2019 NBA Draft: Portland Trail Blazers with a Little steal?

Former UNC Basketball forward Nassir Little fell all the way to the Portland Trail Blazers at pick number 25. Will he be the steal of the 2019 NBA Draft?

One of the biggest surprises in the 2019 NBA Draft was the fall of former North Carolina stand-out, Nassir Little. After Little captured the McDonald’s All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic MVPs experts considered him a top-5 lottery pick. However, his streaky freshman season seemed to lower his stock.

Leading up to the draft, many still had him as a lottery pick. However, team after team kept passing up Little until the 25th pick where the Portland Trailblazers made the selection and ended Little’s draft-night fall.

Following Thursday’s draft Little’s head coach at UNC, Roy Williams, was asked about his former five-star freshman and how he fell out of the lottery. Williams was very clear that he felt for Little while teams were passing on him but did offer some positive words and even called him the steal of the draft:

"“I was dying for Nassir. That’s a hard situation to be in the green room with so many other players, maybe too many. But you never know (what) teams are thinking. I know one thing – he is the absolute steal of the draft.”"

Several analysts including Mike Schmitz and Jay Bilas agreed with Williams that Little is the steal of the draft.

What does this mean for Little?

Well, Little is now in a position to contribute to a team with a strong culture and high expectations in his rookie season. Sound familiar? The Blazers are coming off getting swept in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors (again), and with the upcoming free agents on their roster, there could be plenty of playing time for Little.

The best case scenario would be Little quickly improves and gets into the starting rotation for this potential 50-win Western Conference team.

The worst case scenario would be Little struggling for minutes as he doesn’t improve as quickly as expected. Still not that bad of a scenario as he would be practicing against Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum daily.

What does this mean for the Blazers?

As of now, the Blazers are on the books for $123,756,352 for the 2019-20 season. According to hoopshype.com, There are currently five players from last season that are free agents:

1. Al-Farouq Aminu
Unrestricted / Power Forward / 6-9
9.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg
Not a great scorer, but does the little things that help you win and is a stat stuffer. Plus defender on the wing.

2. Enes Kanter
Unrestricted / Center / 6-11
13.7 ppg, 9.8 rpg
Great scorer down low, ferocious rebounder and a good finisher out of the pick-and-roll. A good showing so far in the playoffs has helped his stock as a free agent.

3. Seth Curry
Unrestricted / Shooting Guard / 6-2
7.9 ppg, 45.0 3PT%
A solid scorer who has the patented Curry shooting touch, and great spark plug off the bench.

4. Rodney Hood
Unrestricted / Shooting Guard / 6-8
11.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg
Hood can really do damage against second units.

5. Jake Layman
Restricted / Small Forward / 6-9
7.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg
Bouncy wing with great size. Held back by poor shooting marks.

Little still has a great chance to get into the rotation even if the Blazers resign Aminu and Layman. As of now, it seems like Little, Turner, Harkless could be fighting for minutes.

Overall the Blazers are going to be a force in the Western Conference with their mix of All-Star veterans and great young talent.