Top Performance Series: Nick Smith Jr.
The idea behind the top performance series is to go back and watch the best, or one of the best, box score games of each prospect's season to see how they looked when they were performing at their highest individual level and what that might show us about their ceiling as a prospect.
While it would take Nick Smith Jr. 23 field goal attempts to get his 25 points in this game against a Kentucky team without Cason Wallace, he chipped in six assists and four steals to go along with those buckets.
While it was not as efficient a game as you may want, this game gave us a perfect glance of not only what Smith Jr. ceiling is, but also what may be the reasons for keeping him from reaching that ceiling.
Offense
There is no denying that Smith Jr. did not live up to the expectations during his freshman season but that doesn’t mean he didn’t show the flashes that many people expected. Based on the number of field goal attempts in this game it would be a surprise to describe him as an unselfish and willing passer but that is the case.
Many of the attempts, and admittedly some of the makes, actually came in desperation time over the past few minutes.
Does he get sped up at times? Absolutely. Does he have to learn to play with more pace and patience? Without a doubt but the mistakes and bad decisions he makes does not come from a place of selfishness.
The 6-foot-5 guard will alway be reliant on his ability to score but even going back to his high school film there was some real upside as an on ball creator. He must improve on the aforementioned pace and he could use some real growth with his use of ball screens in terms of setting the screen up and manipulating the defense but there is some real potential.
When looking solely at his scoring we will see somewhat of the same story. The overall shooting percentages are flat out not pretty. There is no way to deny that but there are reasons for hope including his 50% shooting unguarded catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts.
Smith Jr. looked extremely comfortable taking attempts in the mid range but flat out has to get more proficient at knocking them down. He loves the floater, and this is a shot attempt that can serve him well, but he has to convert at a higher rate.
There is reason to believe in his ability to get into the lane but he also must have a better plan on how to finish when he does so. Some of this will be aided by increased strength that he is sure to add once entering the league.
A certain level of indecisiveness could also be seen on this end of the court and may have contributed to the overall inefficiency.
The best example happened in the first half when Smith Jr. turned down two open 3-point attempts and instead drove in a crowded lane resulting in a turnover.
Defense
While the North Little Rock High School alum has fundamentals to work on defensively he plays with a certain level of activity that makes you a believer. Much like his offense, he has to learn to harness it a little better but he has no problem getting in a stance and picking up the ball full court. He even had some really nice ball screen navigation possessions even if the way in which he navigated wasn’t picture perfect.
Off the ball he had some really nice awareness and controlled his activity with nicely timed rotations. Smith Jr. even appeared to be one of the more communicative defenders on the Razorbacks when matching up in transition and switching in the half court.
The stats don’t necessarily paint the same picture but his impact on the defensive boards could be seen beyond what the box score showed. While this was all positive - and somewhat surprising - there will be limitations defensively based solely on his size limiting his overall versatility.
Even then, for a player who will make his name as a bucket getter, providing some sort of defensive value would be a major distinguisher from other players of his archetype.
Ceiling
Streaky scorer with secondary playmaking and neutral defender due to lack of versatility.
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