk about Malcolm. Dude was what he was and what he was and is a Professional making money and still making headlines. He was one of our all time best and if any of our recruits come close to him and his production we should be happy. Illinois did not go to the tourney during his tenure at Illinois. That fact was not because of Malcolm. It was because of the team. Malcolm was first string on any big ten team. We should be so lucky again. ILL
Exactly. That wasn't an affront to Malcolm. He was/is an extremely effective player and scorer
despite having a low release on his jumper. And average athleticism. His skill level is through the roof (as noted by the poster below).
But Malcolm also had a crazy effective step-back, fade-away jumper that was exclaimed over by every new announcer that did one of our games. It's not a skill that many guys have or develop. So we can remove him from the set of "low, slow" release guys that we use for comparison.
See above. I understand Malcolm had an elite ability to create separation. Not saying or expecting Tevian or Ayo to get to that level of skill necessarily, but their low releases can be overcome in other ways. I expect there will be an adjustment period for both (and a good deal of blocked shots) but also think both have traits that can help them overcome their low release sooner rather than later (pure athleticism for Tevian, craftiness/scorer's mentality for Ayo). Your point is that Malcolm is exceptional, and that is true, but it doesn't mean other exceptional players - i.e. Ayo - can't be exceptional in other ways to overcome a perceived flaw.
Tevian's and Ayo's shots are also not broken, just off on the release point. It's fixable enough to expect a good deal of yearly improvement.