Tune In: The Nick Smith Jr Thread

[yosemiteben]

NSJ is talented. But what is his role on a good team? He's not a passer or defender. He's a smaller volume scoring guard. Those players just have limited usefulness.

He's 20, we don't know what he is or could be.

[fatlever]

it's not about talent or confidence. it's about a role as jdr says. it's not nick's time yet. he has no role other than, maybe if your offense is stuck and on verge of getting blown out, tou throw nsj in for 5 minutes to see if he can fire.
but he needs a role and he's not ready for 6th man.
he's got to compete with melo, miller, mann, martin, micic, curry. that's 6 dudes in the guard rotation that should be ahead of nsj, if we are trying to win. not to mention, if we draft - reed, topic, castle, dillingham, maybe hollard - that's another dude he's behind.
sp unless he becomes a real pest on defense or a rim pressure guy over the summer, he's gonna be at the end of the bench next year. it's fine. not saying he's a bust or trash. he's just not ready. he needs a role.

[Liver_Pooty]

NSJ is talented. But what is his role on a good team? He's not a passer or defender. He's a smaller volume scoring guard. Those players just have limited usefulness.

We'll know in 1 or 2 years. He's shown enough flashes to keep. Easily.

[yosemiteben]

It seems like a really odd thing to me to look at a super young player on our team that has a new first time head coach and try to say he won't play because he has no defined role. We have no idea what our team will look like under Lee or what his rotations will be. I expect NSJ to continue to develop and I also expect that everyone's roles and generally how we function as a team to look a lot different under Lee. We'll just have to wait and see how NSJ looks in a new system with a new developmentally oriented coaching staff.

[SWedd523]

NSJ showed more as a rookie than Bouk, Kai, or Thor did collectively. No idea why he's drawing any ire right now.

There's like 6 dead weight guys on the team that need to disappear before NSJ ever approaches the chopping block

[MasterIchiro]

Using the Celtics as a model, his role would need to he Hauser. Every team can use a sniper off the bench. Celtics just need Hauser to hold serve on defense.

[JMAC3]

NSJ is talented. But what is his role on a good team? He's not a passer or defender. He's a smaller volume scoring guard. Those players just have limited usefulness.

I don't think he is small tho. He is listed at 6-5 with a 6-9 wingspan.
He is small in weight, but he also is really young prospect who fought through injury for an entire year.

I think he presents a lot of the things you look for in a good 6th man, but if he ever develops more defensively he might be good enough to play starting mins at the 2 in more of a 3/D role with a lil playmaking. Not necessary expecting that, but I don't think the book is closed on where he can develop.

[JMAC3]

There is a very good chance Nick is the best player on our summer league team this summer, he could come out looking great and totally change expectations.

[fatlever]

Exactly, The Sam Hauser role that Boston has is basically his most realistic path to minutes next year. Its catch and shoot 3-point sniper off the bench. And that's what I mentioned in my earlier comments that his only real quality NBA trait at the moment is as a catch and shoot 3pt shooter.

I don't think Charles Lee wants to play Heavy ISO ball and just hand the ball to guys like Nick and let them hunt for their own shot for 15 seconds.

Now if Nick blows up in the summer league it will be a completely different role than what he would realistically have on our team this year. Summer league yeah he may have the ball in his hands for 15 seconds hunting for his ISO mid-range game. But that s*** doesn't work on a functional NBA team unless you're really really good at it.

Again, I think some of you are overreacting at my comments. In no way shape or form am I saying he is a wasted pick and someone we should give up on. I'm specifically talking about his role next year which is what I initially replied to. I'm not talking Beyond this year I'm specifically talking about next year.

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[LofJ]

Smith can be what we had in Monk, but he's got some work to do to get there. He's got the speed and the shot for it, but he isn't the vertical athlete that Monk is. He can make up for that though by being stronger. He's got wide shoulders, so he should be able to do that. He just needs to put in the work and not get discouraged if he doesn't play much this year.

[fatlever]

Not really though...
Monk was really really good at rim pressure. Monk could always get to the rim. That made him very valuable.

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[JMAC3]

Not really though...
Monk was really really good at rim pressure. Monk could always get to the rim. That made him very valuable.

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Malik Monk as a rookie shot 36% from the field and averaged 6.7 ppg
38% from the field as a 2nd year player.

Always get to the rim feels like a rather large stretch here. 10% of his shots came at the rim as a rookie, that is pretty terrible.

Nick Smith got to the rim for 9% of his shots.

[SWedd523]

Not really though...
Monk was really really good at rim pressure. Monk could always get to the rim. That made him very valuable.

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Were we watching the same Malik Monk?

