https://youtu.be/OIz2s40bjL0
The Dennis Smith Jr. redemption tour continues! There’s a reason that Mavericks fans were really hyped for this dude as a potential franchise cornerstone, and it wasn’t just because they were displaying the overvaluation of their team’s own prospects typical of NBA fandom! Actually, that was a major part of it, probably the major-est part, but Smith had some attributes that certainly were worthy of hype, even outside the realm of Dallas:
-Athleticism: the big one, he was high-flying in a way that certain Mavericks franchise cornerstones simply are not
-Playmaking: he got 10 assists in his NBA debut which I think gave people the wrong impression
-Age: only 19 when he came into the league, and everyone knows the younger you are when you make your debut, the better you’re career is going to be, which is why I’m not sure why they don’t let middle schoolers in the draft
-Limbs: Four, count ’em, four! How could you get hyped for someone with only three or, god forbid, five?
Smith’s scoring was always a little (or a lot) suspect, since his jumper wasn’t that good and it’s hard for a poor-shooting guard to score well even with nuclear athleticism (Chuckstell Stadpadbrook comparisons are clear but so obvious that I won’t even mention them). That was the main problem, and probably what led to his early trade from Dallas. Kristaps Porzingis has a lot of faults, but he can shoot, and he’s so big that he can just shoot whenever and whatever he wants, and you can see why he would be the preferable prospect.
But that trade is in the past now. Really in the past. Because he’s not even on the Knicks anymore, so we can just all forget about that failed experiment. Smith ended up getting marginalized into oblivion this season, barely playing at all, trotted out only to serve as a reminder to the casuals (and even some diehards) that he was still on a roster. Somehow, the Knicks are in the business of winning games, a goal that Smith isn’t exactly conducive to.
The Pistons are a much better spot for him. They don’t care about winning, they just need dudes to run around out there for some allotment of minutes, and hopefully some points will be scored and maybe a win will randomly appear every 10 or so games. Smith is perfect for that! He can rehabilitate his value by showing that he can still provide real minutes to a real NBA team, and that’s what he did tonight: real minutes. And real production! He’s had a few triple-doubles before, but this one is part of his redemption tour, so I think it deserves a special place in every DSJ fanatic’s heart.
It had a place in my heart for a little bit, but I think it’s getting pushed out by the Mason Plumlee triple-double from this game.