I hate to be that guy, but…you have to watch the games.
PAUL GEORGE WINGSPAN FREE
384 free throw rate, which is quite high (and better than Paolo Banchero’s). In addition to that, he shot just 43.5% overall from two. On non-dunk attempts at the rim, he shot 27/48, or 56%, per Bart Torvik. Jabari had only 63 rim attempts this past season at 6’10! That is an extremely low number compared to the rest of the consensus top four players who all have at least 125 attempts at the rim. He is incredibly jump shot oriented, evidenced by the fact that only 14.8% of his shot attempts came at the rim. The number one concern I have with Jabari Smith is his shot selection. Again, this criticism is relative to the value of the number two pick. Without an effective handle, you can’t tilt NBA defenses or create an advantage when attacking closeouts.
If you’re just taking these contested jumpers all game, teams will key in on you. The problem is that teams know Smith is jumpshot oriented, and they will know this in the NBA. It’s reasonable to expect him to teeter around 40% from three on pretty significant volume for a majority of his career. This might be his most valuable asset he practically won’t need any space at all in order to get his shot off. Obviously, with his height and wingspan, Smith has an incredibly high release point that allows him to get his shot up over almost anyone at any time. He can easily get to his one dribble pull-up game there, and he shot an impressive 48.6% from the elbows this past season. Jabari loves to operate from the left and right elbows (preferably the right) and he was absolutely lights out from that area. has in the NBA thus far in terms of shot selection, and Porter very well might be the greatest 6’10+ shooter in NBA history. He looked a lot like how Michael Porter, Jr. There are similar shooting seasons from players like Lauri Markannen, but none got off the sheer number of threes Smith did at his size. Per Bart Torvik, Smith is the only 6’10 or taller college freshman since 2008 to eclipse the following: I wish there were more examples of movement shooting and coming off of screens (only 24 attempts) for Smith, but that will be something that has to be implemented more when he gets to the NBA. There were a lot of pull-up jumpers and catch and shoots being taken when he had the ball in his hands. According to Synergy, Jabari also ranked in the 94th percentile in spot up shooting. He shot 42% from three this past season while being assisted on 73.4% of those makes, in addition to making 79.9% from the free throw line. Perimeter shooting is easily Smith’s best skill.
He’s absolutely a good prospect, but I have my reservations about him returning the value of a top two pick in the upcoming draft. This isn’t a slight towards Jabari, as I think all four prospects at the top of this draft are great. I think he would be a fine selection at second overall, just not my preferred choice.
PAUL GEORGE WINGSPAN FULL
He played all last season at 18 years old and will barely be 19 once he enters the NBA he is almost a year Holmgren’s junior and is a full year younger than Jaden Ivey.īut Smith is my number four prospect in this class. One advantage that comes with Jabari is that he is one of the youngest players in the entire draft. OKC has been a dreadful shooting team for the past two seasons, and he would fit in seamlessly next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey on this Thunder team. It’s obvious why: he’s a lights-out shooter, possibly the best in this class (AJ Griffin might be slightly better), and is 6’10 to boot. A lot of OKC fans are enamored with Jabari and his skill set.