Can Smith step up?
Dennis Smith Jr. came to the New York Knicks as part of the trade which saw Kristaps Porzingis move to the Dallas Mavericks. Smith is an exciting young point guard and filled a need on the Knicks roster.
Over the final 21 games he went on to post 14.7 points, 5.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds on 41.3 percent shooting, solid numbers for a second-year player coming off the back of a trade.
Questions remain over Smith’s shooting ability though, hitting only 31.6 percent from 3 during his first two seasons in the league. A clear improvement will be required in order to appease this fan base and prove that he is part of what the Knicks are trying to build moving forward.
Synergy has Smith ranked as “below average” or “poor” in their seven major metrics for overall offense for last year.
Shot selection is another aspect of his game which needs to show improvement, as indicated by the shot chart which can be found here.
With both Frank Ntilikina and Reggie Bullock on the roster and fighting for minutes within the rotation, Smith faces a fight to establish himself as the starting point guard both in the short term and the foreseeable future.
It’s not all bad though, with his excellent athleticism Smith is able to cause problems for opposing teams on the break — something which will fit into the style David Fizdale will look to implement.
If he can cut down on his 2.9 turnovers a game and 12.9 percent of his transition plays then he should be able to slightly increase his assists this season.
While his ability to dunk on opposing players is fun and exciting to watch, it is worth noting his stats for the Knicks over those 21 games last year are not great.
But they are a small sample size from a young exciting prospect who was traded to a new team and had to learn the system on the fly.
With a full summer and training camp under his belt it remains to be seen what type of player the Knicks have in Dennis Smith Jr., but he needs to show progression in order to become part of the future at Madison Square Garden.