First, he’s obviously got a lot of physical talent. You’d love to see him play within the system when possible, but sometimes it’s OK for him to just put his head down in transition, make one little move, and get to the basket. (He drew a foul on this play.)
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Next, here’s Smith playing within the aforementioned system in a pick-and-roll with Dirk Nowitzki. When playing center, Dirk can pull big guys all the way out to the perimeter, which leaves gaping driving lanes for the ball-handler to exploit. Smith turned the corner in this sequence and made a nice highlight-reel play.
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Most big men simply aren’t quick enough to stay in front of him, so he’s got to show that he can hit pull-up jumpers against switched bigs otherwise they can just back way off him and force long shots. I like how Smith played this one-on-one situation against DeAndre Jordan. The rookie forced the switch and then settled into the 3-pointer in no hurry at all.
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Those three areas are going to be huuuuge for him as a scorer. Can he push it in transition? Can he attack the basket? And when big men back way off, can he punish them with jumpers? Smith had it all going tonight, especially in the first couple quarters, and it was a lot of fun to watch.
The Mavs (1-8) will play the New Orleans Pelicans (3-5) on Friday at American Airlines Center at 7:30 p.m. Central.
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