2016 NBA Draft: Can America's matchup nightmare stick in the NBA?

Iowa State’s Georges Niang will be a mid-2nd round pick, at best, in the 2016 NBA Draft.

There are two ways to perfectly describe Georges Niang’s game: He’s a winner with high intelligence and he’s a match-up nightmare.

As a senior at Iowa State, Niang stuffed the stat sheet, putting up 20.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, while shooting 55 percent from the field and 39 percent from deep.

Truly, there was almost nobody in America harder to guard than the unassuming Cyclone power forward from Massachusetts. For his efforts, he was a unanimous First Team All-Big 12, a Second Team All-American and he led Iowa State to yet another NCAA Tournament appearance.

At the NBA Combine in May, his hands measured 9.25 inches, which was tied with Utah’s Jakob Poetl (amongst others) in the top-5. He reportedly only stood 6’6″ without shoes, but when did the shoeless measurement ever actually matter?

Despite his possible shortcomings in physical stature, few teams would be able to find a guy that has the same sort of instincts and versatility as Niang.

The biggest concern with the former Cyclone would be his ability to defend. Niang managed to collect 22 blocks and 31 steals, which definitely aren’t spectacular numbers for an interior defender.

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I firmly believe he has the right size to bang in the post, but his lateral speed in today’s pick-and-roll defense would rightly be a concern.

Niang deserves to be picked in the mid-40s or 50s based on his performance at the Combine. In his first Combine 5-on-5 scrimmage, Niang put up a spectacular 20 points, three rebounds, and three assists, showing off his great feel for the game and solid instincts.

He followed that up with an underwhelming 10 point, five board performance the next day, but he did enough to garner interviews with several teams.

Niang demonstrated his unique blend of size, shooting, and passing against far more hyped guys, and might have done enough in one outing to secure his professional future in the Association.

The easiest analogy for what someone like Niang is San Antonio’s Boris Diaw. Once an explosive athlete, Diaw is now a capable distributor and shifty offensive facilitator for the Spurs. He nearly garnered MVP consideration during the team’s 2014 title run.

Diaw is the likely ceiling for Niang, but there are a number of teams who would greatly benefit from taking a second-round chance on a stretch forward who can do everything – from rebounding to handling the ball.

Even with the advantages that someone with Niang’s potential can provide, there aren’t necessarily a lot of teams that he fits with right now.

2016 NBA Draft: Can America’s matchup nightmare stick in the NBA?

By Doug Winkey | Jun 14, 2016

Iowa State’s Georges Niang will be a mid-2nd round pick, at best, in the 2016 NBA Draft.

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