Smith is a young player still in development. On the Knicks, he assisted on 32.9% of his teammates made shots, according to Cleaning the Glass, in the 87% percentile for point guards. Excluding his last two games, which he played injured, he averaged 6.0 assists to 2.4 turnovers (a ratio of 2.5) as a Knick. Passing phenom and now-Pelican Lonzo Ball, and DSJ’s draft classmate, had the same ratio on slightly fewer assists this past season.
Is his shot completely broken? Although his seasonal average went up only one percentage point (going from 31% his rookie year to 32% his sophomore season) he started off the season hot from deep. For the first 28 games of the season, he shot 37.5% from three on 3.7 attempts per game before injuring his wrist in November. This is not a short, week-long sample size. Twenty-eight games is over a quarter of the season.
Even during his rookie year, he shot 37.2 % on catch-and-shoot from behind the three point line.
Defensively, Smith is severely underrated. Bigger guys are often surprised by how well he can stretch his arms and box them. As a Knick, his steal and block percentage are both in the 80% percentile range for point guards.
