SEC Basketball: Buy or Sell top remaining 2019 NBA Draft decisions

Ja’vonte Smart (LSU) 6’4 Guard

2019 Per-Game Stats: 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals, 36.8% FG, 31.1% 3PT

*Editor’s note: Smart has announced his return to LSU before this article was published. However, this page gives good insight into his game and what he’ll have to improve on next season at LSU.

After having his name bathed in FBI scandal reports, I’m sure going through the NBA Draft process has been a refreshing experience for JaVonte, and I ultimately think he will forgo his final three seasons of eligibility at LSU, but that’s for someone else to break down.

In terms of his potential at the next level, I’ll admit, I’m highly skeptical. Analyzing which lower tier guys will thrive at the next level is perennially a fool’s errand, especially when it comes to the guards. Succeeding in the NBA as a second round pick or an undrafted free agent is largely based on role and fit with whichever team signs you. My condolences to anyone picked by Phoenix over the past decade. With Smart, he’s really going to have to impress in workouts to have even the slightest chance at being signed. Surely, he’ll make a summer team roster as a former 5-star and member of the SEC’s regular season champs. And perhaps he will shine bright enough to earn a multi-year deal or (more likely) a two-way contract.

Regarding his game, he was never really a great fit at LSU. Though Will Wade fielded one of the League’s youngest units, Smart was pigeonholed behind Junior Skylar Mays and Sophomore SEC POY candidate Tremont Waters. The only true experience on the roster shared a backcourt with Smart, which wasn’t the ideal way to show off his talents. Sometimes, though, talented players thrive in a smaller bench role and dazzle pro scouts with a tantalizing sample of their work on the court. Think a Devin Booker in 2015 , who came off the bench and was asked to do just one thing: shoot the three. He did so splendidly and landed himself in the late lottery as a result. Obviously, Smart will never be anything close to Booker in the NBA, but the roles the two filled on their college teams are similar.

Smart, however, struggled immensely with his consistency and efficiency. His woeful 36% clip from the field is raising eyebrows for all the wrong reasons. The 31% from three is an additional turn-off. Again, his role on the 2019 Tigers was anything but suitable for his style of play. In the few games LSU’s starting point guard, Waters, sat out, Smart elevated his play–the chief of which being a 29-point outburst in a home win over Tennessee, where he thoroughly out-played Jordan Bone.

For Smart, consistency on offense (he does have a pretty filthy stepback three when it’s falling) and ridiculous effort on defense is his path to an elongated stay in the NBA.

Verdict: Sell