Stackhouse on Nesmith

[Ed Monix]

Jerry Steakhouse was Nesmith's head coach at Vanderbilt for the 2019-20 season.

- We compare him to Khris Middleton. He’s perfect for the wing spot. He has the size. He has the strength and in addition to being a shooter, he is dedicated to the defensive side as well.

- Obviously, he can shoot the ball. In the NBA, there is always a demand for shooters, and he’s one of the best shooters in all of college last year. There aren’t many better than him in the draft. But he’s also just a great person who cares about his teammates. He’ll always do what’s best for the team. He was a great leader for us, even after his injury.

- He’s a competitor. He worked really hard in the summer before his sophomore season, and had great work ethic the whole year. He doesn’t take shortcuts.

- I say that he was a sponge. He wanted to learn and he soaked things up in terms of system development as well as personal player development. He learned the little things like how to use screens and setting screens to get himself more open looks.

- You’re talking about a guy who if he takes 100 shots he’s going to make 90 of them spot-up shots. I’ve seen him go 50-for-50, taking five spots, 10 shots. Allan Houston, Ray Allen type of jumpers. They are getting that type of shooter, but more.

- I compare him to Allan Houston right now. A guy who can come off screens, come off pin-downs. I don’t know if he had the greatest handle but he could get to where he needed to get to to make great space for himself. Defensively, probably middle tier right now with the ability to obviously improve there. Another guy I like is his homeboy from Charleston Khris Middleton.

- In five years, Aaron Nesmith will be an all-star.

- I would hate to fight him. And you know that’s saying a lot. I think he has that type of toughness and no quit in him.

- He has a sense of toughness about him. I knew that eventually that he was going to find his stride, because he works so hard. He shoots the basketball too well,” he said. “He has just an uncanny knack of just making sure the ball goes in, doesn’t matter whether he’s off-balance a little bit, or anything. Even in the post, he can score from all three levels.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Reminds me of Glen Rice.

[Sophomore]

That would transform the team. Hope Stack is a good evaluator.

[Birdman]

Always like Nesmith..hope they don’t trade him

[Hoopvortex]

I think Aaron’s most interesting skill developments were on view in the Orlando game, even though he was the reddest of red-hot in the Denver game.

1) A floater. Last season he got into the lane a few times, but if he couldn’t get all the way to the rim the result was a high-arcing pullup.

2) A new go-to move is taking the pass above the break on the right side, taking two dribbles toward the baseline to the open area for the midrange pullup. He made this one both off-balance (hello Jerry Stackhouse) and contested - and he’s added a jabstep at the end to get enough space for a good look.

3) Regarding ballhandling generally: he’s worked on his lower-body grounding, such that he now has some impressive whole-body dribble fakes.

4) At the arc he has a beautiful sidestep move to the left; that was there last season, but he’s added the dribble fake to the right to precede it. Nice - but good scouting is going to tell his defenders that he’s never actually sidestepping right.

5) On the whole he still prefers driving left, but evidence that he’s working on driving right was especially abundant in the Philadelphia game.

6) Love the shotfake at the left elbow at 5:40 of the third in the Orlando game - the defender is still running away from him as the ball settles into the net.

Going forward I see an all-star. Yes, I’m ready to predict it. He’s expanding his repertoire rapidly. He’s got extraordinary body control. Mazzula was commenting that it was his defense that got him on the floor last season - his easygoing demeanor can fool you, but note what Stackhouse was saying: you wouldn’t want to fight him. He’s a team guy and a great complement to The Two Jays® - a shotmaker with emerging off-the-dribble skills and good length.

[Walker Wiggle]

I see a player with some things to work on, but should be given credit for where he is at just age 21 (that is, a playable NBA role player).

A great thing for him to work on is attacking close outs. In SL he looks more comfortable doing that, which is great. If he can continue to shoot the 3 well off of movement, and couple that with being a dangerous guy off of close outs (in terms of finishing at the rim or making the right pass off the dribble), then you are talking about a dangerous offensive player.

