2019 NBA Mock Draft: Fallout from Zion Williamson’s injury gives others a chance to shine
. F. North Carolina. Nassir Little. 8. player. 125
Little is aggressive, you have to give him that. Still limited to a bench role that doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon, Little is going hard the minute he steps on the court, calling for the ball, jacking shots and generally trying to do a little too much.
Nassir Little looks uncomfortable still. Nearly loses a rebound out of bounds, floats on D as Duke gets another shot up, calls for the ball then steps out of bounds trying to attack a closeout. pic.twitter.com/hopdQ0rO9v
— Brendon Kleen (@BrendonKleen14) February 26, 2019
That leads to Little falling out of position and hurting North Carolina at times. In the clip above, you can see Little fight for a rebound against his teammate and nearly turn the ball over. It lands in Duke’s lap and they get another open 3 as Little struggles to get back into the play defensively. He runs hard in transition, calling for the ball the whole day down, then turns it over by stepping on the sideline. This is, unfortunately, the Little experience in a tiny nutshell.
When Little is in rhythm and turning defense into offense, he looks spectacular. But when he is forced to adjust to the game and his teammates and settle into a lesser role, Little struggles. The freshman’s first two shots against Duke came off the bounce from midrange — he banked one in and completely short-armed the other. He plays out of control, turns the ball over a ton and doesn’t impact the game consistently. With poor steal numbers and an inconsistent jumper, Little is just not the player we thought he would be over the summer, when he won the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP award and headed — alongside a nice freshman class — to Chapel Hill.
That said, Atlanta has developed its young players nicely the past two seasons and they need a big, versatile athlete like Little to balance their core defensively.