Khaman Maluach has a new issue to clean up that should excite fans regardless

We finally got a taste of Phoenix Suns basketball again Friday night, as the team began their slate of Summer League action out in Las Vegas with a 81-79 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Rookie Koa Peat was the main attraction for Suns fans, and he did not disappoint. Tying a team high in minutes played (28) while posting 17 points and six boards.

Khaman Maluach and his seven turnovers will eventually be a positive

Second year center Khaman Maluach looked as confident as the Suns would have hoped, chipping in with an impressive 19 point, 11 rebound performance. The 19-year-old looked so much more comfortable than a year ago when he was starting out, and you would think his team high seven turnovers would be a problem.

You can think again however, as those turnovers were in large part because of the assuredness and aggressive way in which Maluach played. We're also not ready to say he's going to be prime Jusuf Nurkic with his ball-handling and ability to set screens having handed the ball off to teammates.

But this was a guy who played like he knew he was better than everybody else on the court, and didn't mind taking on more offensive responsibilities in the process. Did it all work? Not at all, and if anything those hands are going to need more work as Maluach is still likely to drop passes and let them slip out of his grip.

We did recently warn fans about putting too much stock about what Maluach was about to do out in Vegas as well.

But that was under the assumption that he was going to use his massive frame to gobble up boards and flat out bully others looking for an opportunity to stick somewhere in the league. That all happened, but so too did a desire to want the ball to create both for himself and others.

If Maluach can give the Suns even five minutes of this kind of play in the regular season, it will raise the ceiling of how good they can be. Mark Williams has similarities to Maluach in that he uses his large frame to be defensively solid and to fight inside on both ends of the court.

An offensive hub he is not, while we all know about the injury history. Maluach just showed in one Summer League game that he is already well on his way to adding that to his game, and it should be an area of his game he continues to work on this offseason.

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