If we're lucky, could see him playing a big role next year as a poor man's Crowder.
When you break it down, Jae Crowder does exactly three things:
1) shoots threes
2) drives in a straight line if you close him out
3) defends three positions.
Nader looks like somebody who could do all of that as well, just not quite as well as Crowder. That's pretty much the exact bench player that this team is missing.
He can't currently defend his own position, let alone three. Unless he improves substantially, he's not an NBA-caliber player.
"could" do all of that. Seems large enough to passably defend 4s and quick enough to passably defend 2s eventually.
He has no defensive feel. If he watches the ball, he doesn't know what his man is doing behind him. If he watches his man, he has no idea what's going on with the ball. He can probably get a little better, but court awareness/vision is as much a talent as many other skills, and I don't know that he can get much better. There is no way he can defend 2s. He will get lost so much.
He will not be better than Crowder, ever. I can see him having an NBA career, but not ever in the rotation of a good team. His defense is that bad.
I don't actually watch D-League games so I will defer if you do.
That said, this is surprising information to me given that 1) all the articles refer to him as being a two-way player; 2) he had better defensive numbers than offensive numbers in college.
I do watch some D-league. His numbers look fine. But you know how when James Young plays defense, he's lost most of the time? Nader is the same way. If he gets one steal a game, it won't remotely make up for the half-dozen wide open shots he gives up. And I mean a half dozen in 8 minutes. Offenses will target him. It isn't an occasional error -- he just loses sight of what's not going on directly in front of him.
I remember a play from this past Saturday -- his man was on the block, and the ball on the other side of the court. Nader cheated a little more into the paint. I don't know why -- maybe for a rebound, maybe to play help defense. His man just jogged around him and caught a pass at the rim for a wide-open layup. Nader was still on the other side of the paint, helpless, guarding no one.
There were several plays where he just completely lost his man, by several feet, leading to open jumpers and undefended drives. I think they attacked him 5 straight possessions at the start of the 3rd quarter. If D-league offenses have target you as the weak link, it's going to be really tough up a level.