[OhCanada-Participant]

 So I keep hearing/reading about Dennis Smith Jr. and the one negative I cant help but run into is an attack on his mentality. He keeps getting labelled as a player with inconsistent effort, no desire to win, selfish, and a bad teammate. I really just think people are talking right out of there ass when I read or hear that. Its confirmation that person has no clue what they are talking about. 

There have been games where Smith really struggled. I think the games he may have given off the impression of a player without any effort would be games he dealt with certain coverages wrong. 

Teams would do alot of things to throw him off. They would double and sometimes triple him,   face gaurd him, throw multiple zones at him and it was alot for him to handle. During these games there where times he had no awnser and if he tried too much he would turn into a turnover machine and extremely ineffective scorer. So instead there were times where he tried not to do too much and he struggled on deciding when to concede to his teammates and when to takeover games. As far as his competitiveness his desire to win is next to none. He maybe is too passionate to the point where he is emotional and it will effect how he plays. 

If there is any knock on Smith’s game it should be on his understanding of the game. Hes a bright kid and understands basketball or has great feel but ge really hasnt been educated on how to play the point gaurd position yet. He still doesnt know how to run a team. His shot is inconsistent although the skill is there. He needs to learn how to play with pace. 

 

[TarHeelRavenParticipant]

 I don’t think Dennis Smith is a bad guy or selfish or anything like that.  Let’s be honest, he went to a school where the coaching was absolutely horrific.  I’ve said it before on here and I truly believe Mark Gottfried did about as terrible a job coaching a college basketball team in a power 5 conference that I have ever seen in my life.  State’s offense was basically watch Dennis Smith dribble around for 25 seconds and then shoot a contested shot.  The show Dennis put on at Cameron was special.  I think he was NBA ready and could’ve easily gone to the NBA out of high school.  I don’t believe a year of terrible coaching stunted his grwoth as a player at all.  He could’ve easily gone to the NBA right out of high school.  He needs to work on his shooting and decision making in the half court, but he’s as NBA ready as anyone in the draft this year.  I’m a huge Dennis Smith fan and love his overall game.  

[he_gets_bucketsParticipant]

 Completely agree with you Canada, I’ve been high on Smith since his Junior year of HS and I didn’t see anything this season that made me think anything less of him as a prospect. He played on a team bereft of talent outside of him that had a terrible coach. What more do you expect? Markelle Fultz was in the exact same situation and no ones questioning his mentality. Everything prior to this about Dennis was how he has an alpha dog mentality, hes constantly working, he wants nothing more than to win, now hes a poor teammate woth no drive? I call BS. Theres not a doubt in my mind that he will be a top quality point guard by year 3. He is going to instantly be one of the best athletes in the league when he gets drafted, and hes got a nasty albeit slightly loose handle, combined with an already decent jumper that needs far less work than a lot of guys coming out of college cut from a similar mold as him. 

[BallerScriptParticipant]

 I’m still taking Smith over Fox and Ntilikina

[HitsterParticipant]

 I must admit living in England I haven’t seen a lot of his games in full but from what I have seen, he looks a legit prospect and to be ACC ROY you have to be a good player.

A lot had been said about him being an explosive scoring PG maybe more in the D-Rose mould especially with him being a below average 3 point shooter. But from what I have seen he also looks to be a very good playmaker for his age and has a good APG rate. So it’s not like even at college level he was a ball hog when he was clearly the best player on a below 0.500 team. He seems to have a good understanding of the PG role for his age and doesn’t seem to make many rash passes. 

The creative part of a PG’s game can develop over many years, some don’t reach their peak until they are nearer 30 or even older. So Smith will have a long time to develop his already promising basketball IQ and will have a solid skillset to fall back on if he loses his speed a bit as he gets older.

I don’t tend to publish my mock until after draft lottery but I think Dennis may be a bit low at 9 on the site mock and a lot will depend on how all the PGs workout in relation to each other.

 

 

 

 

 

[iguapops420Participant]

 Only problems I’ve seen from Smith personally are that he is in fact a bit of a ball stopper and his lateral quick response was lacking. But lateral fluidity is usually the hardest thing to get back after a knee I jury like he had so I give him a break there. If you’re a team looking for a top flight PG in this draft, and you miss out on Fultz, Ball, you’re definitely ietely going to be getting a top flight prospect out of DSJ. Still the third best of in the draft IMO. He didnt play for KU so obviously he didn’t have a real chance to show out during the tourney.

[bdiddy5115Participant]

I agree, Smith has gotten very underrated in the past few months, with the rise of other prospects on better teams/more heralded programs, and a "slow" finish to his season on dysfunctinoal NC State team.

He has fewer knocks than any PG outside of Fultz. He has the tightest handle of all the top 5 PGs, is the most explosive, and is strongest as well — all of which point to him being able to get wherever he wants in today’s NBA (and to him being potentially dominant in the P&R game). His J has been criticized, when his form is good, gets separation, and he projects as a strong 3pt shooter down the road. 

Early in the season he was shaking off the post-surgery rust.

And the problem with being a star/one-man team on a mediocre roster is that without a good coach, (better) opponents can easily exploit and lock-down on a guy like DSJ, no matter how talented he is. This was evident down the stretch of the season. 

 

 

 

 

 

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