Nassir Little (1 Viewer)

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Sounds like he's at worst Ruben Patterson. Great on-ball defense, physical, athletic, 6'5, 225, not a great team defender but a hard worker, limited handle but a line-drive dunker. The Kobe Stopper was dumb as a post and a rapist and a terrible three point shooter and he made it 9 seasons in the NBA. They had similar college numbers.

So yeah, if you get a 4.2 gpa Ruben Patterson with high character, that really isn't a bad baseline for a 25th pick.

Ruben was both an asshole and a moron who came up in the Jail Blazer era. So it'll be interesting to see an alternate reality where you get to put a decent, smart human being in Patterson's body, put him on a high character team, and just see what happens.
 
It’s funny, when Little was still on the board around pick 20, I was honestly hoping someone else would take him, just so I didn’t have to deal with the the rage I would’ve felt if Olshey passed on him for like Okpala or whatever.
 
Scalma said:
It’s funny, when Little was still on the board around pick 20, I was honestly hoping someone else would take him, just so I didn’t have to deal with the the rage I would’ve felt if Olshey passed on him for like Okpala or whatever.
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I was with you. It came down to our pick and I was thinking, "God dammit, we are going to pass on him too, aren't we.".
 
If he learns to shoot passably (35% or better from three-point range), he's a massive steal. If he never is capable of shooting, he'll still be a decent pick at 25, but more of a role-player. Definitely a good selection.
 
The ceiling would be someone like Jimmy Butler who completely transformed his game through hard work, very hard work. Not many people that have that kind of energy and focus, but it’s possible Little could become a very different player than he is now.
 
Scalma said:
I don’t know, it’s not like I’m in the gym with the guy, but everything else I’ve heard about his work ethic contradicts it.
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I didn’t hone in on Little this season, but remember seeing NC play a few times and wonder where he was. The last time we saw him he was killing it in the McDonald’s game. Hope he uses whatever happened as fuel. I’ll take Gerald Wallace 2.0 and be very happy.
 
Questions about his motor are concerning.

Did anyone watch him play much at UNC?

The highlight videos make it look like he has a motor and some fire. But as we've seen with Harkless, that isn't something you can teach.
 
Fez Forthright said:
Schmitz:Nassir Little dropping all the way to No. 25. We've learned since the collegiate preseason that he's far from a perfect prospect. Questions about his work ethic and motor arose during the pre-draft process, which aligned with his uneven season at UNC. But even with that in mind, for 25 teams to pass on a player with his tools and defensive versatility is mind-boggling. Hopefully this lights a fire under Little, as he has top-10 talent in the Jaylen Brown mold. Portland figures to be a great fit for him alongside Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
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Little and Reddish both failed to meet expectations as freshman - and largely for the same reasons. One stayed a top ten pick and the other dropped. Strikes me as rather arbitrary. :dunno:
 
oldmangrouch said:
Little and Reddish both failed to meet expectations as freshman - and largely for the same reasons. One stayed a top ten pick and the other dropped. Strikes me as rather arbitrary. :dunno:
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It was an insanely weird draft imo. It was because really so many guys all graded out similarly to a lot of teams and some teams and I dunno as it went probably 10-15 picks in the 1st round, I was surprised at where guys got drafted, some absolute head scratchers, some just weird how far they dropped. Like Little and Kevin Porter Jr, might have top 7 ish talent and just dropped. Just a strange draft to follow this year.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
It was an insanely weird draft imo. It was because really so many guys all graded out similarly to a lot of teams and some teams and I dunno as it went probably 10-15 picks in the 1st round, I was surprised at where guys got drafted, some absolute head scratchers, some just weird how far they dropped. Like Little and Kevin Porter Jr, might have top 7 ish talent and just dropped. Just a strange draft to follow this year.
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There are a lot of incompetent NBA gms
 
STOMP said:
To be accurate, 24 teams didn't pass on him as several had multiple picks. I agree he's a project with upside and don't expect much immediate help. Barring injuries or shelf clearing roster moves, my guess is he'll be brought along slowly like Collins with hopes he also earns a rotation spot in year 2 or 3. He has physical tools but obviously has a lot of learning/refining to do especially on offense. I won't be surprised or disappointed if it takes him a couple seasons to reach a competent level in the league. If that is his career arc where he's not an immediate success, I'm sure we'll be seeing the same posters who are gushing superlatives today calling him hopeless before his rookie year is completed... seen that movie a few times.

