Welcome to Portland Nassir Little

[Fitz303]

Read on Twitter

Some footage from his Washington workout... I think his jumpshot will be fine with time

[zzaj]

I generally agree with Notanoob's stat diving posts going into the draft. In this edition he examines some of the higher profile likely SFs from this year's draft, including Little:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1857045

In his summation he mentions that there are quite a few red flags in terms of Little panning out, and I tend to agree--(I won't use the word "bust" because I don't think players can "bust" at #25).

IMO, the chances of him becoming even a steady bench player in a couple of years are pretty slim.

[zzaj]

Read on Twitter

Some footage from his Washington workout... I think his jumpshot will be fine with time

Not to rain on anybody's parade, but 6 unguarded, corner 3s in a row from the same place isn't very impressive. For example, I regularly hit 10 in a row from this exact spot 3 days a week when I do my own basketball workouts...and nobody is going to confuse me for any kind of good shooter in game situations.

I think people tend to forget that NBA level players (and yes I mean Harkless and Aminu) can hit 70-85/100 during this kind of empty gym drill.

EDIT: I will say that his form looks better than it did in the UNC games I watched...that's a good thing.

[Fitz303]

Read on Twitter

Some footage from his Washington workout... I think his jumpshot will be fine with time

Not to rain on anybody's parade, but 6 unguarded, corner 3s in a row from the same place isn't very impressive. For example, I regularly hit 10 in a row from this exact spot 3 days a week when I do my own basketball workouts...and nobody is going to confuse me for any kind of good shooter in game situations.

I think people tend to forget that NBA level players (and yes I mean Harkless and Aminu) can hit 70-85/100 during this kind of empty gym drill.

EDIT: I will say that his form looks better than it did in the UNC games I watched...that's a good thing.

Completely agree that 6 in a row isn't anything special. But the shooting form is what looks good. That's more what I'm concerned about right now than anything

[Playr2BNamdLatr]

Looking over those stats and not having watched any of the players other then a Duke game here or there it just feels like Little was used in a way he was uncomfortable with. I am not saying he will be a Star or a rotation player but he isnt a PF. A player who is uncomfortable is going to make forced errors and throw up ill advised 3 pointers at a low rate to just try to get back to the rhythm he was used to on AAU circuit.

If anything this would be encouraging to me because the scouting report for some of the higher drafted players looks similar to our 25th pick. I guess a terrible player picked 4th doesn't make a terrible player picked 25th any better but at least its comparable on paper and our pick might have been used improperly. I am just talking out of my butt right here though.

[monopoman]

Yeah I went to a Blazer game way back and during shoot around before the game Bayless hit almost all of his 3 pointers he looked automatic. In game though Bayless was a far inferior shooter though, almost every NBA player is very good in practice shooting unguarded and uncontested 3's from the same spot.

[Dame Lizard]

I haven't heard the Justice Winslow comparison before for Nassir. Is this a reasonable comparison? Albeit Winslow had a lot more hype coming into the NBA.

[Dangeruss]

Knowing Stotts, he won’t sniff the floor next season without major injuries. I’m a fan of his work ethic, athleticism and length...but he has next to no nba skills offensively

Hopefully his defense is good enough to get him into the rotation, because he has a lot of value in transition. I just don’t see him making any type of impact anytime soon unless he has a Kawhi level work ethic. Somewhat similar prospects coming in (aside from height and some scoring ability), but Kawhi built himself from the ground up to what he is now. And had an elite frame to do so.

Hoping for the best, but his flaws as a wing are all too familiar to me.

[d-train]

Knowing Stotts, he won’t sniff the floor next season without major injuries. I’m a fan of his work ethic, athleticism and length...but he has next to no nba skills offensively

Hopefully his defense is good enough to get him into the rotation, because he has a lot of value in transition. I just don’t see him making any type of impact anytime soon unless he has a Kawhi level work ethic. Somewhat similar prospects coming in (aside from height and some scoring ability), but Kawhi built himself from the ground up to what he is now. And had an elite frame to do so.

Hoping for the best, but his flaws as a wing are all too familiar to me.

His playing time will depend on how good he is. More than likely, the best case scenario is he's a good player like the good players we already have. In this most likely scenario, he will sit and wait his turn. However, if he is some great talent with exceptional work ethic, athleticism, and willingness to learn/adapt to his role, he will play a ton. Nothing is predetermined other than the limits of his ability.

