So we are cherry picking smart's mediocre three point shooting to highlight why he was a better offensive player than Allen? Allen got to the hoop efficiently. In allens prime he averaged more points. There shouldn't be certainty that smart is better offensively. A less efficient higher volume 3-point shooter, perhaps? All around offense? No. This is like suggesting Kyle Korver was a better offensive player than Michael Jordan by comparing their 3 point shooting. That's exaggerated, of course... But when measuring offense shouldnt we go with the guy who scores more and does it more efficiently? Are you pretending that smart was better offensively than Brandon bass too?
Are we cherry picking Allen's stats to make it seem like he's a better offensive player than Smart? I think you are. You highlight TA's "39%" 3pt shooting his rookie year but fail to mention how he played less minutes than Smart did this season and shot WAY less of them. Oh, and the fact that he's got a broken jumper, is a career 27% 3pt shooter and has had seasons where he shot less than 20% from that range. It's not debatable, Smart is a better shooter right now than TA has ever been.
And really, you said " In Allen's prime he averaged more points". So in TA's prime he managed more than 10 points a game once. Your really comparing a guys best seasons in his prime to a guy in his rookie year? That's insane. I get that you hate Smart, but that's ridiculous. Smart averaged just about 10 points a game after the Rondo trade AS A ROOKIE. You can't compare a guys prime years against another guys rookie year and say "Look! He averaged more points! TA is the better offensive player!" Because it's not a fair comparison.
But what I really wanna know is why your just ignoring the context of his stat line? You say he can't drive to the hoop but he clearly showed he can, especially toward the end of the season when the ankle started to improve. Have you ever played basketball? You can't just drive to the hoop whenever you get passed the ball, it just doesn't work that way. Occasionally you can get a pass on the weak side and have one man to beat on the way to the rack, but most of the time drives are set up for via screens and picks that create driving lanes for the ball-handler. When your not a primary ball-handler, you don't get those opportunities. When your the 4th or 5th option, you won't have many opportunities to generate stats. If your disappointed with Smarts stat line, be disappointed in CBS for choosing to bring him along slowly instead of making him a featured option and playing through the bumps. Smart can, has, and will continue being able to drive to the hoop and get to the line. Just because he had limited chances to do so last season, and struggled when first returning from the ankle, doesn't make that any less true.
The only advantage TA has on Smart offensively is that he's more athletic. But in just about every other facet from shooting to passing to moving without the ball, free throw shooting to basketball IQ Smart is ALREADY a better offensive player than TA is, and at their same ages he's light years better. Even as a defender Smart is a much smarter, more instinctual and better defender than TA was at the same age with the same type of physical gifts.
You can say "I like Smart, he's a good defensive role player", but it's pretty obvious you don't. Idk, maybe it's just your boundless pessimism. But still, you can't compare Smarts stats as a rookie to TA's in his prime as if Smart at 20 years old will never develop and is the player he'll be forever right now, especially when it doesn't even support your argument and takes absolutely no consideration of context. You post here enough that I know you watch a lot of basketball, but sometimes it seems like your totally ignoring what you see on the court and looking solely at stat lines.