NBA Draft 2019: Best and worst fits for all potential lottery picks

14. Coby White, 6-5 G, North Carolina

BEST: Dallas Mavericks*, New Orleans Pelicans

One of the strongest allures to Coby White‘s game is that he offers positional versatility on the offensive end that translates beyond just being able to play the ‘1’ and ‘2’. The 19-year-old inferno is adept at scoring both with and without the ball in his hands, showing flashes of on-ball creation and spot-up shooting (1.339 PPP on catch-and-shoot jumpers per Synergy) while averaging 16.1 points per game at UNC.

Being able to play either backcourt spot makes him desirable, as does being able to play with the ball out of his hands — this positional and shot versatility is valuable for building a team, which is why so many teams would love to have someone such as White in their backcourt. Both the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans stand out as superb fits for White’s offensive services for similar reasons.

Dallas’ inclusion is solely based on the Mavericks jumping up into the top-4 on lottery night, since their pick will convey to the Atlanta Hawks if it falls outside of the top-5. (The pick is currently ninth in the lottery standings, so it’s a long shot). If the Mavs’ pick was to jump up into the top-4, it would be mighty rich to select North Carolina’s prized scoring guard with a top selection, but from a team-building standpoint it would make perfect sense.

With Luka Doncic operating as the de facto lead guard and primary playmaker, White would fit in nicely as the perfect secondary option, capable of creating his offense or just playing off the ball next to Doncic. Former NC State point guard Dennis Smith Jr. was moved earlier this past season due to stylistic clashes, since he and Doncic are both guards who excel with the ball in their hands, so finding a backcourt mate that can spot up and cut would be ideal.

For New Orleans, White makes sense as a lottery selection for the freshly-hired David Griffin, who will be overseeing basketball operations for the Pelicans moving forward. A backcourt pairing of White and Jrue Holiday would showcase an intriguing mix of offense, defense, and positional versatility since either player can play as the ‘1’ or ‘2’ on both ends of the floor. If Alvin Gentry is kept as head coach, that would make the fit even better — the Pelicans ranked second in the entire NBA in pace this past season (103.92 possessions per game), with Gentry endorsing a breakneck pace that would accommodate White’s athleticism nicely. And, even if the Pelicans were to embrace a length rebuild, White wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

WORST: Memphis Grizzlies

Coby White and Roy Williams proved to be a dynamite pairing at the college level, serving as one of the best examples of a player and coach meshing beautifully to produce tangible results on the court. White helped spearhead one of the fastest teams Williams has ever coached throughout his long Hall-of-Fame career, and his translation to the next level hinges greatly on his ability to play at different speeds for whoever drafts him. As pace skyrockets across the league, there aren’t too many teams that play a slow, grinding style in the half court, so there are few teams that would present challenging learning curves for the offensive-minded guard that excelled in the open court and showed inconsistency when forced to slow down.

Memphis is one of those exceptions, however. Ranking dead-last in pace this past season, the Grizzlies don’t offer an uptempo style that would accommodate the stylings and preferences of a prospect who they would be drafting as a franchise cornerstone. Although White and Jaren Jackson Jr. would make for a really, really interesting (i.e., fun) pick-and-roll combo due to White’s pull-up ability and Jackson’s perimeter shooting, the overall schematic fit is questionable. Of course, this fit would look a whole lot better depending on who management brings in as the next head coach — letting go of J.B. Bickerstaff could signal a move away from the grit-and-grind stylings that become synonymous with Memphis basketball over the past decade, but that’s still up in the air.

Having White and Jackson as your two primary building blocks for the future would be great, but the pair would need the right coach to make everything fit together, and with that seat still vacant as of today, the Grizzlies stand out as the “worst” fit for Coby White. Really, the coaching situation is the real — and only — dealbreaker here. It’s not even that Memphis is a horrible fit, or even a bad one; it’s simply the “worst” of the bunch.