[Masterfully]

Yeah I went to a Blazer game way back and during shoot around before the game Bayless hit almost all of his 3 pointers he looked automatic. In game though Bayless was a far inferior shooter though, almost every NBA player is very good in practice shooting unguarded and uncontested 3's from the same spot.

Bayless is a career 36% 3pt shooter. Pretty solid. But I agree with the sentiment. Watching a guy in shoot around should be more focused on form and speed than how many go in (unless of course, they aren’t going in).

[dunlop212]

Bayless was the last guy I can think of who fell to Portland when he was projected to go much higher. This board went nuts over it at the time, and then he won the SL MVP, everybody was sure he was going to be a star. Turned out to have an OK career, but nothing like we were hoping.

[monopoman]

Yeah I went to a Blazer game way back and during shoot around before the game Bayless hit almost all of his 3 pointers he looked automatic. In game though Bayless was a far inferior shooter though, almost every NBA player is very good in practice shooting unguarded and uncontested 3's from the same spot.

Bayless is a career 36% 3pt shooter. Pretty solid. But I agree with the sentiment. Watching a guy in shoot around should be more focused on form and speed than how many go in (unless of course, they aren’t going in).

Yeah Bayless isn't trash from out there but in shoot around he looked like Steph Curry. I also want to point out Bayless was more effective from 3 in game later in his career in his first two years in Portland 25.9% and 31.5%.

[Wizenheimer]

Yeah I went to a Blazer game way back and during shoot around before the game Bayless hit almost all of his 3 pointers he looked automatic. In game though Bayless was a far inferior shooter though, almost every NBA player is very good in practice shooting unguarded and uncontested 3's from the same spot.

Bayless is a career 36% 3pt shooter. Pretty solid. But I agree with the sentiment. Watching a guy in shoot around should be more focused on form and speed than how many go in (unless of course, they aren’t going in).

Yeah Bayless isn't trash from out there but in shoot around he looked like Steph Curry. I also want to point out Bayless was more effective from 3 in game later in his career in his first two years in Portland 25.9% and 31.5%.

Bayless is just a poor comp

to start with, Bayless didn't really 'fall' to Portland in the draft. He was the 11th pick in a draft that had Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Brook lopez & Eric Gordon, who were all generally rated higher. And Portland traded up for Bayless

second, Bayless had some developed skills; he averaged 20 points and 4 assists as a starter at Arizona. Meanwhile, Little averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds as a bench player. And Bayless shot 41% from three and 84% on FT's in college, while Little shot 27% and 77%. So Bayless is a really poor shooting comparison.
***********************************************************************************

now that the dust has settled a bit from the draft, a few things are clearer: one is that taking Little at 25 was a no-brainer. The reason he had been rated so highly was because of his athleticism and showing in competition against other high school talent. The odds were stacked against Portland finding anybody who would help much next season or the season after. In fact, there's only about a 35% chance that a player taken at 25 will even average more than 10 in total points+rebounds+assists

http://www.82games.com/nbadraftpicks.htm

Portland had an opportunity to swing for the fences and they took it. That's as good a use of #25 as any

but the reasons Little fell to 25 are legitimate. There are major questions about his shooting, and that's an NBA red flag for a perimeter player. He doesn't have good handles and he averaged twice as many turnovers as assists. He's a project and while that's always been acceptable and can work for a young big man, project wings fail a lot more than they succeed.

The comparison to Gerald Wallace, in college, seems close. They were both bench players who averaged 9.8 points. Wallace averaged more rebounds, but he shot a lot worse from three and the FT line. But Wallace had an incredible motor and there are apparently some questions about Little's motor. Maybe it was just his situation at NC, but we just don't know at this point.

The good news is that Little has a much higher ceiling than most taken that late in the draft. The bad news is that as a hyper-athletic project wing, history suggests Little will be more likely to end up like Joe Alexander than Gerald Wallace

[dunlop212]

Sorry Wiz, but you are wrong about Bayless dropping. The cool thing about this site is that we can relive draft day 2008:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=818851
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=819817
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=818818

Or just start here: viewforum.php?f=28&start=10200

This was at the height of the Pritch worship era.

