{"id":863822,"date":"2026-08-19T14:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/863822\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:12:13","slug":"ahead-of-the-curve-2026-acc-guards-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/863822\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of the Curve 2026: ACC Guards, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!kk76!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fb3bba2-4ed7-440f-84ab-ca8d1dafe5a1_2544x1036.jpeg\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img can-restack\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/7fb3bba2-4ed7-440f-84ab-ca8d1dafe5a1_2544.jpeg\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/7fb3bba2-4ed7-440f-84ab-ca8d1dafe5a1_2544x1036.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:593,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5483480,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.noceilingsnba.com\/i\/211776181?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fb3bba2-4ed7-440f-84ab-ca8d1dafe5a1_2544x1036.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" alt=\"\"   fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"sizing-fullscreen\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Welcome back to the Ahead of the Curve series as we close out the ACC guards! This series is designed to identify prospects by conference who evaluators, decision-makers, and fans should be tracking as potential risers and sleepers this cycle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">As a reminder: To qualify, I\u2019m focusing on those who are projected to be second round picks and undrafted free agents (UDFA) to begin the 2026-2027 season. I\u2019ll make the pitch for each prospect, accompanied by three questions to monitor. Let\u2019s get started with a guard who\u2019s no stranger to the ACC.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>2025-2026 Stats: 10.9 PPG, 3 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.5 SPG in 32 MPG (32 G)<\/p>\n<p>2025-2026 Shooting Splits: 40.5\/29.3\/83.3<\/p>\n<p>The Pitch<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">After finishing first (6.5 APG) and fourth in the ACC in assists (5.4 APG) over the past two seasons, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/naithan-george-1.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Naithan George<\/a> has solidified himself amongst the premier playmakers and facilitators in the conference. He gets it done by being a connective passer featuring swings, skips, and hit-aheads, but is at his best operating ball screens where he can play in the pocket, throw lobs, and make live dribble reads.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">George isn\u2019t just looking to facilitate out of the pick-and-roll. It\u2019s also where he\u2019s the most comfortable getting to his scoring spots from, particularly the mid-range pull-up (via Synergy 57.7 FG% on 52 off-the-dribble jumper attempts). George\u2019s repeatable mechanics, midrange shotmaking, and 83.3% free-throw mark are all encouraging touch indicators for a much-needed shooting leap (29.3% three-point shooter on 3.8 3PA last season).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to the Ahead of the Curve series as we close out the ACC guards! This series&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-863822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}