There weren’t all that many players that saw their draft stock fall as far as the former LSU Tigers talented big man Naz Reid did at the NBA Combine. His measurables weren’t all that bad, but he did show out with the highest percentage of body fat off all the participants at the NBA Combine last month.
The appeal of Reid rode with his ability to handle the ball and score really from anywhere within 16-feet of the basket. He draws comps to Nene and Kenneth Faried, hopefully from his better days with the Denver Nuggets. If he drops some of the body fat and leans up ahead of this coming regular season, Reid could show that first round promise most assumed he had.
Reid also had a pretty solid freshman campaign at LSU. He posted 13.6 points per game, 7.2 rebounds, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks. Two concerns that came with his production levels at LSU, considering he could command a high usage rate at times for a big man, are his facilitating ability and lack of rim protection.
Any time there’s a center with a usage rate above 26 percent, turnover percentage above 16, and an assist rate below 7 percent, there is cause for a ton of concern. He will have to get smarter with his ball handling in the NBA. Nonetheless, his ability to bang around in the paint and hit the glass hard while dribbling the ball better than most bigs is hard to find. The Chicago Bulls would’ve done well to sign him to the frontcourt rotation.