Nique Clifford
Guard
Fluid-moving upperclassman who brings a bit of everything.
Nique Clifford is a buffet of a prospect, he gives you a lot of pretty much everything. Clifford took on a larger role at Colorado State this year becoming their de-facto primary option and he absolutely thrived. He upped his creation volume and turned into a real scorer off the bounce while continuing to grow as a shooter. Nique hit over 37% from three on more than eight attempts per 100 possessions, with a third of his makes being self-created. Those aren’t excellent numbers but they are abundantly solid given the offensive load he carried. Clifford is a well-rounded offensive wing who can do just about anything you ask him to do.
He entered the year as a three-and-D prospect with a little bit of funk and finished the season as a true-blue creator. He was excellent at scoring out of isos and operating the pick and roll, where his finishing craft shined for a 6’6 wing. Nique is great contorting his body to maneuver around shot blockers and has good touch at the rim, along with the high-flying acrobatics you would expect for a prospect of his ilk. He is an excellent cutter finishing lobs on the baseline or snaking through an opening in the defense to get a quality look at the rim. There are times I wish he was more physical, but his frame limits his ability to absorb contact. Even with that limitation, Nique shot over 60% on layups and was a true difference maker at the rim.
Nique’s increased creation burden allowed for more opportunities to display his passing chops, and boy, did he deliver. He looked incredibly comfortable with the ball in his hands creating looks for others, knowing how to manipulate both time and space to create open passing windows and quality shot attempts for himself and others. He doesn’t have the handle or downhill ferocity to project into a high-volume creation role in the NBA, but his comfortability using ball screens and surveying the floor is a wonderful feather to have in your cap as a prospect. Three and D wings don’t really exist anymore, defenses are too good and too insistent on taking away threes. You have to be able to put the ball on the deck and make some things happen, and Nique should thrive in those scenarios at the next level.
Defensively, Nique had a high work level despite his offensive load. He has good vertical pop as a helpside rim projector and solid timing jumping passing lanes, all while constantly executing his scheme-specific role. Clifford is an explosive athlete, but can struggle to flip his hips and change direction guarding ball handlers in space or closing out to shooters after digging on drives. That weakness takes some of the top off his defensive ceiling, as he is neither a lockdown defender or a true havoc inducer, but he is reliable. There is value to both effort and execution and Nique delivers on both. He does not project as someone who will drive high-level defense, but he could certainly be a catalyst for it.
Nique Clifford is about as well-rounded of a prospect as you will find in this class. He isn’t the biggest for his position, his handle isn’t saucy and his defense isn’t smothering, but he gets the job done in more ways than one. His tape doesn’t leave you dreaming of upside scenarios and stardom, but you don’t have to squint to see how it translates to the next level. Good basketball teams are made up of good basketball players, and Nique should fit like a glove in just about any functional team context.
Tyler Wilson