Welcome Zhaire Smith

[Sixerscan]

Imagine if we're sitting on another player of Matisse's caliber. Brand has already earned my confidence in his drafting ability, but Zhaire panning out would be the icing on the cake.

He's several years younger than Matisse. Give him a sec.

[phillynative]

Imagine if we're sitting on another player of Matisse's caliber. Brand has already earned my confidence in his drafting ability, but Zhaire panning out would be the icing on the cake.

Matisse pretty much came in and took his spot. He would have to make drastic improvements in his guard skills because he doesnt have the size of a wing at 6'3 . He had elite athleticism and thats fun and all but he has some work to do..

[ProcessDoctor]

Imagine if we're sitting on another player of Matisse's caliber. Brand has already earned my confidence in his drafting ability, but Zhaire panning out would be the icing on the cake.

He's several years younger than Matisse. Give him a sec.

Yea I'm definitely willing to give him time. Hopefully next season he can start playing 10-12 MPG. I'm just excited to see him when he's ready, given the success of Landry and Matisse.

[PLO]

From a recent Hollinger article on the Athletic:

Two first-rounders who played here in Vegas that I’d be pretty worried about: Luka Samanic and Zhaire Smith.

Smith was a 2018 first-round pick of the Sixers who missed nearly all of last season due to a severe food allergy reaction. He’s only 20, but has struggled to make an impact even in G League games due to his limited skill level. A phenomenal leaper who does his best work in transition, the 6-4 Smith’s skill level hasn’t nearly caught up with his leaping ability – right now he’s basically a 4 in a 2’s body. The surprising part is that he hasn’t been able to bring his athleticism to bear, even in places you’d expect to see it – he rarely draws fouls, for instance, and his rates of blocks, steals and rebounds in the G League have been unremarkable.

link

[76ciology]

From a recent Hollinger article on the Athletic:

Two first-rounders who played here in Vegas that I’d be pretty worried about: Luka Samanic and Zhaire Smith.

Smith was a 2018 first-round pick of the Sixers who missed nearly all of last season due to a severe food allergy reaction. He’s only 20, but has struggled to make an impact even in G League games due to his limited skill level. A phenomenal leaper who does his best work in transition, the 6-4 Smith’s skill level hasn’t nearly caught up with his leaping ability – right now he’s basically a 4 in a 2’s body. The surprising part is that he hasn’t been able to bring his athleticism to bear, even in places you’d expect to see it – he rarely draws fouls, for instance, and his rates of blocks, steals and rebounds in the G League have been unremarkable.

link

This is what you get when you draft players based on numbers alone

[Eyeamok]

From a recent Hollinger article on the Athletic:

Two first-rounders who played here in Vegas that I’d be pretty worried about: Luka Samanic and Zhaire Smith.

Smith was a 2018 first-round pick of the Sixers who missed nearly all of last season due to a severe food allergy reaction. He’s only 20, but has struggled to make an impact even in G League games due to his limited skill level. A phenomenal leaper who does his best work in transition, the 6-4 Smith’s skill level hasn’t nearly caught up with his leaping ability – right now he’s basically a 4 in a 2’s body. The surprising part is that he hasn’t been able to bring his athleticism to bear, even in places you’d expect to see it – he rarely draws fouls, for instance, and his rates of blocks, steals and rebounds in the G League have been unremarkable.

link

This is what you get when you draft players based on numbers alone

Wait until high school players are able to come into the NBA. It's going to be a joy picking at the bottom half of the draft. Let every other team prepare these kids and the college players that come out too early.

A good development team going forward is going to be extremely important. Because a lot of good talent is going to fall or be given up on.
.
That being said I still hope Zhaire pans out.

[76ciology]

From a recent Hollinger article on the Athletic:

Two first-rounders who played here in Vegas that I’d be pretty worried about: Luka Samanic and Zhaire Smith.

