https://youtu.be/f4xwaqebyuI
The “Dennis Smith Jr. Will Be An All-Star” ship has sailed, right? That ship sailed right out into the open seas with nobody on it except the corpse of a dude named “Captain Stumpy” and a bunch of ship cats. Nobody is holding out hope that DSJ will morph into a star-level player. Right now, everybody just wants him to solidify his place in the league so that he doesn’t get banished to Europe with all the other busts. To continue the seafaring theme, the “Dennis Smith Jr. Will Be A Valuable Bench Guard” ship is still in harbor and there’ still time to hop on board. Personally, I’m not going anywhere near that ship, but DSJ believers are welcome to make themselves comfy in the hold next to the crates of provisions.
Once DSJ establishes himself as a long-term NBA player who is here to stay, that’s when we can start getting our hopes up that he will be something more than that. But a few decent games for a Pistons team that is severely lacking proven PG talent at the moment is not enough to get my hopes up too much. Remember how Dragan Bender (who is a bust) got traded to an undermanned Warriors team and started playing respectably well? Then, the next off-season, no team wanted him, and off to Europe he went. Just because DSJ is playing slightly better is not a guarantee that teams will actually want him. The general league-wide backlash against Russell Westbrook-type players is not going to help his cause.
I will say, however, that DSJ’s dunk in this game was reminiscent of his glorious Mavs-era dunks, so if you NEED to cling on to an example of DSJ’s career revitalization, that’s what you should cling to.