Poll: Smart will end up being top two player in his draft class.

[jambr380]

No mentions of Payton, who is really his best comp since he is the only other PG worth mentioning from his class.

I think Smart is likely to fall around 5th, 6th if Embiid turns it around, and there is nothing wrong with that based on where he was selected. He will likely always have more of an effect on a game than will be seen in the box score, but he has a LONG way to go on his efficiency.

[KeepRondo]

bizarre poll... "Parker and Lavine"... strange. 

No, I don't think he will not be a top 2 player from his draft class.  Not sure why you referenced those two players specifically.

His summer league performance gettin people hyped up.  He wasn't even in the top 60 statistically.   Aaron Gordon was #1, though.  Dante Exum was top 10, though he only played a single game.  There's always sleeper candidates... I wouldn't bet money on Smart being top 2 just based on Parker and Wiggins alone... the chance that nobody else surpasses Smart is unlikely.

A partial list of 2014 draftees who statistically outperformed Marcus Smart in this summer league:  Aaron Gordon, Dante Exum, Dwight Powell, Rodney Hood, Noah Vonleh, Russ Smith, Kyle Anderson, Furkan Aldemir, Eric Green, TJ Warren, Adreian Payne, Mitch McGary, Zach Lavine, Lmar Patterson ..  That doesn't include Wiggins, Parker, Nurkic, Stauskas and (obviously) Embiid who didn't play... it doesn't include Julius Randle who was on a minute restriction having only been cleared to play ball a couple weeks prior...   

Clearly not all of those guys will end up better than Smart.  CLEARLY.   But I wouldn't put money on Smart being the second best player in this draft term.  Bad bet.  Too many variables.

Smart had two great games that were both better than Exum's one great game -and one of those was in the same game.

I disagree with that.  He shot 30% in his first game and was outplayed by Exum.  Smart was really good in one of his games.  He was brutal in another one of his games.   Overall, he shot under 35% for the entire summer league and showed mild improvement over his stats from last year.   His performance was greatly overhyped.  I expect his stats this season to be similar to his stats over the second half of last season.

I agree. Exum flashed a ton of potential in that game and Smart shooting 35 percent in summer league worries me.

The positives are his shot looks good. Seems to have good mechanics and decent release. It's his inability to get seperation and enough space to get his shot off. Seems like even adter he gets behind his player, he's still worried about the guy blocking him from behind.

He's probably better off getting more touches posting up on the side where he can square up and already be mid range.

[LarBrd33]

Wild guess that Smart will end up being the 6th best player from this draft class, but the 5 guys better than him might not be the 5 guys drafted ahead of him. 

[walker834]

I think Smart will be underrated just because there is no stat for defense or leadership except championships. I think he will be the best in that regard.

[Fred Roberts]

#1 Toughest in that class. Best overall? ?

It'll take years to figure this out.  Right now,  I'm comfortable with the pick. The night of that draft,  I was bummed out.  I was there in person.  Still heavily invested in Smart and Young panning out.

I feel like we won't know about a bunch of these guys for 4 years. 

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

Wild guess that Smart will end up being the 6th best player from this draft class, but the 5 guys better than him might not be the 5 guys drafted ahead of him.

Im pretty sure the Jazz feel the same way bout Hood as we do Smart

[max215]

Too early to say. I think Wiggins is all but a lock to be the best player from the draft. Parker has loads of potential and an ACL tear is nowhere near as catastrophic an injury as it once was. Gordon could be a stud if his offensive improvements translate from SL. Exum has all the physical gifts in the world and is still crazy young. Maybe Warren or Lavine will be the next mid-first star. Maybe Clarkson will be the next second round steal. It's just too early to say. Personally, I think Smart will be the third best after Wiggins and Parker, which is a compliment to those two, not a slight to Smart.

[KG Living Legend]

Not true, maybe Exum. They do feel better about Hood than Young that's for sure.

[ahonui06]

Too early to say. I think Wiggins is all but a lock to be the best player from the draft. Parker has loads of potential and an ACL tear is nowhere near as catastrophic an injury as it once was. Gordon could be a stud if his offensive improvements translate from SL. Exum has all the physical gifts in the world and is still crazy young. Maybe Warren or Lavine will be the next mid-first star. Maybe Clarkson will be the next second round steal. It's just too early to say. Personally, I think Smart will be the third best after Wiggins and Parker, which is a compliment to those two, not a slight to Smart.

Agree. Wiggins seems to have clearly differentiated himself during the rookie campaign, especially once Parker went down with the ACL tear.

Marcus Smart seems to have the 3rd position locked up at the moment and he is bound to improve with additional playing time this season.

[IDreamCeltics]

bizarre poll... "Parker and Lavine"... strange. 

No, I don't think he will not be a top 2 player from his draft class.  Not sure why you referenced those two players specifically.

