Cold night. 22 ast despite missing so many easy shots.
I don't find it acceptable that coach is ok with Smart jacking up 3's.
He wasn't an exclusive 3pt shooter in college was he?
Not at all. Smart used his bullish strength and effort to get to the rim a lot. He was pretty fearless going at the rim against larger players. I watch a lot of big12 basketball, and at OKState he had the quickness and strength to overpower a defense and get into the lane.
He wasn't a great outside shooter in college, but at times he could get super streaky hot from outside. He had stretches of time where he couldn't hit anything from deep and then when it was needed he could hit the timely 3 ball. If he was hot, he kept on shooting as well. Kind of what we have already seen from him this year.
I think he is going to need to study and work on his dribble drives a bit more to try and offset the obvious increase in size and ability from nba level def. Probably needs to improve his ball handling a bit too. I think he can do it. It was always just going to be a hard transition for him on offense because in college he was just plain stronger than everyone he played against, even most of the post players. That same advantage doesn't exist in the nba.
The good thing about him is he already has nba ready def skills, and a real knack for the ball and making things happen.
I am still not sure if he is an NBA point guard though. He will obviously get his chance to try. I mean it can't turn out any worse than when we tried to make Avery a point guard.