Dennis Smith Jr.:

Kingster

Hall of Famer
The Ringer has the Kings taking Jackson at 5 and Smith at 10.

I love Fox but to me that would be an unbelievable draft. Jackson will st the least be a very good two way player and Smith is a fantastic gamble at the 10. Maybe the second most physically talented player in this draft with a chance of being a star at a position of need.

That said, I don't see Smith making it past Orlando at six.
What's interesting is that the Kings now have a recent addition to their management staff who comes from Orlando. I think he's going to give the Kings staff some definitive info on what Orlando thinks of Smith.
 
What's interesting is that the Kings now have a recent addition to their management staff who comes from Orlando. I think he's going to give the Kings staff some definitive info on what Orlando thinks of Smith.
Perry will probably have some insight on what the scouts thought but with Weltman coming from Toronto to be VP of Basketball Operations and Hammond coming from Milwaukee to be the GM their philosophy has probably shifted significantly.

Given the Bucks relative success with long, athletic players it makes some sense that Orlando might target Isaac if Hammond has a large voice in the decision. Also works against Smith. But Hammond is not the only one making the decision.
 
Here's an article on Dennis Smith that I happen to agree with in part that is required reading if your in love with him. I believe he's a risky pick and the article touches on most of the reasons I feel that way. That's not to say that Smith won't turn out to be a good player, but I think everyone needs to know what his warts are.

https://deanondraft.com/2017/06/22/is-dennis-smith-jr-a-loser/
Yep, clearly there are issues with dsj. While not "in love" with him, I do have him #5 on my Kings board which is higher than most. I have him just above Ball and Isaac. That's subject to interviews and background checks obviously... Vlade and joeger have to believe he's coachable. If they can get him to buy in, his upside is tremendous. If they can't, he'll hold the team back while putting up great individual numbers and it'll be a bad pick.
 
I really like Deanondraft but disagree with him 100% on this. The entire message behind everything in this article was, "NCST sucked, therefore, it proves that DSJ will suck in the NBA"

Are we going to start holding Washington losing on Fultz now? We all knew how talented NCST this year, but we really can't sit here and tell me his teammates didn't underachieve, and sucked. Omer Yurtseven was a highly touted player who was being mocked in 1st rounds before the season started. He ended up averaging a whooping 6pts/4.4rebs on 45.7% FG. Complete disappointment..the guy looked lost 90% of the time.Their 2nd best player was Malik Abu who's an undersized C with limited offense aside from power post ups. He offers very little on D. No respectable shotblockers on their team. They had BJ Anya, but that guy regressed and just kinda fell out of the rotation. 3rd best player was Maverick Roman who's your typical college 3pt shooter that offers absolutely nothing else to the table(he's going pro in Europe now after only his So. year). Almost nobody on that NCST team could create their own shot. Their entire offense lived and died with DSJ.

Theoretically that outcome is within grasp, but I would bet heavily against it. While he has talent to fill the box score, he has shown poor intuition for making a positive impact on his team.
This is really funny. When was the last time that scoring 18pts made for a negative impact? Or what about his 6.2asts? Ball hogs and blackholes don't average 6asts/game. I never knew assists were negatives.

DSJ shined in-spite of his teammates. In regards to his lack of elite skillset, DSJ got to the line better than any other PG
 
Just saw a tweet form I believe it was Ramona Shelburne that said Dennis Smith said that his son had a guarantee at 7. If true it makes it all the more important that Fox falls to the Kings at 5 because that would only leave French Frank at 10.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
So we get our man and Smith was gone by 10. I think Mavs are a GREAT spot for him to be honest. I think coach Carlisle is the type of coach that could get the best out of Smith.
On the other hand, Carlisle doesn't exactly have the best track record with, err, difficult point guards.