Portland Trail Blazers forward Nassir Little was considered a steal at the 25th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft for his towering potential. Thus far in his career, though, he’s yet to make the massive strides that were expected of him.
Playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels his freshman season, Little displayed a knack for creating his own shot and the capacity to be high-level scorer in the NBA. Through two seasons, he’s shown the aggressiveness to one day be a top-option, but has received scarce opportunity to prove himself under former coach Terry Stotts.
The Blazers faithful are hoping that Little, like CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, and Gary Trent Jr., can have a third-year breakout and become a consistent option for Portland off the bench. With Chauncey Billups now at the helm, Nas has a chance to prove himself under a new play caller and earn the playing time he needs to develop into the future star the Blazers hope that they nabbed in the late first-round.
Nassir Little can accelerate his development with the Portland Trail Blazers by emulating these NBA forwards
Little has all the tools to be a dominant player on both ends of the court, but needs to further refine the more technical aspects of his game. He has range out to the 3-point line, but needs to compact his shooting motion to ascertain a more consistent release on his attempts. He has the athleticism to pressure the rim, but needs to tighten his handle to consistently snake his way into the paint. Little is also built like a future All-Defense team member, but needs to show more effort and discipline on that end to be trusted as a regular feature in the rotation.
1. T.J. Warren
Like Nassir Little, T.J. Warren came into the league as a midrange shooter and slasher. Since then, he’s finetuned his jumper and has become a threat to pullup from beyond the arc on each and every possession.
Warren’s development as a deep shooter didn’t happen by accident. He tweaked his mechanics to become a more consistent sniper and it’s paid off dividends.
These clips are only one season apart, but the differences are obvious. Warren actively worked to shorten his release time, by starting his shooting motion closer to the hip, rather than pulling his shot from below his waist. He also removed the hitch, turning his shot from a kind of catapult motion into one smooth action.
Since stretching his range out to the arc, Warren has become a much more versatile threat on offense, which has created more space for him to operate in the paint and in between.
Little has the touch to hit from deep, but compacting his shooting motion could have a similar effect for him in the league.