Tune In: The Nick Smith Jr Thread

[luciano-davidwesley]

His high school recruiting ranks are mostly meaningless.

It's about style, play type.

Who is nicks best case player comp? Realistic player comp?

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Spencer Dinwiddee, Tyler Herro, Jordan Poole, Immanuel Quickly, Tyrese Maxey, Anfernee Simons, Malik Monk, Malaki Branham, Jordan Clarkson, Colin Sexton, Gabe Vincent, Coby White, Cole Anthony...

If he falls anywhere in that range that is a pretty good pick for #27 overall.

You proved fatlever's point.

Why on Earth would you rank someone who's likely 75% outcome is Jordan Clarkson as the #1 recruit in the country? Ball-dominant, iso combo guard, no defense play might be great against high schoolers but is not going to get it done in the NBA.

If he could shoot the lights out it might work but he doesn't look like he'll ever be a good or above average shooter barring some unforseen Meloesque progression in that regard.

[GoBobs]

The thing is he played really bad in college and even though he had the injury excuse, it was the decision making that was bad and we are seeing the same problems in summer league.

We got a bunch of guys that take low percentage shots early in the shot clock and Smith Jr does that. The thing you can't live with though is the ball stopping. He gets passed the ball and just sits there for a minute doing nothing thinking about what to do.

If other guys need to finish getting they need to go for a play to start, do a shot fake or fake pass or something besides just sitting there holding the ball so the defense has a chance to load up on what ever you are about to try.

Even the shots he is making your just thinking that is fools gold and he is going to try that a couple more times and miss just because he made one. He doesn't get any high percentage looks for himself which is why he has terrible efficiency.

Baily and Smith don't have good size for SG either. They are Hendo sized.

Maybe he will work hard and change some things and get there. Right now it seems like he is a total bust though. If he can't play better than this in summer league how is he going to get a shot with the big team? This is where he is supposed to be showing us something, so he can get some minutes.

[SWedd523]

Both Smith and Bailey are 6'5 with 6'8 and 6'7, respectively, wingspans.

Hardly what I would call small

[fatlever]

Bailey was 6-3.25 w/out shoes
Nick, for some reason, isn't listed in the combine official measurements, but I suspect that 6-5 is his height in shoes. He looks closer to Bailey. Regardless, he also small and he's a toothpick. Size is not a plus for nick as a 2 guard.



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[JMAC3]

Bailey was 6-3.25 w/out shoes
Nick, for some reason, isn't listed in the combine official measurements, but I suspect that 6-5 is his height in shoes. He looks closer to Bailey. Regardless, he also small and he's a toothpick. Size is not a plus for nick as a 2 guard.



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He will play the full year at 19 years old, what do you expect him to look like?
If you wanted a guy that was ready to be a day 1 player then yeah you should have selected a senior.
Just seems to be the disconnect for you.
If you wanted to pick a guy and give out a full draft grade of who he would be in the NBA 30 days after we drafted then avoid freshman.

[KembaWalker]

Bailey was 6-3.25 w/out shoes
Nick, for some reason, isn't listed in the combine official measurements, but I suspect that 6-5 is his height in shoes. He looks closer to Bailey. Regardless, he also small and he's a toothpick. Size is not a plus for nick as a 2 guard.



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He will play the full year at 19 years old, what do you expect him to look like?
If you wanted a guy that was ready to be a day 1 player then yeah you should have selected a senior.
Just seems to be the disconnect for you.
If you wanted to pick a guy and give out a full draft grade of who he would be in the NBA 30 days after we drafted then avoid freshman.

just seems like when we draft these kinda guys they just never fill out, Bouknight probably hasn't added an ounce of strength or muscle in 3 years same as Monk never did. Meanwhile you watch every other team thats running combo guards successfully and they are these >215lb beefy dudes like Brunson, Bane, Beal, Murray, Smart, Harden, Sexton, Mitchell. We get these 175lb lookin stringbeans and they just stay the same forever. I don't really get it. I guarantee you NSJ will be a twig when he's 25

[SWedd523]

6'5 is small now for twos?

[Diop]

6'5 is small now for twos?

when you're really 6'3 ish, then yeah a bit small

[vorbis]

we've literally seen McGowens bulk up significantly after being drafted last year. it can be done.

[Snidely FC]

I think the Hornets are hoping NSJ can be the next Tyrese Maxey

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Might help also that NSJ and Brandon Miller are good friends from their AAU days together

[fatlever]

I would have thought Smith and Miller would have had an obvious chemistry connection from AAU, but they play like they just met yesterday.

Who was the alpha scorer on that AAU team, nick or Miller? Nick treats Miller like he's some random spot up shooter.

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[KembaWalker]

probably says a lot about how they felt about playing together in AAU one way or another that Nick had an offer to Alabama who had some scrub guards and Miller and chose to go play on a team with Anthony Black and Ricky Council as ball dominant guards already instead

[wilson115]

Read on Twitter

[JMAC3]

That performance better than any Bouk performance ever? SL, NBA, GLeague included?

[wilson115]

That performance better than any Bouk performance ever? SL, NBA, GLeague included?

And NCAA?

Read on Twitter

[JMAC3]

Highest points scored in this SL
Keegan Murray 41
Jabari Smith 38 and 33
Orlando Robinson 36
Nick Smith 33
Keyonte George 33
Malachi Branham 32

Not bad to have the 4th highest scoring game in SL so far.

[Radu_Hornets]

Highest points scored in this SL
Keegan Murray 41
Jabari Smith 38 and 33
Orlando Robinson 36
Nick Smith 33
Keyonte George 33
Malachi Branham 32

Not bad to have the 4th highest scoring game in SL so far.

He would’ve been second with 35 if he didn’t miss the pony blank layup at the end of the game

[MPM]

I was pretty down on NSJ as a lotto prospect pre-draft, felt he was a great value pick at 27, and have been withholding judgement thus far in SL. Last night was encouraging in terms of his potential as a 'bucket getter' but still really hard to tell what we have as he's been miscast - want to see how he operates off ball - if we can squeeze some Rip Hamilton type of movement/play out of him and his three ball plays out we could have a solid roster addition.

There's a lot to like - for starters, he is not Bouk. Win. He is confident, effort + on both sides of the ball, his shot is pretty, he has decent size for his position, and is very athletic (and, supposedly, a very hard worker). My main criticisms are that he has unfocused energy, tries to do too much, and doesn't seem to read the court exceptionally well, all of which may just be young deer in bright headlights with the basketball in his hands too often (and for too long). Still a wait and see but he seems to have all the tools.

[Bassman]

I think Junior shows a LOT of promise. His defense is frenetic in a not good way, but coaching and experience should refine that energy into a positive force. His decision making also needs maturity, but that should also improve. I love his willingness to take charge, attack and produce in the moment. As SL has progressed, so has NSJ. He was horrible early on, got a little better previous to this game, then exploded along with Miller against the Blazers.

[Robot Rock]

That performance better than any Bouk performance ever? SL, NBA, GLeague included?

I was in the building for The James Bouknight Game in Dec. 2021 against the Kings. That's more impressive than this, but Smith is going to have to do a lot of drugs, piss off a lot of people and forget how to play the game before he ends up 1/4 as bad as Book ended up every other game.