Smith was a 2018 first-round pick of the Sixers who missed nearly all of last season due to a severe food allergy reaction. He’s only 20, but has struggled to make an impact even in G League games due to his limited skill level. A phenomenal leaper who does his best work in transition, the 6-4 Smith’s skill level hasn’t nearly caught up with his leaping ability – right now he’s basically a 4 in a 2’s body. The surprising part is that he hasn’t been able to bring his athleticism to bear, even in places you’d expect to see it – he rarely draws fouls, for instance, and his rates of blocks, steals and rebounds in the G League have been unremarkable.

link

This is what you get when you draft players based on numbers alone

Wait until high school players are able to come into the NBA. It's going to be a joy picking at the bottom half of the draft. Let every other team prepare these kids and the college players that come out too early.

A good development team going forward is going to be extremely important. Because a lot of good talent is going to fall or be given up on.
.
That being said I still hope Zhaire pans out.

I mean..

His advanced numbers looked good in college.

But given his length, where do you place him? His numbers looked good for a wing but his size is certainly a PG. I can see him being appealing if he is like 6’7” with 7’ wingspan. But everyone who has watched him play knows he has 0 skills to be a NBA caliber PG.

Not that im complaining because its not like we passed up on the next Giannis with Mikal Bridges.

[XtremeDunkz]

Zhaire is a player you pick late lotto if you desperately need to hit on all star potential. We shouldn't have went that route. We should have picked someone (Bridges) who can fill a role and be effective from day 1. We played that draft very poorly.

[PLO]

The issue for me is not just that Zhaire likely won't pan out for us, (he could pan out elsewhere as he'll probably end up in a trade at some stage) but what we gave up to get him. Namely the players we passed over in that draft who could be part of our rotation right now.

[ivysixer2000]

When I think of Zhaire, I still think of SGA instead of Bridges. Now I know for some stupid reason we weren't going to pick SGA, but to pass up on him to get Zhaire just makes me shake my head at this front office. (Don't care about the damn pick)

Can't say I wanted Zhaire or Bridges, but I was hoping for the best.....oh well, might be another bust.

[Kobblehead]

I didn't like the pick and was pounding the table for Shai all year leading up to the draft, but why the doom and gloom right now, though? Zhaire actually has looked pretty optimistic in the G-League.

18 ppg per-36 on 60% true shooting
2.3 block percentage, 1.5 steal percentage
shooting 4.7 threes per-36

His shooting percentages are dogshhh but he's taking shots and he's working on his ballskills. He's coming along slowly.

[Foshan]

If he could be a lock down defender who could stand in the corner and hit a three with some reliability, I’d be okay. Not expecting elite guard skills, just not who he is

[HotelVitale]

Zhaire is a player you pick late lotto if you desperately need to hit on all star potential. We shouldn't have went that route. We should have picked someone (Bridges) who can fill a role and be effective from day 1. We played that draft very poorly.

Agreed on Zhaire--he was my least favorite guy in the write up of prospects I did that year--but we also got another unprotected 1st in that deal, and trading down 6 spots in exchange for another 1st was a great deal. The problem is that we took Zhaire at #16 instead of many other prospects who were more likely to chip in. (I liked Lonnie Walker for us all the way up at #10, also was into Aaron Holiday out of the later 1st rd guys.) Bridges+a 1st for someone not Zhaire would've been great.

Even with that said, Zhaire wasn't doomed to fail and I don't think anyone could've known for sure that he wouldn't be showing anything by this time. I get thinking that a contender takes the solid player rather than the big swing, but Bridges wasn't catapulting us to the next level anyway and if ZHaire worked out extremely well he might have.

[Skates]

Zhaire is a player you pick late lotto if you desperately need to hit on all star potential. We shouldn't have went that route. We should have picked someone (Bridges) who can fill a role and be effective from day 1. We played that draft very poorly.

We did pick just such a guy, his name is Landry Shamet. Must admit I didn't know much about Zhaire before the draft, but the weird thing is the way we have drafted experience in Shamet and Thybulle makes the Smith pick seem out of sorts. They seemed to really love his workout. Rooting for the guy, he lost an entire year and almost his life and likely would have been in the Final Four, maybe even won the NCAA Chip had he stayed in school. He reminds me of a classic Phillies toolsy outfielder draft pick, hopefully he turns out better than the vast majority of those have.