STOMP
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He could run into the same problem he had in college. On a team in "win now" mode, his lack of polish could trump his obvious talent.
 
oldmangrouch said:
Little and Reddish both failed to meet expectations as freshman - and largely for the same reasons. One stayed a top ten pick and the other dropped. Strikes me as rather arbitrary. :dunno:
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Reddish has better skills for the modern NBA. For one he’s a better shooter than Little and we saw how much value teams placed on shooting.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
It was an insanely weird draft imo. It was because really so many guys all graded out similarly to a lot of teams and some teams and I dunno as it went probably 10-15 picks in the 1st round, I was surprised at where guys got drafted, some absolute head scratchers, some just weird how far they dropped. Like Little and Kevin Porter Jr, might have top 7 ish talent and just dropped. Just a strange draft to follow this year.
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The public doesn't know why Porter was suspended in college, but I'm betting NBA teams did. A teenager can grow beyond being a knucklehead, but if a guy of comparable upside is available, why bother taking the gamble?
 
The thing about Little he can be momentum changer with one the high flying dunks. Kind like Zach with one of his chase down behind Dunks. Little beside Zion the only players in the draft that can bring that momentum changer in a game.
 
blazerboy30 said:
Questions about his motor are concerning.

Did anyone watch him play much at UNC?

The highlight videos make it look like he has a motor and some fire. But as we've seen with Harkless, that isn't something you can teach.
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Pet peeve # 2000000000........ people who question a young players motor (or heart). This drives me crazy. ( I know you didn't say it)
I can see doing it after years of watching a player, but a 18-19 year old kid who is learning a new system? I agree with you, the highlights seem to counter that remark. Now if he didn't put the time in to get better, than that would be concerning, but I think people go too far when critiquing players. Stick to what is visible from the outside and not try to guess what's going on in the inside of these kids. It could have been the simple case of a young player thinking too much on the court and not reacting quick enough. Which is why I never expect too much from a first year player. His motor could be elite for all we know.
 
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Pinwheel1 said:
Pet peeve # 2000000000........ people who question a young players motor (or heart). This drives me crazy. ( I know you didn't say it)
I can see doing it after years of watching a player, but a 18-19 year old kid who is learning a new system? I agree with you, the highlights seem to counter that remark. Now if he didn't put the time in to get better, than that would be concerning, but I think people go to far when critiquing players. Stick to what is visible from the outside and not try to guess what's going on in the inside of these kids. It could have been the simple case of a young player thinking too much on the court and not reacting quick enough. Which is why I never expect too much from a first year player. His motor could be elite for all we know.
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I disagree with you on this so much, Im not even sure where to start. Respect your opinion, but I think Im gonna have to just agree to disagree lol.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
I disagree with you on this so much, Im not even sure where to start. Respect your opinion, but I think Im gonna have to just agree to disagree lol.
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No problem. But I would be interested in knowing how we as fans should judge a young player's motor. What are you looking for? Beyond the obvious of someone not trying or running hard. Because those examples are very seldom seen at that level. People who generally question a young players motor are not at practice or in the weight room. They are basing it on 20 minutes on the court when other factors are involved.
 
been a while since i posted but the draft got me a Little excited...

my thoughts on nas is that i love the fact that we sat back and got lucky enough to have a guy with his physical gifts and potential fall to us. for a team in our position, ostensibly determined to make the finals, drafts like this are a godsend. for as long as dame is our guy, we’ll probably never have a high draft pick again. teams with lasting success and dominance have a keen eye/luck acquiring talent late in the draft, and with neil at the helm we have a guy who pretty much became a millionaire off his ability to find those diamonds in the rough. thats a beautiful thing.