Bayless was projected top 5. Top 5 to 11 is a big drop; consider the reaction if Portland had traded up to 11 in this draft, and Garland or Hunter was still on the board.

[Sinobas]

Gerald Wallace had a 43.5 inch vertical....same as Clyde Drexler. That puts him in elite company as far as sheet athletisim goes.

Little's vertical is 38.5, that's good, but not elite. Brandon Roy actually had a higher vertical.

Though his 7'2 wingspan is impressive. Pippen's was 7'3.

But anyway...I'm not understanding the excitement about Little. He seems very similar to Maurice Harkless.

[whatchaknow]

Well mo hark started on a wcf team. If little is capable of that then this pick is a success

[d-train]

Sorry Wiz, but you are wrong about Bayless dropping. The cool thing about this site is that we can relive draft day 2008:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=818851
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=819817
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=818818

Or just start here: viewforum.php?f=28&start=10200

This was at the height of the Pritch worship era.

Bayless was projected top 5. Top 5 to 11 is a big drop; consider the reaction if Portland had traded up to 11 in this draft, and Garland or Hunter was still on the board.

Ya know, discussion in this forum is only proof of what uninformed people are capable of believing.

[PDXKnight]

Well mo hark started on a wcf team. If little is capable of that then this pick is a success

I’d be happy with moe from a 25th pick but I also don’t think Mo would start on 28 teams in the nba

[monopoman]

Bayless is a career 36% 3pt shooter. Pretty solid. But I agree with the sentiment. Watching a guy in shoot around should be more focused on form and speed than how many go in (unless of course, they aren’t going in).

Yeah Bayless isn't trash from out there but in shoot around he looked like Steph Curry. I also want to point out Bayless was more effective from 3 in game later in his career in his first two years in Portland 25.9% and 31.5%.

Bayless is just a poor comp

to start with, Bayless didn't really 'fall' to Portland in the draft. He was the 11th pick in a draft that had Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Brook lopez & Eric Gordon, who were all generally rated higher. And Portland traded up for Bayless

second, Bayless had some developed skills; he averaged 20 points and 4 assists as a starter at Arizona. Meanwhile, Little averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds as a bench player. And Bayless shot 41% from three and 84% on FT's in college, while Little shot 27% and 77%. So Bayless is a really poor shooting comparison.
***********************************************************************************

now that the dust has settled a bit from the draft, a few things are clearer: one is that taking Little at 25 was a no-brainer. The reason he had been rated so highly was because of his athleticism and showing in competition against other high school talent. The odds were stacked against Portland finding anybody who would help much next season or the season after. In fact, there's only about a 35% chance that a player taken at 25 will even average more than 10 in total points+rebounds+assists

http://www.82games.com/nbadraftpicks.htm

Portland had an opportunity to swing for the fences and they took it. That's as good a use of #25 as any

but the reasons Little fell to 25 are legitimate. There are major questions about his shooting, and that's an NBA red flag for a perimeter player. He doesn't have good handles and he averaged twice as many turnovers as assists. He's a project and while that's always been acceptable and can work for a young big man, project wings fail a lot more than they succeed.

The comparison to Gerald Wallace, in college, seems close. They were both bench players who averaged 9.8 points. Wallace averaged more rebounds, but he shot a lot worse from three and the FT line. But Wallace had an incredible motor and there are apparently some questions about Little's motor. Maybe it was just his situation at NC, but we just don't know at this point.

The good news is that Little has a much higher ceiling than most taken that late in the draft. The bad news is that as a hyper-athletic project wing, history suggests Little will be more likely to end up like Joe Alexander than Gerald Wallace

I am not comparing Little to Bayless just pointing out that I saw Bayless look automatic from 3 in shoot around and then in game he was nowhere near that. Yes Little and Bayless are very different players, I am not comparing the two directly it's more that I thought of someone who was at best a meh 3 point shooter in Portland and how amazingly consistent he would look at shoot around.

[Pattycakes]

Watch on YouTube

This put my mind at ease about the pick. A little over a year ago here is Nassir vs. Zion. He clearly holds his own and in a large part looks more complete as a prospect. Zion has filled out weightwise and athleticismwise, but skillwise I'm very encouraged by what I see here.