Charlotte Hornets Draft Prospect: Is Nassir Little the Next Kawhi?

With the NBA Draft just a few days away, we here at Old North Banter have decided to take a deep dive into some of the prospects the Charlotte Hornets may take Thursday night. If you would like to see Daniel Lacy’s breakdown of Oregon prospect Bol Bol, just follow the link. Today we are breaking down another member of the frontcourt, North Carolina small forward Nassir Little.

The landscape of the NBA has changed drastically since Anthony Davis was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday and now rumors are swirling the Lakers will be actively pursuing free-agent point guard Kemba Walker as an outside scorer and ball handler to pair with Davis and LeBron James in Los Angeles.

Despite the potential of Walker being enticed to go to La-La Land, the Hornets will more than likely continue with their draft strategy and will draft with a “business as usual” mentality.

Over the last two seasons, the Hornets used one main draft strategy: draft the best player available, no matter how raw they might be, and hope they have a Walker-esque like developmental progression, and what we have with Little is exactly that.

Nassir Little Was Top-5 Talent Coming into College, But Was Underwhelming

Going into the 2018 Season, Little was widely considered to be one of the best prospects coming to college, so much so that he was considered the second-best small forward behind Duke’s Cam Reddish and the third-best prospect overall behind Reddish and Duke’s RJ Barrett.

It is worth noting how much that has changed, as Duke’s Zion Williamson was considered the 5th best prospect in the 2018 recruiting class, but we’ll keep it moving.

Little had what some would consider an underwhelming season. The Orange Park, Florida native averaged 9.8 points per game along with 4.6 rebounds per game. What could scare some scouts away is his shooting percentage, as he was 47.8-percent shooter from the field, which as you can see by this stat chart from NCAA.com, is well outside its top-100 leaders in field-goal percentage.

Little was playing a respectable amount of minutes during his lone season with the Tar Heels, averaging about 18 minutes per game, but his limited minutes could end up being an issue going forward as well.

His durability may factor into the decision of most NBA scouts. Following the Tar Heels home game against the eventual national champion Virginia Cavaliers, Little rolled his ankle and left for the remainder of the game. The injury appeared to affect how he played going forward, as he only played 20 or more minutes per game just three times following the injury.

Nassir Little’s Talent, Athleticism is there

Now while I may seem like I’m trashing him, I can definitely understand why his numbers were so limited, as he spent most of his time playing backup for senior forward Cameron Johnson.

Little is a specimen at the position, coming in at 6-feet-6-inches and 220 pounds, a solid 10-to-15 pounds heavier than the other top small forward in this draft class Reddish. Size-wise he is closer to what Kawhi Leonard was when he first came out of San Diego State.

He has definitely shown some flashes as a player and will be great on defense and using his body to get into the paint and get buckets. The one area of shooting he did not struggle with was free throws, as he was a 77-percent free throw shooter, which for a forward is a great average.

His athleticism solid for someone just 19-years of age, I’m mean, just look at this dunk.

That kind of athleticism alone will get teams towards the backend of the lottery interested in the hopes they can get a steal of a pick.

Nassir Little’s NBA Comparison?

While many people have been giving him a Justise Winslow comparison for his raw ability that is still relatively unknown, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say his early scouting report seems to make him more comparable to Leonard than Winslow.

Leonard was never known as the monster scorer that he is today, he was considered to be more of a hybrid defender on the perimeter and in the paint, which somewhat fits into the position Little finds himself in now.

Little may ultimately struggle his first one or two seasons in the NBA since he hasn’t even hit 20 yet. but if he can get the right talent around him and proper development and coaching, well as one NBA superstar once said: “Boardman gets paid”.