Ja’Vonte Smart – Baton Rouge, LA
Guard | 6-foot-4 | 190 lbs | No. 35 overall
A local in-state product, Ja’Vonte Smart comes to LSU as an extremely highly-touted recruit ranked in the top-50 of the 2018 recruiting class. An excellent shooting guard with a variety of skills, he projects as a star at the college level. Quite simply, Smart is hardwired to score. Although not a tremendously good 3-point shooter at this point in time, he is definitely capable of stroking the open jumper. However, he is at his best with the ball in the hands as a creator both for himself and for others.
Smart has a tight handle with the ball and is extremely creative in creating his own shot. As a scorer, he is an acrobatic finisher around the basket with a deadly mid-range game. Furthermore, he understands how to operate within an offense and rarely attempts to do too much. He is excellent when it comes to probing defenses and has no trouble kicking out to the open man if he does not have an open look inside the lane.
In terms of his role as a freshman, Smart has a good chance to land the starting shooting guard role alongside Tremont Waters in the backcourt. He brings plenty of size to that spot and could also help with the floor spacing for the team. If this is the case, then Smart might just turn out to be the most important newcomer this year despite not being the highest-rated.