I think his ballhandling still looks shaky. Of course, he’s still very young and that can be improved with hard work, which by all accounts he is very familiar with. Jaylen Brown was a poor ball handler at that age, two. Also, Nesmith has gotten blown by too many times in SL. With time and coaching he will become a better defender. Last year he made a lot of encouraging strides.

The ceiling for this guy is Middleton, and a reasonable target is Duncan Robinson with better defense and more of a threat at the rim. Even that second scenario will take a lot more work and time, though.

[Tr1boy]

Nesmith may never be a fantastic ball handler

But he understands his limition and has looked good at the things he can excel on

New things

1. Floater
2. Straight line drive stop and pop (looks very Dominique like)
3.  Headfake/pumpfake straight line drive to basket
4.  More confidence in shooting the ball.   Not only c&s. But also catch, hesitate,  get to spot and shoot

5. Like also how Udoka has him running major angle curls to the net.  End goal to have his defender confused

Not sure all star... but I could see him become at least as good as Mikael Bridges

[JBcat]

I think Aaron’s most interesting skill developments were on view in the Orlando game, even though he was the reddest of red-hot in the Denver game.

1) A floater. Last season he got into the lane a few times, but if he couldn’t get all the way to the rim the result was a high-arcing pullup.

2) A new go-to move is taking the pass above the break on the right side, taking two dribbles toward the baseline to the open area for the midrange pullup. He made this one both off-balance (hello Jerry Stackhouse) and contested - and he’s added a jabstep at the end to get enough space for a good look.

3) Regarding ballhandling generally: he’s worked on his lower-body grounding, such that he now has some impressive whole-body dribble fakes.

4) At the arc he has a beautiful sidestep move to the left; that was there last season, but he’s added the dribble fake to the right to precede it. Nice - but good scouting is going to tell his defenders that he’s never actually sidestepping right.

5) On the whole he still prefers driving left, but evidence that he’s working on driving right was especially abundant in the Philadelphia game.

6) Love the shotfake at the left elbow at 5:40 of the third in the Orlando game - the defender is still running away from him as the ball settles into the net.

Going forward I see an all-star. Yes, I’m ready to predict it. He’s expanding his repertoire rapidly. He’s got extraordinary body control. Mazzula was commenting that it was his defense that got him on the floor last season - his easygoing demeanor can fool you, but note what Stackhouse was saying: you wouldn’t want to fight him. He’s a team guy and a great complement to The Two Jays® - a shotmaker with emerging off-the-dribble skills and good length.

TP.   Very nice detailed description of his evolving skill set.   If he actually reaches all star level, wow what a coup. I’m also getting more interested in what Langford can bring in the future.  I think a nice model for Langford to emulate is our new Celtic John Richardson, a defensive guard that can drive well, with a passable 3 point shot. Along with Pritchard and Timelord  promising young players in the mid to late first round lately.

[nickagneta]

Besides Haliburton, Aaron was my draft binkie last year. I think he definitely has All-Star upside. Love the fact that all the people around Nesmith who was asked questions about him mentioned his off the chart worker ethic.

Amazing shooter.
Tough as nails.
High energy.
Ability to absorb coaching and implement it.
Off the charts work ethic.
Sneaky good athleticism.

Recipe for future greatness if he wants it bad enough. I think he does.

[Hoopvortex]

Besides Haliburton, Aaron was my draft binkie last year.

You were ahead of me, then. He won me over with his defense last year - there was a moment - he got beat by somebody or other but stayed with it and got the block from behind, tremendous effort, reaching and using all of his length. Wingspan is great but you've got to do something with it. Skill and body are great but there's no substitute for effort. He's got the tools, checks all the boxes.

But I didn't see an all-star until all these ball skills started showing up. Not this year, it's safe to say, but the beauty of it is he makes a great complement already.

I think he definitely has All-Star upside.

Amazing shooter.
Tough as nails.
High energy.
Ability to absorb coaching and implement it.
Off the charts work ethic.
Sneaky good athleticism.

Recipe for future greatness if he wants it bad enough. I think he does.

I would just add: team guy all the way. Is he 'too nice'? We have our assumptions...

