7. Ausar Thompson, G, Overtime Elite
Big Board 3.0 rank: 7
His brother Amen may be the more heralded prospect, but Ausar Thompson is a better fit for Portland. Amen is a lead guard on offense, while Ausar projects as more of a scoring wing but with similar elite defensive potential to his brother.
Ausar is nearly impossible to stay in front of when he gets moving, and it doesn’t take much for him to go from standing still to a controlled blaze. He’s shown more improvement as a shooter than Amen throughout the pre-draft process and at the end of the OTE season.
The most attractive part of Ausar’s game for the Blazers is his defense. It hasn’t been much of a challenge for him to guard 1 through 4 to this point in his career, albeit against low-level competition.
He’s not only fast, he’s quick, long, battles through screens, and is a terrific off-ball defender. Ausar looks like a future elite wing defender, which would pair nice with Sharpe and Jerami Grant, theoretically.
But all the same worries – age, competition, bust potential – apply to Ausar just as they do to Amen.