well look at that the kid can bounce the basketball. some of these pops had him looking like KD, not to raise expectation, but he was being sold short in this part of his game. let him develop a turnaround post up j like Dirk. kid is gonna be sick
These shots are terrible, the least efficient shots in the NBA. It's not a good shot. In the modern era of NBA history, only Dirk, LMA and Durant has shot this shot at above league average offensive efficiency.
He has the shooting stroke to be up there and he wouldnt be the primary with Jalen and KPJ, but the fact he has the likely ability to do this when everyone said he couldnt dribble is a positive thing
Why’d you label the thread what you did? Lol. It should be about his shooting which indeed is insanely amazing. Dribbling clearly still needs worth.
It’s only a bad shot if you don’t shoot it at a high enough percentage. This kid may legit be able to hit it at a high enough percentage if his stroke is as pure as they say.
Definitely needs work but he's only 19. at least you know he has shown potential to having this be part of his skillset I titled it this way because pre-draft all I read was Jabari cant dribble
Yeah, these are all one dribble pullups. Not impressed, especially with the terrible shot selection. I'd appreciate a compilation of him driving to the basket though
even though we transition into a league that likes 3 pointers, if Smith can hit 2s mid range at a good clip, that's a nice skillset to sprinkle in our offense. If he can make those shots consistently, it will keep the defense guessin.
exactly. I really think he is the next Dirk shooting wise. pure shot thst just looks beautiful when shooting over someone trying their best to guard it
His highlight videos are so much more impressive to me than Banchero's, not gonna lie. I think we got ourselves a stud. Floor is a Lamarcus Aldridge-level player imo.
In this video he is often dribbling into a worse shot than what he had when he got the pass. He often had a semi contested three and dribbles into a contested long two. I also don’t see him use a step back - he either just shoots over people or uses a fade away. But all of this should be easily correctable. Don’t shoot long twos unless you are open - use a step back to create space. I believe he simply didn’t have to work for his shot most of the times. He can just shoot over people. But in the NBA he should increase his arsenal…
He is very comfortable trusting his shot when he has a size mismatch. Even athletic college guards had no chance of contesting his shot. I hope we don't try and make him overthink the 3-point line or give him rules about not shooting in the mid-range. Just let him play (and expand his game). It will also be interesting when he faces an elite defender with length like Draymond Green. At that point, we might see Smith use a head fake and attack the rim.
People saying he's like Ryan Anderson with D or Robert Horry are buggin. This guy shoots the ball clutch like a star already. Banchero and Chet can't do that at least yet. He has plenty of time to develop passing and handles, and he will get better at finishing at the rim. But that amazing shooting from range is such a hard skill to develop. Shooting is so valued in today's NBA...Houston isn't going to be sad at all with this pick ever.
I read one scouting report that said he had begun using a step back, so there's hope. As far as his handles, several reports said one time he would effortlessly drive to the basket through traffic like Jalen, then the next he'd look totally out of control and lose the ball. No theories for his inconsistency were given.
The two guards he played with were not facilitators. Jalen Green, Porter and Sengun are going to open things up for him as he opens up lanes for them. That's something neither Tate nor Kenyon could do very well last season.
