He's really fun to watch. Like Jordan Poole, Smiley has the guts to go for the big play in the big moment, with no regard to how it worked last time (if there even was a last time).
He's also still green, so it'll take a while until he knows when that's actually a good idea and when it's best *not* to go for it.
On defense, he also seems pretty green. Maybe not fleet-footed and stable enough to ever be a great outside defender, but he definitely could grow to become a better interior defender... Based on what I've seen of his personality so far, he seems like a hard worker so I think we'll see a bit more of him near year, mostly Kerr "stealing minutes." If I had to guess, Smiley will have a couple break-out moments but won't be a reliable contributor until the season after...
I really like him. I think he's got such an interesting upside with his range of skills, energy, sneaky athleticism and chutzpah.
I can envision a scenario where he has a great offseason improving his body, in particular improving his core strength and balance. If he does that it would not be shocking to me at all to see him actually be a decent contributor as an energy big with some skill. Even if he still doesn't know what he's doing out there too much. Then his future growth is tied to his skill and IQ improvements with the upside of a high quality starter.
Or, maybe the body never comes to the level he needs. Or his decision making doesn't come around. And he's kind of an entertaining but frustrating player. Wide range of outcomes for him.
I'd be happy if he were even the greatest warrior with S as one of his initials, from europe, and with funny eastern european accents in his name because that would mean he was better than Šarūnas Marčiulionis, which would be pretty damn good :)
He's really fun to watch. Like Jordan Poole, Smiley has the guts to go for the big play in the big moment, with no regard to how it worked last time (if there even was a last time).
He's also still green, so it'll take a while until he knows when that's actually a good idea and when it's best *not* to go for it.
On defense, he also seems pretty green. Maybe not fleet-footed and stable enough to ever be a great outside defender, but he definitely could grow to become a better interior defender... Based on what I've seen of his personality so far, he seems like a hard worker so I think we'll see a bit more of him near year, mostly Kerr "stealing minutes." If I had to guess, Smiley will have a couple break-out moments but won't be a reliable contributor until the season after...
I really like him. I think he's got such an interesting upside with his range of skills, energy, sneaky athleticism and chutzpah.
I can envision a scenario where he has a great offseason improving his body, in particular improving his core strength and balance. If he does that it would not be shocking to me at all to see him actually be a decent contributor as an energy big with some skill. Even if he still doesn't know what he's doing out there too much. Then his future growth is tied to his skill and IQ improvements with the upside of a high quality starter.
Or, maybe the body never comes to the level he needs. Or his decision making doesn't come around. And he's kind of an entertaining but frustrating player. Wide range of outcomes for him.
I'd be happy if he were even the greatest warrior with S as one of his initials, from europe, and with funny eastern european accents in his name because that would mean he was better than Šarūnas Marčiulionis, which would be pretty damn good :)