Portland Trail Blazers: Potential second round steals in the NBA Draft

After a winding college career that saw him play three seasons for two separate schools over the course of four years, Malik Fitts enters the NBA draft as an intriguing second-round prospect with lots of promise.

After a mediocre freshman season at South Florida and a subsequent transfer, Fitts exploded onto the scene at Saint Mary’s. Over his two seasons with the Gaels, Fitts made two All-WCC teams while averaging nearly 16 points a night.

Offensively, Fitts is a very well rounded scorer. With his imposing 6’8” 230 pound frame, he can bully his way into the low post against smaller players and is a very adept post finisher. Fitts is also deceptively quick from end to end for his size and is more than capable of taking it coast to coast by himself in transition.

His three-point shot over the past two seasons has been nothing short of elite, hovering right above the 40 percent mark on around four attempts per game. Fitts uses his length to go right over the top of smaller defenders on long-range shots. He also works well in catch-and-shoot scenarios both when he puts up a shot immediately or when driving off a ball fake.

Fitts has a few weaknesses on offense. His passing game leaves much to be desired as he averaged barely an assist per game at Saint Mary’s. This is a symptom of the larger problem that Fitts is a black hole on offense who tends to force the issue rather than pass out more than often than not. This leads to him taking lots of low-efficiency shots that he will need to learn to cut out of his game in the NBA if he wants to be successful.

On defense, Fitts uses his length to his advantage and is very good at disrupting passing lanes. His steals per game and steal rate have gone up every season of his college career which is a promising sign. Thanks to his large frame, Fitts is hard to move in the post and is a quality defender down low, even though his block totals aren’t incredible.

Where he needs to improve on the defensive end is his lateral quickness. Fitts has struggles guarding smaller and more explosive players and gets beat off the dribble fairly often. Because of this, Fitts projects as more of a power forward in the NBA where he will be guarding slower players the majority of the time.

On Portland, Fitts would pair especially well with Damian Lillard. He has experience playing with a ball-dominant point guard in Jordan Ford and his catch and shoot ability will pair well with Lillard’s style of play. His well rounded offensive game and solid defense would be a welcome addition to the Portland Trail Blazers lineup.

Fitts is projected to go near the end of the second round or possibly undrafted. So if Portland wants to use the 46th pick on someone else signing him as an undrafted free agent could be a possibility.

NBA Comparison: Eric Paschall