His summer league performance gettin people hyped up.  He wasn't even in the top 60 statistically.   Aaron Gordon was #1, though.  Dante Exum was top 10, though he only played a single game.  There's always sleeper candidates... I wouldn't bet money on Smart being top 2 just based on Parker and Wiggins alone... the chance that nobody else surpasses Smart is unlikely.

A partial list of 2014 draftees who statistically outperformed Marcus Smart in this summer league:  Aaron Gordon, Dante Exum, Dwight Powell, Rodney Hood, Noah Vonleh, Russ Smith, Kyle Anderson, Furkan Aldemir, Eric Green, TJ Warren, Adreian Payne, Mitch McGary, Zach Lavine, Lmar Patterson ..  That doesn't include Wiggins, Parker, Nurkic, Stauskas and (obviously) Embiid who didn't play... it doesn't include Julius Randle who was on a minute restriction having only been cleared to play ball a couple weeks prior...   

Clearly not all of those guys will end up better than Smart.  CLEARLY.   But I wouldn't put money on Smart being the second best player in this draft long-term.  Bad bet.  Too many variables.  That's not to say Smart will not end up top 5.  But top 2... unlikely.

What statistics are you referring to?

In terms of team WINS (which is also a statistic) Smart came out of summer league looking pretty good.

[slamtheking]

need more options in that poll

I think after 5 seasons would be a better time to judge the results but I think he'll wind up somewhere between 4-6 in a redraft.  I think Wiggins and Parker will be the top 2 from the that draft.  Embiid is an unknown.  Still early to judge Exum but he's looked better this summer.  Gordon is looking much better this summer.  that's not even taking into account the chances someone taken after him breaks out into a real stud which seems to happen almost every draft.

having said that, I have no doubt that no matter how much later a redraft is held, Smart will always be taken before Randle. 

[Sketch5]

bizarre poll... "Parker and Lavine"... strange. 

No, I don't think he will not be a top 2 player from his draft class.  Not sure why you referenced those two players specifically.

His summer league performance gettin people hyped up.  He wasn't even in the top 60 statistically.   Aaron Gordon was #1, though.  Dante Exum was top 10, though he only played a single game.  There's always sleeper candidates... I wouldn't bet money on Smart being top 2 just based on Parker and Wiggins alone... the chance that nobody else surpasses Smart is unlikely.

A partial list of 2014 draftees who statistically outperformed Marcus Smart in this summer league:  Aaron Gordon, Dante Exum, Dwight Powell, Rodney Hood, Noah Vonleh, Russ Smith, Kyle Anderson, Furkan Aldemir, Eric Green, TJ Warren, Adreian Payne, Mitch McGary, Zach Lavine, Lmar Patterson ..  That doesn't include Wiggins, Parker, Nurkic, Stauskas and (obviously) Embiid who didn't play... it doesn't include Julius Randle who was on a minute restriction having only been cleared to play ball a couple weeks prior...   

Clearly not all of those guys will end up better than Smart.  CLEARLY.   But I wouldn't put money on Smart being the second best player in this draft term.  Bad bet.  Too many variables.

Smart had two great games that were both better than Exum's one great game -and one of those was in the same game.

I disagree with that.  He shot 30% in his first game and was outplayed by Exum.  Smart was really good in one of his games.  He was brutal in another one of his games.   Overall, he shot under 35% for the entire summer league and showed mild improvement over his stats from last year.   His performance was greatly overhyped.  I expect his stats this season to be similar to his stats over the second half of last season.

He wasn't out played by Exum. Exum did a bulk of his scoring with Smart on the bench. Before that Smart shut him down and was completely out playing him. Smart had just come back in when Exum hurt his ankle, so we don't really know if Smart could have cooled him off.

People use numbers too much to evaluate how some one effects a game. Watch the game and the flow instead of box scores. I could give two $#$#'s if Smart's percentage was 30% or less, but if he wins the game for them because he does all the other things that don't show up, I'm completely fine with that.

Plus Smart was taking some shot's he wouldn't in the regular season, so I wouldn't really look to hard at the numbers.

[oldtype]

I don't understand why anyone would take Exum over Smart at this point. One has proved that he can start in the NBA and one hasn't. The only thing Exum has done better so far is to get drafted two slots higher.

[Evantime34]

I think he will end up being the third best player in the class. Wiggins, Parker then Smart.

LaVine didn't even deserve to be in the poll, he is a great athlete but doesn't play team ball or defend all that well.

Embiid would have been the best but now he looks like the next Oden.

[jpotter33]

I think he will end up being the third best player in the class. Wiggins, Parker then Smart.

LaVine didn't even deserve to be in the poll, he is a great athlete but doesn't play team ball or defend all that well.

Embiid would have been the best but now he looks like the next Oden.

TP. I'm thinking the same thing. I'm not sure the traditional stats will always say this, but his effect on the game will make him top 3 long-term, imo.