[Eyeamok]

This is what you get when you draft players based on numbers alone

Wait until high school players are able to come into the NBA. It's going to be a joy picking at the bottom half of the draft. Let every other team prepare these kids and the college players that come out too early.

A good development team going forward is going to be extremely important. Because a lot of good talent is going to fall or be given up on.
.
That being said I still hope Zhaire pans out.

I mean..

His advanced numbers looked good in college.

But given his length, where do you place him? His numbers looked good for a wing but his size is certainly a PG. I can see him being appealing if he is like 6’7” with 7’ wingspan. But everyone who has watched him play knows he has 0 skills to be a NBA caliber PG.

Not that im complaining because its not like we passed up on the next Giannis with Mikal Bridges.

So when he was drafted what was the plan for him. Replacement for Fultz? Was he best player available. Where was he gonna fit in with the team? What did coach Brown see that he liked so much?

[phillynative]

Wait until high school players are able to come into the NBA. It's going to be a joy picking at the bottom half of the draft. Let every other team prepare these kids and the college players that come out too early.

A good development team going forward is going to be extremely important. Because a lot of good talent is going to fall or be given up on.
.
That being said I still hope Zhaire pans out.

I mean..

His advanced numbers looked good in college.

But given his length, where do you place him? His numbers looked good for a wing but his size is certainly a PG. I can see him being appealing if he is like 6’7” with 7’ wingspan. But everyone who has watched him play knows he has 0 skills to be a NBA caliber PG.

Not that im complaining because its not like we passed up on the next Giannis with Mikal Bridges.

So when he was drafted what was the plan for him. Replacement for Fultz? Was he best player available. Where was he gonna fit in with the team? What did coach Brown see that he liked so much?

Direct quote from Brown on what he saw in Zhaire :

When you look at just where I believe Zhaire can be, there are some common denominators to what Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio,” Brown said. “In general, I think he’s going to be a work in progress. There’s lots to do, with a base that’s really special and very unique. Some of those qualities that Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio, I do see parts of that in Zhaire.”

The other main component of the Leonard comparison is Brown’s desire to shift the 6-4 Smith from playing mostly at power forward in college, as Leonard did at San Diego State, to being a perimeter player in the NBA.

“At times it is [a hard transition,]” Brown said. “But I don’t even judge college basketball anymore to be positions really. … It was more of an interior-related skill package that we’ve seen progressively grow out to a perimeter-type package that we think can keep growing in that direction.”

[76ciology]

I mean..

His advanced numbers looked good in college.

But given his length, where do you place him? His numbers looked good for a wing but his size is certainly a PG. I can see him being appealing if he is like 6’7” with 7’ wingspan. But everyone who has watched him play knows he has 0 skills to be a NBA caliber PG.

Not that im complaining because its not like we passed up on the next Giannis with Mikal Bridges.

So when he was drafted what was the plan for him. Replacement for Fultz? Was he best player available. Where was he gonna fit in with the team? What did coach Brown see that he liked so much?

Direct quote from Brown on what he saw in Zhaire :

When you look at just where I believe Zhaire can be, there are some common denominators to what Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio,” Brown said. “In general, I think he’s going to be a work in progress. There’s lots to do, with a base that’s really special and very unique. Some of those qualities that Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio, I do see parts of that in Zhaire.”

The other main component of the Leonard comparison is Brown’s desire to shift the 6-4 Smith from playing mostly at power forward in college, as Leonard did at San Diego State, to being a perimeter player in the NBA.

“At times it is [a hard transition,]” Brown said. “But I don’t even judge college basketball anymore to be positions really. … It was more of an interior-related skill package that we’ve seen progressively grow out to a perimeter-type package that we think can keep growing in that direction.”

Thats the problem with the mindset of this team in terms of roster construction.