It's the offseason and there's a warm rosy glow of optimism around the team from the roster overhaul, and someone will remind us that it's only summer league - quite rightly, too. But Nesmith showed skills in the last few weeks that will translate up. The variety is what is so impressive, and so encouraging.

[mef730]

Jerry Steakhouse was Nesmith's head coach at Vanderbilt for the 2019-20 season...

Reminds me of Glen Rice.

Makes sense. You always want to have a little rice with your steak.

Mike

[sgrogan]

Besides Haliburton, Aaron was my draft binkie last year. I think he definitely has All-Star upside. Love the fact that all the people around Nesmith who was asked questions about him mentioned his off the chart worker ethic.

Amazing shooter.
Tough as nails.
High energy.
Ability to absorb coaching and implement it.
Off the charts work ethic.
Sneaky good athleticism.

Recipe for future greatness if he wants it bad enough. I think he does.

Hopefully a little JB in him.
I'm not sure yet about All-Star, but...
As a second year player maybe 18 mpg/9 ppg at better than league average efficiency, while not being a liability on defense?

If he can be a reliable spot up 3 pt shooter and continues to hustle on defense, it appears he could fit in a lot of lineup combinations.

[footey]

Pump the brakes. All Star potential?  He can't guard guys.  His lateral movement is scary bad.   He's a potentially elite streak shooter, but I don't see his ceiling higher than Terrence Ross.  He has poor core strength.

I have higher hopes for Begarin, who has a much stronger body and can defend multiple positions. 

Ime and Brad are going to go for defensive oriented teams.  It all starts with defense.  Look at the transactions.  Sign Smart to multi year deal, let Fournier walk.  Trade for Richardson. Trade for Dunn. 

All of the depth chart projections on CS show Nesmith as starting or first wing off bench, and Romeo relegated to 3rd string or DNPCD, I suspect when the team plays games in the fall, we will see Romeo getting more PT than Nesmith, ahead of him in the rotation.  He's a much better defender. He STARTED for Brad during the playoff series vs Brooklyn, and played quite well under the circumstances (we were outmatched by superior opponent, and were without Brown, etc.) Unpopular take, I know. I recognize flaws in Romeo, and have been disappointed in his failure to assert himself more during summer league.  His shots per game was probably less than 10.  But that profile (low usage, elite multi-positional defender) will be in high demand next to Tatum and Brown.  And his 3 point shot is starting to look acceptably close to league average of late.

[sgrogan]

Pump the brakes. All Star potential?  He can't guard guys.  His lateral movement is scary bad.   He's a potentially elite streak shooter, but I don't see his ceiling higher than Terrence Ross.  He has poor core strength.

I have higher hopes for Begarin, who has a much stronger body and can defend multiple positions. 

Ime and Brad are going to go for defensive oriented teams.  It all starts with defense.  Look at the transactions.  Sign Smart to multi year deal, let Fournier walk.  Trade for Richardson. Trade for Dunn. 

All of the depth chart projections on CS show Nesmith as starting or first wing off bench, and Romeo relegated to 3rd string or DNPCD, I suspect when the team plays games in the fall, we will see Romeo getting more PT than Nesmith, ahead of him in the rotation.  He's a much better defender. He STARTED for Brad during the playoff series vs Brooklyn, and played quite well under the circumstances (we were outmatched by superior opponent, and were without Brown, etc.) Unpopular take, I know. I recognize flaws in Romeo, and have been disappointed in his failure to assert himself more during summer league.  His shots per game was probably less than 10.  But that profile (low usage, elite multi-positional defender) will be in high demand next to Tatum and Brown.  And his 3 point shot is starting to look acceptably close to league average of late.

Simplistically I think PT will come down to;
Romeo/Nesmith
Richardson/Schröderr

And then the battle between these groups. Romeo is probably the best and most versatile defender, but JT & JB won't score 100% of our points. Pritchard/Dunn are kind of outside looking in, in my opinion.

[Rondo9]

It's pretty funny that one loss and everyone is saying that the player is bad or limited.