Bobalob wrote:Very confused what it is that people DONT see in him. All the other top prospects have potentially unfixable limitations: no J (Jackson), too skinny (Isaacs), footspeed (Ball). Dennis Smith's knock is his team was bad and his 'motor'?!?! What is he a defensive tackle!? His detractions make no sense. He's built for this era of PGs he is going to EAT
Looking at the draft board, I am more comfortable him lacking size. Actually both CP3 and Curry have the same wingspan. I don't see a problem for him to be solid defensively. The competition is not that intense. Who do we have on the defensive end at 1 anyway? No one, indeed. Our PG defense sucked last season. If you call Seth Curry the best defensive player among our 1, you can see Smith as a significant upgrade on this regard as well. And he's the most ready and best fit to a system feature a lot of pick-n-roll with a great collection of shooters. That's the best fit in the draft.
Both Fultz, Fox, Mitchell and Monk are actually SG. Ball may find a serious problem sticking with most PG who's moderately quick. Ntilikina is more a 3-and-d guy at this PG. We just need to make sure that he makes teammates better in his first season. I consider leadership and intangible as the most important quality we want from him.
We don't want him being another Derrick Rose. He means much more than a Derrick Rose with a jumper. We know he can score but we want him to distribute for the teams' highest efficiency. Then, this will in turn open the lanes for him. And he'll face less injury problems. I want him to lead by example by playing solid defense night in and night out. We're not drafting him as trade asset but to establish a long term relationship. We want him to lead the team. I don't want him to play a lot of iso attacks. Being able to maximize the strengthes is the most important goal for our leader.
If he can do so, I think highly of the scenario that top-notch FA consider signing with the Mavs. Therefore, I want him, Barnes and Noel set the tone for the new core. I want Barnes to be able to defend like a young Marion and distribute and shooter like Nic Batum at very young age. I want Noel to defend and lead our defense like Chandler and maximize his mismatch quality with his footspeed offensively. I like our chance. If Wes opts out like Gasol does for SAS, I can see Cousins sign with us with Wes taking less to stay in service. That's a really good core for rebuilding and retooling. We can enjoy watching them play again. Last season's game left a lot to be desired. The Mavs played like a NBDL team most of the time last season.