NBA Draft

NBA Draft Film Breakdown: Nick Smith Jr.'s Scoring Ability

Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr. is one of the more talented guards in all of college basketball.

Isaac Condra

NBA Draft Film Breakdown: Nick Smith Jr.'s Scoring Ability
NBA Draft Film Breakdown: Nick Smith Jr.'s Scoring Ability /
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Nick Smith Jr is arguably the most talented guard in all of college basketball. And he'll be a major cog in any eventual Arkansas NCAA tournament run.

Despite his knee issues that kept him out for over half the season, he has shown the ability to score the ball at all three levels effectively.

Let's take a closer look at his scoring ability and see what has caused a scoring burst of nearly 22 points per game over his last four contests:

Finishing

Amongst all draft eligible prospects, Smith comfortably has the best floater in the draft.

His elite touch really stands out and he can be pretty creative when finishing around the rim, as he’s comfortable finishing off of one or both feet.

On the flip side of things, Smith is a below-the-rim finisher. He has zero dunks in the half-court due to a lack of explosiveness and pop and he doesn’t put a ton of pressure on the rim which could hurt his efficiency. In the half-court he only has two non-assisted layups out of twelve games. The lack of shooting and spacing on Arkansas definitely plays a factor in this.

Shooting

Smith is a good spot-up shooter that does a great job at playing without the ball. I love his shot preparation and he has very smooth shot mechanics.

He has deep range that extends past 23 feet. He has smooth energy transformation on his jumper. The touch is elite from all over the floor which is very important when determining a prospect’s shooting upside. You simply can’t leave him open as he’s shooting 55.6% on all unguarded catch and shoot jumpers which ranks him in the 97th percentile.

His three-point shooting percentage in the NBA likely projects anywhere from 36-40%.

Shot-making

The shot-making ability is what makes Smith a special scoring prospect.

He has a ton of shot versatility and is an elite shot-maker from all over the floor. He has great footwork getting into his pull-up jumpers. From the mid-range to three he’s extremely effective with his pull-up jumper that he can leverage at any time. He’s someone that can get you a much-needed bucket late in the shot clock.

He has unreal scoring instincts and is always wired to score from anywhere on the floor

Shot-creation

Smith has a smooth handle and is really good at creating his own offense. He has great wiggle and advanced footwork as a ball-handler.

He does a great job of changing speeds and utilizes change of pace to get to his spots. How consistently and easy Smith can get to his spots in the half-court is one of the better parts of his game. He has plenty of creativity in his bag as a ball-handler, but at times he can over-dribble and his handle can occasionally get loose. Continuing to tighten up his handle and being more efficient with his dribbles will make him that much more special with the ball in-hand.

After breaking down Nick Smith Jr’s scoring ability, it’s very clear that he’s one of the best scoring guards in the entire class.

On the season he’s shooting 39.5% from the field and 34.0% from three, so improving his efficiency will be a major improvement point with the season coming to an end.

In his defense, the knee injuries and lack of shooters on Arkansas has played a huge part in his poor shooting.

With the SEC tournament rolling around, he’ll need to continue being an elite scorer for Arkansas if they want to make a run in March.

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Isaac Condra
ISAAC CONDRA

Isaac is the founder of Global Scouting and an analyst for Draft Digest. He has scouted and covered the NBA draft for the last five years, with experience analyzing players at all levels.

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