I see a good defender with not obvious strength on the offensive end. He isn't a PG and won't necessarily learn how to be one in the NBA. He's a below average shooter and with practice, could become average. His handle is shaky though it could improve a little. With a shaky handle, and not being extremely explosive, he will have difficulties breaking down his man and getting to the hoop and finishing.
So in a nutshell, I see a defensive specialist that will need to find a niche on the offensive end if he is to become an NBA level rotation player.
Is this harsh? I am sure many will think so. But everything is also true. Smart has a ways to go.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who can see the roses here. You would think that most fan bases would be utterly disappointed if a 6th overall pick 1. Was beat out by a second round pick for the Rookie 1st Team and 2. Put up extremely mediocre stats like 7.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 3 APG on shooting percentages of 36% from the field and 33% from behind the arc in 27 minutes per game. 27 minutes!! I honestly think you guys are blinded by this allegiance to Ainge because those stats are terrible.
Well, he may have been beat out in a vote, but Smart still managed to lead all rookies in total Win Shares, Box-Score Plus/Minus and VORP (Value Over Replacment Player). And those scores weren't even close.
I think you are seriously underselling how valuable Smart actually is.
I do agree with all those pointing out that his offensive limitations were and may be a limiter on his upside. It was certainly very painful to watch opposing teams basically ignore him when playing our starters down the stretch. If he doesn't show significant improvement in his offensive impact this season, then it's hard to see him as a starter on a contending team unless he has the right complementary pieces around him.
I personally don't want to see the offensively inept Avery-Smart-Turner trio as the starting 1-2-3 punch this fall or ever again. That was just gawd-awful, not only on offense, but it wasn't really all that good on defense.
But I won't assert that Smart was the singular problem there. He worked fine in lineups next to Thomas. Heck, Avery and Turner also worked fine in lineups next to Thomas.
The problem was less about the individual players than about the combination as a whole.