While the preseason hasn’t even started, that doesn’t mean it’s too early to take a look at some NBA Draft prospects. The first several of these will look at lottery picks even if they may not be in the range of the Spurs’ potential pick.
While Las Vegas doesn’t think the team will make the playoffs, just about everyone disagrees with that prediction and believes the Spurs will be picking outside of the lottery once again. So without further ado, we get to today’s prospect to watch in North Carolina forward Nassir Little.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound small forward is an intriguing prospect as he is projected all over the place right now. Some sites have him easily in the lottery while others have him going a little after the lottery. In any case, he will likely be unavailable to the Spurs barring some sort of horrendous season with the Tar Heels.
Little does not play like his name might suggest as he plays with explosiveness in his game and can get to the rim pretty well. He handles the ball well and is a powerful driver with both hands. Despite likely not playing in the post at the NBA level, he plays well out of there at the high school and likely the college level. He has a nice step back jumper out of the post and a couple of go-to moves to boot.
Not only does Little have a solid offensive game, but he also plays the kind of defense you dream about as a coach. He’s a zealous defender who seems to take every matchup personally and has great speed and length to handle just about any assignment outside of guarding centers. His defense on the perimeter in particular is something that could separate him from other players of his size in college.
The Tar Heel freshman will likely play his best basketball in an uptempo game and one that allows him to be fairly free flowing within the offense. He makes good decisions and is a good passer as well.
He’ll have to work on extending his shooting range to be more consistent from the three-point line, but his mechanics show promise in that regard. He’ll have to continue working on that and we will have to see how he translates to the college level before making any real predictions, but he should be one of the better players in the 2019 NBA Draft.