Let’s draft a center with a physique of a SF
Let’s draft PGs who can’t shoot
Let’s draft a center who doesn’t play defense
Let’s draft a 6’4” guard who plays like a PF
Let’s draft a franchise player but keep drafting guys who plays like role players.
Let’s get assets, but drafts centers. Nobody overpays for centers.

There are like literally thousand of talent out there. We keep fitting a square peg on a round hole. Just because they are special doesn’t mean they’re valuable. Value is relative to utility.

[Eyeamok]

So when he was drafted what was the plan for him. Replacement for Fultz? Was he best player available. Where was he gonna fit in with the team? What did coach Brown see that he liked so much?

Direct quote from Brown on what he saw in Zhaire :

When you look at just where I believe Zhaire can be, there are some common denominators to what Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio,” Brown said. “In general, I think he’s going to be a work in progress. There’s lots to do, with a base that’s really special and very unique. Some of those qualities that Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio, I do see parts of that in Zhaire.”

The other main component of the Leonard comparison is Brown’s desire to shift the 6-4 Smith from playing mostly at power forward in college, as Leonard did at San Diego State, to being a perimeter player in the NBA.

“At times it is [a hard transition,]” Brown said. “But I don’t even judge college basketball anymore to be positions really. … It was more of an interior-related skill package that we’ve seen progressively grow out to a perimeter-type package that we think can keep growing in that direction.”

Thats the problem with the mindset of this team in terms of roster construction.

Let’s draft a center with a physique of a SF
Let’s draft PGs who can’t shoot
Let’s draft a center who doesn’t play defense
Let’s draft a 6’4” guard who plays like a PF

There are like literally thousand of talent out there. We keep fitting a square peg on a round hole. Just because they are special doesn’t mean they’re valuable. Value is relative to utility.

Okay so what is Smith. Is he a PG a SG or a SF? Because if he is a SF then hasn't Matisse basically taken up apprenticeship in that spot?
I'm not saying Zhaire has to be a finished product already. But the 76ers were so high on him one season. He gets a severe food allergy. Missees a season then they draft a 4 year guy to compete for the role they slotted for him?

So where does the coach and the front office see him on this team? And how is he ever going to become valuable, increase his value possible trade, if he can't get playing time in front of Matisse?

[phillynative]

So when he was drafted what was the plan for him. Replacement for Fultz? Was he best player available. Where was he gonna fit in with the team? What did coach Brown see that he liked so much?

Direct quote from Brown on what he saw in Zhaire :

When you look at just where I believe Zhaire can be, there are some common denominators to what Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio,” Brown said. “In general, I think he’s going to be a work in progress. There’s lots to do, with a base that’s really special and very unique. Some of those qualities that Kawhi had when we first brought him to San Antonio, I do see parts of that in Zhaire.”

The other main component of the Leonard comparison is Brown’s desire to shift the 6-4 Smith from playing mostly at power forward in college, as Leonard did at San Diego State, to being a perimeter player in the NBA.

“At times it is [a hard transition,]” Brown said. “But I don’t even judge college basketball anymore to be positions really. … It was more of an interior-related skill package that we’ve seen progressively grow out to a perimeter-type package that we think can keep growing in that direction.”

Thats the problem with the mindset of this team in terms of roster construction.

Let’s draft a center with a physique of a SF
Let’s draft PGs who can’t shoot
Let’s draft a center who doesn’t play defense
Let’s draft a 6’4” guard who plays like a PF

There are like literally thousand of talent out there. We keep fitting a square peg on a round hole. Just because they are special doesn’t mean they’re valuable. Value is relative to utility.

I dont get it either. Maybe Brown thought they had the developmental program of the spurs, to turn players into something by adding pieces to their game. But the sixers just dont.

[phillynative]

They most likely want turn smith into a sg . Hes very raw right now so its definitley going to take a while unless things start to click prematurely for him.
Matisse is our 3&D guy now and moving forward. I think the org is hoping for something a little different from zhaire. Avery bradley/george hill type. IMO.