Mattias Lessort: OKC Thunder NBA Draft prospect series
International duo power forward-center Mattias Lessort is next up in Thunderous Intentions NBA Draft Prospect Preview.
Continuing on with TI’s 2017 NBA Draft prospect series the next athlete is big man Mattias Lessort. If I’m sounding like a broken record here, my apologies, but Sam Presti simply isn’t going to waste his 21st pick on a big unless they check off multiple categories the team needs to improve upon. The fact Scott Howard-Cooper doesn’t even rank him among his top ten list in either power forwards or centers is extremely telling.
Although less tends to be known about international players Howard-Cooper is big on a couple of them, so that argument doesn’t exactly hold here.
Specifics:
Height: 6′ 9″
Weight: 250 lbs
Position: power forward – center
Age: 21 years, 7 months
Statline: 10.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.0 blocks
International: Nanterre 92
Home Town:Fort-de-France, Martinique
Current rankings:
Please note, these rankings are taken as current as this writing, and are subject to change.
DraftExpress: 40th
NBA DraftNet: 44th
Scott Howard-Cooper nba.com: not on top 10 power forward or centers lists
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor: 37th
CBS Sports: 60th
Basketball Insiders: 36th
Skills:
After 36 international prospects withdrew from the draft several bigs experienced a major ascent of the prospect ladder. Conversely, Lessort fell down it and significantly so. Draft Express dropped him seven spots which is a red flag.
Lessort experienced growth this season moving to his current French League Team -Nanterre. Here he received more playing time and faced stronger starting players. Notably Lessort was able to maintain his production which is significant given he was facing starters.
Although there are marked areas to improve his NBA ready body is a positive which is partly attributed to his age since he’s older than most prospects.
Teams looking for an energy role player should take a longer view of Lessort, but OKC already have existing roster players who offer more on either end of the floor.
Weaknesses:
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Although Lessort effort and willingness to get dirty are pluses, his lack of versatility offensively and issues with fundamental skills limit him. Specifically he can’t create for himself or others and doesn’t have range. In fact of the three key shooting areas he doesn’t shoot from the perimeter, but more importantly is terrible from the stripe with a 59 percent efficiency.
His propensity to take dumb fouls somewhat erases the pluses he makes in energy. Couple that with his penchant for not being able to react quickly with the proper offensive decision and all those high motor assets become deterrents.
Honors and awards:
- FIBA Europe Cup Champion, 2017
- French Cup Winner, 2017
- Sixth Man of Year – French League, 2016
Pro Comparison:
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer provided a ceiling comparison for each of his prospects. O’Connor’s list pegs Collins ceiling as Montrezl Harrell, Kenneth Faried, Ed Davis
The fit:
Simply not a player Sam Presti would or should be willing to spend his 21st pick on. Nor is he a player OKC should want to make moves to target.