Small is undersized for the NBA but at least has a powerful frame with a low center of gravity that makes it hard to knock him off his line. He's also a strong athlete, with some vertical pop and good burst.
Small is a dynamic playmaker, and that's the role he'll be asked to serve in the NBA as a backup. Small largely played out of ball screens and in isolation situations out of switches when he felt an advantage. That's where you saw his best skill tend to play up; his ability to get to his pull-up jumper. Loves to work his way into pull-up. Has a nasty step-back game, where he can get to his shot from a variety of moves, from between-the-legs crossovers to hesitations to side-steps. Can get there going to both his left and his right. Hit 32.4% of his pull-ups last year from 3, but made better than 35% of them out of ball screens.
Not sudden as a ballhandler and doesn't always separate well but uses pace really well in ball screens and has complete control over the ball. Plus, because he is a threat to pull up from any point, you have to respect him, making those hesitations even more lethal. Quite flexible with the ball and can find his way into tight areas. As soon as he sees that his defender has his weight on the wrong foot, he will pounce. Has fairly large hands for a guard, which allows him to control the ball and both attack moving forward toward the rim or backward to his step-back.
High tendency toward the step-back but can at least get to the rim and capably finish. Made 57.3% of his half-court attempts at the rim this year, which is not bad given his size. Largely a below-the-rim guy in half-court settings but has some solid gathers including step-throughs and Eurosteps. Also consistently does a good job of driving in straight lines and getting foul calls, averaging 5.2 free-throw attempts per game.
Small can make plays as a passer, posting 5.6 assists per game with a two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. He is more geared toward scoring and is generally not a strong decision-maker by NBA standards. Still, I think his ability to create passing angles is good because of his ability to keep a live dribble, and he can execute passes well when he decides to. Really good at finding rollers and cutters on the back line. West Virginia ran some fun off-ball action and dribble-handoff sets for Small to get moving, force the help defender, then find an open rim-runner. But in general, he was always looking around the rim to try to find rollers and cutters and had good timing on when the tagger would vacate his area.
Speaking of the off-ball action, what makes Small most interesting is his ability to play both on and off the ball. Good at moving off the ball and had success this year shooting off the catch. Drilled 40.7% of his catch-and-shoot 3s. Small has pristine, picture-perfect mechanics that should be translatable to this role in the NBA.
Also showed potential to hit them off movement, drilling 12 3s at 40% clip on off-ball screens this year. Has great balance and a beautiful release on the shot in these circumstances. He makes these shots from a variety of footworks. Uses the threat of that shot off the catch and on the move to find open passes when defenders run toward him. Has a chance to be a useful offensive player in the NBA.
Defensively, Small is feisty and works hard. Because he's strong through his lower half and is flexible, he is effective at working his way through screens and staying attached to his man. Will battle in recovery and work hard to get back into the play if he gets clipped. Against lead guards, his on-ball defense could be useful.
Very active with his hands. Averaged 1.5 steals per game in part because he is disruptive at jumping passing lanes and at digging into drivers' handles.
Small is small by NBA standards. At 6 feet 1 with an 8-foot standing reach, he's going to be undersized and will need to deal with even longer defenders who can stop him from separating and even longer arms to contest his shot. There will also be defensive matchups that make him a liability. Will need to prove that he can handle these situations.
Small's decision-making can range from average to disappointing. His passing didn't stand up well when he was asked to improvise, as opposed to when he was running a set. Saw very few kickouts for 3s this year. Most of his assists went to cutters and rollers to the rim. Would like to see him develop his vision outward.
Shot selection could give you pause. Had moments when he would get extremely tunnel-visiony and miss open players. Could miss open kickouts in favor of tougher shots. A big reason why his 3-point percentage was around 35% was because he took many highly contested ones. Needs to excise some of those from his game.
Another reason why Small's shots often ended up feeling contested was that he doesn't separate well. Plays well at pace in ball screens, and that allows him to keep defenders at bay, but it felt like he had a man draped all over him when driving to the rim. Lack of suddenness for a player who is 6-foot-1 stands out, and it's why he ended up taking only two or so shots per game at the rim in half court.
Didn't have great answers in the midrange. His floater game is inconsistent, as he made just 39% of those. Then in half court, he made only 29.5% of his midrange pull-up jumpers.
Defensively, Small's size causes issues. He'll struggle in switch situations against bigger, longer wings who can shoot over top of him. Will need to work incredibly hard to make sure he's being driven through. Not as strong as a Cason Wallace type despite his 190-pound frame and lower center of gravity.
I did not like Small's off-ball defense. Small often get caught behind the play if someone ran an action for his man. He wasn't always ball-watching, but he'd disengage a bit. He also had frustrating tendency to help off the same side and leave a wide-open shooter one pass away. In the NBA, that's an absolute dealbreaker, as those closeouts are even longer and the shooters are even better. Also seemed like he had several communication breakdowns about who he was picking up in transition.
Had a gambler's mentality on defense, too. Would go for the home run on steals. Got them sometimes but other times would leave the defense in a four-on-five situation. Needs to be more solid and not always trying to swing for the fences.
Small's ability to play on the ball or potentially slide off of it in the NBA is particularly important for backup point guards. Rarely will a backup lead guard be the best player on the court for his team with the way that teams regularly stagger their starters into bench units. His ability to bring the ball up the court, then go off the ball and be a threat to shoot matters, as well as having some dynamic ability with the ball. However, Small needs to improve his decision-making across the board on both ends. He needs to stay more attached off the ball on defense and not go for the home run. And then on offense, he needs to continue to improve his vision and willingness to make passes. There's a route to this working for Small if he can make those mindset adjustments, but he'll be on a two-way to start his career in all likelihood
