Hoops Habit
Fansided

Houston Rockets: 5 players to avoid in the 2017 NBA Draft

By Brian Sampson

January 5, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; California Golden Bears forward Ivan Rabb (1) shoots a basket against the UCLA Bruins during the first half at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
January 5, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; California Golden Bears forward Ivan Rabb (1) shoots a basket against the UCLA Bruins during the first half at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next

5. Mathias Lessort, PF/C, France

Mathias Lessort is an almost 22-year-old undersized big man who can’t shoot the basketball. What else do you want to know?

He stands at 6’9″ and is known for his defensive and athletic ability. Lessort should be grateful he has his elite athletic ability, because he does not possess very many other tangible skills.

Due to his lack of shooting, the Frenchman primarily plays the center position. We’ve seen a few smaller bigs have success in the NBA, but Lessort will not be one of them.

Given his lack of height and wingspan, he struggles to grab defensive rebounds. This is a huge issue for the Rockets because they like to go small and rely heavily on their lone big man to grab those boards. If its big man isn’t able to grab defensive rebounds, Houston will struggle mightily to stop its opponent from scoring.

Lessort is supposed to have defense as his calling card. However, he is extremely undisciplined and will bite at any halfway decent pump fake. This leads to a lot of unnecessary fouls and free shots from the charity stripe.

On offense, he can’t dribble, pass or shoot the basketball. That makes him an extreme liability for this record-setting Rockets offense.

With Houston looking to chase the coattails of the Warriors, they should stay far, far away from Mathias Lessort.

Home/Houston Rockets