[fatlever]

i'm mostly referring to monks 3rd season when he figured out his "role" needs to be rim pressure and 3pters... before then, he was like nsj, aimless iso. so, we need nsj to figure out the role by year 3. i don;t expect in year 2.

year 3 monk shot 67% at rim on 140 attempts (28% of his attempts) + 204 3pt attempts (28% of his attempts) 56% of his shots were at rim or 3pters.

do we think nsj will be shooting 67% fg% at rim on 28% of his shots by year 3?

monk is much more explosive than nsj, so it was easier for him to pressure rim once he figured out his role.

nsj shot 38% at rim last year on 9% of his attempts

they aren't similar prospects. even as a brain dead rookie you could tell monk had the juice. nsj is a hard worker. he'll figure out a role eventually. in time, as he gets bigger older, stronger, he can be a 6th man type. but it won't be next year and i doubt it will be thru 28% rin pressure at 67% fg%.

it's fine. i still stand by my thoughts nsj shouldn't be rotation next year, unless we consolidate the guards - melo, miller, martin, micic, mann, curry (plus maybe #6) should all be ahead. curry and micic and martin will all probably be gone by 2025, which opens up space for nsj to step in.

[JMAC3]

i'm mostly referring to monks 3rd season when he figured out his "role" needs to be rim pressure and 3pters... before then, he was like nsj, aimless iso. so, we need nsj to figure out the role by year 3. i don;t expect in year 2.

year 3 monk shot 67% at rim on 140 attempts (28% of his attempts) + 204 3pt attempts (28% of his attempts) 56% of his shots were at rim or 3pters.

do we think nsj will be shooting 67% fg% at rim on 28% of his shots by year 3?

monk is much more explosive than nsj, so it was easier for him to pressure rim once he figured out his role.

nsj shot 38% at rim last year on 9% of his attempts

they aren't similar prospects. even as a brain dead rookie you could tell monk had the juice. nsj is a hard worker. he'll figure out a role eventually. in time, as he gets bigger older, stronger, he can be a 6th man type. but it won't be next year and i doubt it will be thru 28% rin pressure at 67% fg%.

it's fine. i still stand by my thoughts nsj shouldn't be rotation next year, unless we consolidate the guards - melo, miller, martin, micic, mann, curry (plus maybe #6) should all be ahead. curry and micic and martin will all probably be gone by 2025, which opens up space for nsj to step in.

Yes, I doubt 2nd year NSJ as the 27th pick is better than 3rd year Monk who was the 9th pick. If that is the expectation then yeah he probably isn't exceeding your expectations.

We see guys make big jumps from year 1 to year 2 all the time though, so I think after summer league we will have a good idea on him.

[fatlever]

nsj, the #1 player in his hs class, who was projected lotto all year until he slipped, who we traded a 2022 lotto pick to get?

anyway... i'm rooting for him, but he's gotta change his play style to find a legit role. 3pt sniper helps. boston loves to fill the court with shooters. defend and shoot. stop holding the ball for 10 seconds hunting.

it's no secret i hate the slight combo guard, iso, chucker player type. so lets hope nsj becomes something else, sooner than later.

[luciano-davidwesley]

NSJ is projecting to be a better shooter than Monk. He doesn't have Monk's bounce though.

That being said he also seems to have a functioning brain unlike Monk.

For these reasons I predict NSJ will be better than Monk in a few years.

[Hornet Mania]

I imagine NSJ's ideal role will be as a super sub instant-offense guy. Malik Monk, Lou Williams, Jordan Clarkson and Jason Terry are players his career path could emulate.

I was very encouraged by his shooting ability and non-stop effort as a rookie. He made more defensive plays than I expected simply by hustling. As he fills out and the game slows down I think he's got a decent shot of being one of the better backups in the league. No guarantees, but that's his ceiling imo. That role fits our needs as well.

[SWedd523]

I imagine NSJ's ideal role will be as a super sub instant-offense guy. Malik Monk, Lou Williams, Jordan Clarkson and Jason Terry are players his career path could emulate.

I was very encouraged by his shooting ability and non-stop effort as a rookie. He made more defensive plays than I expected simply by hustling. As he fills out and the game slows down I think he's got a decent shot of being one of the better backups in the league. No guarantees, but that's his ceiling imo. That role fits our needs as well.

Him settling in as a super sub 6th man is both an awesome return for a late first pick and an important role on any team.

Kelly Oubre with a brain would be a nice piece

[Rich4114]

We’ve got plenty of time with NSJ. He seems like he’s got the right work ethic and skills, it’s just a matter of molding, strengthening and having a coach who won’t destroy his confidence like Cliff.