Dallas Mavericks NBA Draft preview: PG Dennis Smith

Point guard Dennis Smith, Jr. offers a lot of potential offense for the Dallas Mavericks in the upcoming NBA Draft.

The Dallas Mavericks learned in May that they’ll have the ninth pick overall in this summer’s NBA Draft. The last time they drafted this high, things worked out pretty well for them. They took Robert “Tractor” Traylor with the sixth selection and then promptly traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks for a little-known German by the name of Dirk Nowitzki.

Because of that trade, the Mavs have not needed a pick that high in a long time. But now here they are, and they need some good, young players to build the future around.

One position that needs help is point guard. This year’s draft pool is rife with them, which bodes well for Dallas. Within that group falls Dennis Smith from North Carolina State. Some mock drafts have him as high as third overall and some have him falling to the Mavericks. If that happens, here’s an early breakdown of what he offers.

What’s good about Smith

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For starters, Smith took home ACC Rookie of the Year honors this past season. He also earned a selection to the All-Conference second team as a freshman. Considering the strength of the ACC Conference in basketball, that’s a pretty big deal. He played with the best as a freshman and played well.

Smith is a great ball handler with some fantastic dribble moves and a killer first step. He plays the pick-and-roll very well and as the folks over at Draft Express point out, he’s ambidextrous and can make effective passes with either hand. He has a good sense of the court and has the potential to turn into a solid floor general in the future.

Getting to the free throw line is also a strength of Smith’s. He drives to the hoop hard and draws a lot of contact and the whistles that go with it. When he drives to the hoop, he’s very effective. The times he actually got a shot off in the restricted area last season, he shot over 65%.

Beyond the arc, Smith shoots well also. He shot 35.9% from three point range in 2016-17, and was especially effective from the right side of the arc. Inside and outside, the gets points and assists. That type of versatility could do Dallas a lot of good.

What’s not good about Smith

You might never know it, but Smith tore his ACL his senior year of high school. His athleticism is certainly still there, but he does seem to hold back at times. He has a lot of room to grow athletically and the right coach can get him to work with even more strength on that knee.

Smith also still has a lot to learn as a play-caller. Because of his scoring ability, he does show a tendency to hang onto the ball a little too long, leading to potential forced shots or turnovers.

While he gets to the free throw line a lot, he does struggle once he gets there. Smith shot just 71.5% from the charity stripe last season, which is well below what you’d expect from a point guard. Even though he can draw a lot of fouls, that free throw percentage may cause fans to wish he’d pass it on to someone else instead of taking the whistle.

Smith also has trouble from mid-range. He forces some shots and misses his jump shots when passing to an open teammate may have been the better option.

He also has a long way to go defensively. The only time he guarded well last season, he was facing other point guards. He’ll need a lot of defensive coaching to up his game to the elite level of PG play on the other side of the ball.

What Smith could look like as a Dallas Maverick

Altogether, Smith has a lot to like about him. It’s not really fair to compare him to anyone yet, but the player that comes to mind is Jason Kidd. Now before anyone lights their torches at me, understand where that statement comes from.

Early scouting reports about Kidd said he needed to improve as a shooter and had a tendency to force things. They raved about how he’d make great dribble moves but then miss the layup and fall apart afterward on defense. While they raved about his three point shooting skills, the consensus was that he needed to get better on free throws.

With the Mavs and under a coach like Rick Carlisle, Smith could be a huge asset. There’s no doubt Coach Carlisle can work with him on defense and teach him to make smarter plays with the ball.

Next: Are the Mavs attractive to free agents?

His ability to play the pick-and-roll is something the coaching staff would love to work with. Dallas has already started building a good nucleus of young guys and he’d have some great players to distribute the rock to. That alone could improve his playmaking just because he’ll have much better shooters around him that he can have confidence in. If he fell to the Dallas Mavericks at number nine, he’d be the no-brainer choice.

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