It probably has a lot to do with the explosion of 3pt shooting. That component was already hard to project -- look at how many great NBA shooters were not top picks, and how many great college shooters struggled in the league -- likely due to the different distances, but now the uncertainty is magnified. FT shooting is a constant. From the physical tools and style of play, I'm surprised MKG hasn't been mentioned more. I also think that might be the answer to why Little slid so far. MKG was a major overreach for an offensive project. We even talked about it at the time ... late 1st or early 2nd, he's good value. I don't know that I ever saw Little play this year, and if I did, he didn't make an impression. I had the NBA.com draft ticker open yesterday and looked to see who we had picked when the time came ... and was disappointed to see we had taken a 6'4" SF. Fortunately, everyone else lists him at 6'6". Whew!
I'm excited about this pick because he's got all of the natural things you want a guy to have. He's a lottery type of athlete. His "floor" and his "ceiling" is going to be more about what type of work ethic he has, what breaks go his way, how he handles things, but most of his future isn't restrained by his natural tools but by how he handles himself going forward and I like those type of picks especially at #25. I have no idea how any of these guys will turn out including Zion, but I do know that this guy is a very good NBA athlete right now, and has a chance to be a good NBA player if he can figure out some things. In my opinion I think this pick could turn into one of the better picks in the '20s in the last decade, that doesn't mean it WILL be that, but he's got a really good chance being in Portland where he doesn't have to be a star right off the bat, he's at a position the Blazers need so he should get his chance to get minutes. I like it. I hope he's our starting SF next year, even if it means he's gotta take his lumps.
He got selected, a team traded for him and it was a team very good at drafting players. That's a good start. He doesn't need to prove much to get a min contract now. They know it is a big project with injury concerns. The concern is if he spent one more year on college and got reinjured he would be ignored by everybody
Lol, you're on my barefoot measurement soapbox! But while it's true that Little only measured 6'4.5", his 7'1.25" wingspan & 8'8.5" standing reach are good measurements for a SF and probably more important for him matching up size wise at the 3. The 10" width hands and solid athletic testing numbers are nice too. STOMP
Plus, what's been reported is that after the college season Little worked on getting his body in better shape and worked on his shot with reports coming out of his workouts that his shot is much improved.
so, i was reading the winners and losers for the draft on yahoo and i came across this. not sure why they said this:
This was posted somewhere when it was live.https://www.nba.com/blazers/video/t...neil-olshey-post-dra-20190620-211709-2128kbps
Slipping to 25 will cost him millions over the course of his rookie deal. I think that is all they were talking about.
They're not saying we're losers here. They're saying that he was a loser because he fell so far. Guys like Little and Bol Bol might have gone much higher if they had stayed in school another year.
Gerald Wallace was my favorite non blazer before he got traded to Portland, so I’m comfortable in speaking about his game and how it compares to Little. Gerald was an absolute monster on defense in his prime with the bobcats. He was good on the ball and off the ball. Offensively he relied heavily on athleticism and wasn’t the most “skilled.” He was an awful shooter in college (56% FT, 11% 3PT) and didn’t get much better in the league. As far as Little goes I’d say he’s a little overrated defensively while being underrated offensively. I don’t know if he’ll ever get near Wallace on defense, but I do think his ceiling is much higher on the other end.
Why aren't hockey players listed at their height with skates on then? Or football or baseball players with their cleats on? Basketball is the only sport that engages in this nonsense. One standard applied to all. A person's height is what they measure barefoot. STOMP
He should be getting minutes straightaway, we don’t really have a particularly strong small forward rotation nor any possibilities to make it significantly better. I don’t expect him to be a huge contributor but I also don’t like the whole ‘he should be ready to get some minutes in 3 years’ attitude. A lot of teams are giving significant minutes to their young players early on.
