This.

I was down on MCW coming into the draft, but talked myself into him as a fantasy player due to situation, and have been extremely surprised but will say that his jumpshot mechanics look improved from college, and his PnR game is more developed than we could have reasonably expected this early. I did expect him to be a very effective defensive player basically from the jump due to his length and athleticism.

I'm down on Smart unless he measures out at much bigger than I think he will. He's listed a 6'4 and I think that's pretty generous.

yeah this, your argument makes no sense Assani

Marcus Smart has elite WIM and is an outstanding leader. Seriously, read any scouting report ever on him. I think he will find a way to be successful in the NBA. Not only he is an amazing defender at PG, he would be a very good wing defender too. Hes 6'4 220. He has a lot of Dwade in him, he just needs to refine his shot a little, which I think will come.

If "WIM" is the top characteristic of a guy who is already undersized and we think maybe can't shoot, I'm down on him. For every guy who turns into Wade, how many turn into Brandon Knight, Evan Turner or Terrence Williams?

I think the mistake people are likely making with him is reading too much into his athleticism. He's (to me at least) a good BUT NOT ELITE NBA athlete, and you can maybe get away with that if you have other things going for you, he's also a tweener in that he can't shoot or handle well enough to either be a defined 2 or 1. If he really is an Oladipo level athlete than that's one thing, but I think he's just a little step down from that.

smart has a 6' 8" wingspan

Knight wasn't that good in college and Smart is many times the athlete. Turner is a T-Rex. Terrence Williams was an elite-but-not-dominant four-year collegian who shot 58% from the free throw line his senior year.

I know this isn't exactly your point, but I don't think any of those players are great comps.

Already undersized? Hes built like an outside linebacker (is there a single starting PG in the NBA that weighs 220lbs?). I guess you think hes a shooting guard if you are saying hes undersized. He sometimes plays off the ball, but hes best with the ball in his hand (he has good handle and is a good passer). Hes a point guard. I dont think he will ever be a top 10 player in the NBA, but I think he will be a very good NBA player. He needs to refine his shot and his shot selection, but that will come with maturity. Hes just 19 years old.

Even if he was a pure combo guard, I dont see how your first criticism would be that hes undersized. I have never heard that in respect to him. Even if hes 2 inches shorter then most NBA SGs, Id say hes already stronger then plenty of them. And as steriodboy said he has a 6'8 wingspan.

SELL SELL SELL

a lot of projection metrics using college stats rated him as 2-4th player in the draft

Watched a Julius Randle video and was impressed. Definitely looks like a #1 pick himself. Don't really have a comparison for him, some kind of mix between Durant and a big.

Aaron Gordon also looks impressive.

Given the trends in how the NBA game is played, answering a charge of undersized by emphasizing girth rather than length (6'8 wingspan is solid if true, but not really anything special. Oladipo measured 6'9 1/4, so we'll see) is a bit of a "nice personality" response if you get my meaning.

I mean individually, none of them are exact comps, but there simply isn't a great track record for smaller and/or bullyball non-shooting, non-true PG guards. What does he do or project to do at a plus level in the NBA?

ETA: not an exact comp because of different position, but it's a bit of an MKG situation, potentially.

i'm not sure precisely how much upside smart has but there are a lot of things to like about him as a prospect.

-the guy is a natural born winner with elite WIM.
-he had a really sick freshman year. singlehandedly revived Ok St.
-he loves playing defense and works hard on that end
-while his tools are not quite elite they are still quite solid

for people who want to write him off as a chucker, his stats aren't that far off from wall + wade:

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/com...2=marcus-smart

of course he doesn't have the elite pedigree + tools of wall but also did just as well in a less favorable situation.

wade has better stats but 1) he was a redshirt freshman 2) wade had far inferior pedigree as a recruit

he has been compared to dwyane wade and he really does seem to be rather wade like. of course this doesn't mean he has > 2% d-wade equity, but given his WIM he has some realistic shot of binking.

i get why people aren't super huge on him but i think it's hard to come up with an argument to aggressively sell.

i don't think mkg is a decent comparison given that he has no creation abilities and is a worse shooter

smart isn't a turrible shooter. he shot 78% from the line and while he only shot 29% from 3, he apparently has decent form and a large problem is that he has bad shot selection. i'd say there's likely decent room for improvement wrt his shooting.

if his shot isn't too busted i think he's pretty lock to be a solid starter at least

ya i'd say he's prob high % solid starter with a shade of top 10 player upside. if the celtics end up getting the 4th pick and taking him i won't be too upset over it.

The problem with using Wade as a comp is he's sort of a black swan himself. Sure any guy could randomly turn out to be uniquely awesome, but that doesn't mean you use them as a prototype.

How many wings are both solid starters and can't really shoot? How many of them aren't crazy long?

Eta: Wade 6'10 3/4 wing span.

is there much evidence that he's a very bad shooter yet? he shot a bad %, but his form looks ok, and he did take a decent volume. his ft% is also pretty solid

i think for an 18yo (when all his stats were accumulated) he's ok, but you'd want him to demonstrably improve in his soph year. it sounds like he has enough going for him in other areas that he could end up good anyway. he does have a beastly physical profile for a pg, he must be built like a cannonball to weigh 225. he also seemingly has the wim to make the most of it

this isn't a positive, but the guy he reminds me of is stuckey, but with better handle/passing/wim, and probably a better athlete too. maybe a bit of dre miller too with the postup ability

dx says:

Bad % from shorter line is pretty good evidence that he's not yet a good shooter.

Seth, why do you keep referring to him as a wing and comparing him to wings?

I'm not the one bringing up Wade comparisons. Does he have the handle to play PG at the NBA level? I don't see it yet.

Id say its average for an NBA PG.