There doesn’t seem to be much hope around the league that Dorian Finney-Smith will ever be anything more than he is right now: an athletic small forward who doesn’t do a whole lot on the court or fill that stat sheet. I think defense is his calling card (plus the hustle that goes along with that), but minutes and spots in the league for defense-only players are decreasing. Sometimes he can posterize someone, I guess.
Maybe this year will be different. He’s scoring a bit more on better percentages. Not anything notable in terms of offensive output, but better. Still, I can’t imagine that it will be enough for a team to give him another contract unless it’s for the minimum. When you’re already 25 as a budding 3-and-D player without the 3, things are gonna be tough for you.
Of course, I’m sitting here dissing him relentlessly even though he just got a new career-high, so sorry about that. I don’t want to be too harsh on the guy. He tries hard, and he had a nice game tonight. He even hit a Dirk-esque turnaround fadeaway with a comical amount of arc. I’m just not hyped for him, is all. And neither is anyone else.
If you dispute that and claim you are hyped for him, reanalyze yourself and it’ll probably turn out that you just have bad heartburn. Easily mistaken for hype, don’t feel bad.