if you listen to neil talk post-draft, its clear that while he used to be a draft first kinda guy, right now that is not remotely where his head is at and im so so so happy to see that. our wcf berth was no fluke despite the fact that we got mollywhopped by the warriors, and the team knows that were oh so close to the top of the mountain. thus, my thoughts on nas is the same as neil - stoked we got some talent for our less than optimal draft spot but its still a small pick up with a bigger picture in mind. in other words, whether nas is dope or not is kinda irrelevant right now.

only thing im concerned with right now is what the team has in mind for july... are we gonna try to find a way to keep kanter/hood, or are we gonna trade for somebody... those are the only two options that can keep us at our current position and there is absolutely no way we should ever fall back to where we were in the lillard era again.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
No problem. But I would be interested in knowing how we as fans should judge a young player's motor. What are you looking for? Beyond the obvious of someone not trying or running hard. Because those examples are very seldom seen at that level. People who generally question a young players motor are not at practice or in the weight room. They are basing it on 20 minutes on the court when other factors are involved.
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This isn't aimed at little, as I think his “motor” isn't his problem.

Overall I think how much “Motor” one has is one of the easier things to tell. Are they aggressive, are they hustling, do they crash the glass, are they “watching”, or are they moving, do they seem interested. Of course we can take it to far and try to psychoanalyze a guy from 15-20 minutes of a game and say their motor is bad, but even in low level sports like Middle School you can kind of tell the kids who are leaving it out on the court and those who arent.

Eventually over I don't know, lets say 5+ games (that was an arbitrary number I grabbed), you can identify patterns, does this player keep getting beat down the court, does the player keep getting boards, is he standing a lot, does winning and losing seem to matter, etc.

Also how much time a player spends in the weight room, or working out is important, but a lot of guys work out really hard and check out in between the lines.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
Also how much time a player spends in the weight room, or working out is important, but a lot of guys work out really hard and check out in between the lines.
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Your last line was a little different from what I said. But it is a huge difference in my point. I said practice and the weight room. We don't see them every day in practice. If the coach says a guy has no motor then that is one thing because he sees a player for hours and hours every week. A fans sees a young player less than 1 hour each week. Again I am being specific to young players not old vets.

As for how it relates to Little...it sounds like early on he was struggling with where to be on defense, which is common with young players. Just like football, when a player has to think too much on D vs just reacting to the ball, he struggles. The Blazers don't have much of a defensive game plan so it should not be a factor. (kidding)
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Your last line was a little different from what I said. But it is a huge difference in my point. I said practice and the weight room. We don't see them every day in practice. If the coach says a guy has no motor then that is one thing because he sees a player for hours and hours every week. A fans sees a young player less than 1 hour each week. Again I am being specific to young players not old vets.

As for how it relates to Little...it sounds like early on he was struggling with where to be on defense, which is common with young players. Just like football, when a player has to think too much on D vs just reacting to the ball, he struggles. The Blazers don't have much of a defensive game plan so it should not be a factor. (kidding)
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Praying is a game plan, pal.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
No problem. But I would be interested in knowing how we as fans should judge a young player's motor. What are you looking for? Beyond the obvious of someone not trying or running hard. Because those examples are very seldom seen at that level. People who generally question a young players motor are not at practice or in the weight room. They are basing it on 20 minutes on the court when other factors are involved.
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That's an interesting question. Let me offer a real world example.

Remember when we had both Leonard and TRob? To be kind, the game was too fast for both of them. One responded by standing around like a statue, watching the other 9 guys on the court play. The other charged around the floor with reckless, clueless abandon. As bad a player as TRob was, he sometimes made good things happen through sheer hustle.

TRob never did learn how to play basketball at an NBA level, but lack of effort was never the problem. Leonard learned - but to this day is prone to bouts of passivity. You could make a similar comparison between Aminu and Hark. From the begining, Hark was a talented kid with inconsistent energy level and focus. (which is why we got him dirt cheap) That is still true. Aminu was (and is) the guy who plays hard even when he is having a bad night. Unlike TRob, he also improved his game enough that he also has good nights.

The point I am trying to make, is that other things changed, but those traits were there from the begining.
 
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