NBA Draft 2022: NBA Draft Combine notebook and takeaways

The NBA Draft Combine wrapped up in Chicago last week with a handful of prospects performing well and elevating their stocks.

But this year’s combine saw a recent trend continue; prospects sitting out of the scrimmages. It’s always been common to see top prospects sit out, but this year a handful of prospects I have a second-round grade on decided not to play. Some players were hurt, but it feels like the agents have a stronghold on players’ decisions right now and I’m curious to see if and how this gets fixed.

They were a handful of freshmen who came into the year with buzz, were largely unproductive, saw their stocks lower, and then decided not to scrimmage, which I don’t get. Teams know you’re still young and raw, what is there to lose?

Anyway, there were a handful of prospects who did participate and helped improve themselves in the eyes of teams and myself. Let’s talk about them.

Terquavion Smith (North Carolina State)

Smith wasn’t talked about much during the season as NC State struggled to win ACC games, but became a riser in the pre-draft process. Smith only played in one combine scrimmage and wasn’t that efficient. But, he showed off his tough shot-making ability and real shake with the ball in his hands.

Smith was inefficient this season, but NC State asked him to take on more responsibility than the average combo guard. He’s also a late-riser, only ranked as a three-star prospect out of a small high school. He definitely needs to add weight, but an NBA weight room should fix some of those issues. Undersized combo guards used to be an archetype I was not a fan of, but with a plethora of jumbo creators in the NBA, we’re starting to see it work more and more.

Smith gets compared to Bones Hyland, who also helped himself tremendously in last year’s combine, and I think that’s fair. Smith will need to add weight, and the shot selection needs to be reigned in, but the latter should be fixed in an NBA scheme. Smith wasn’t the most-willing passer this season, but he wasn’t playing on a great team and I was encouraged by some of the playmaking flashes he showed at the combine.

I haven’t finalized my board yet and I’ll likely go watch some more of Smith’s in-season games, but he’ll likely end around a first-round grade for me and I think a team will wind up taking him in the first.