2017 NBA Draft: Why NBA teams will regret passing on Dennis Smith Jr.
By Michael Foy
At this point in the NBA Draft process, the do-it-all point guard Dennis Smith Jr. is flying under the radar. No matter where he goes, he will be a steal.
Dennis Smith Jr. is this year’s most overlooked prospect and that needs to change. In most drafts, he wouldn’t be considered the fourth best point guard, but this class is loaded and attention to a point guard who led his team to a losing (15-17) record is hard to come by, unless your name is Markelle Fultz.
Which brings me to my point, Smith played well all season long, and still receives minimal hype in this year’s draft, and it’s mainly due to his team’s poor play on the court. Don’t get me wrong, Fultz is a better prospect. Fultz is bigger, shoots better, and is better defensively. But Smith isn’t that far behind him.
You could truly make a case that Smith is the second best point guard in this year’s draft, and that is why he deserves more attention. He came off an ACL injury suffered his senior year of high school and looks leaps and bounds more explosive and athletic than any point guard in this draft.
Case in point: He recently posted an absurd 48-inch vertical during his workout with the Los Angeles Lakers. That ties him with the highest vertical ever recorded in NBA history.
Did he help his team win? No, not very much. It is difficult to win when you play in the loaded ACC, for the fourth best basketball school in North Carolina.
Dennis Smith Jr. put up great numbers though, averaging 18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 6.2 assists for a team that didn’t have much star power. Smith had no sidekick. Fox had Bam Adebayo and Malik Monk. Ball had TJ Leaf. Smith didn’t have the luxury of another potential draft pick on his roster.
Offensively, Smith doesn’t look to have many holes. He gets to the rim extremely well and shoots a modest 36% from beyond the arc. Defensively, he needs to commit and improve, but the potential is there. Smith didn’t always look like he was defensively locked in, yet averaged nearly 2 steals a game last season. If he can transition that to the next level, he can use his quickness and speed to disrupt passing lanes and turn them into fast break points.
Even if he is only somewhat of a locked in defender he can still make an impact. There are many point guards in the NBA who get away with playing poor defense, if they can pour in points.
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Smith is athletic enough to make a lot of noise on the NBA level. Soon people outside of Raleigh will start to give him the attention that he deserves. The noise before the draft isn’t so deafening, but we should change that. Nonetheless, he will be a top-10 pick in the draft, but he could be getting looks at the top-5.