Tyler Smith Scouting Report
A tall shooter, but can he overcome his weaknesses elsewhere?
Name: Tyler Smith
Birth date: November 2, 2004
Height/Weight: 6’9/224
Wingspan/ standing reach: 7’1/8’9
Hand size: 9
Position: Forward
Pre-Draft team: G League Ignite
Tools: Jump shooting, athleticism
Background: Played at Overtime Elite. Family was displaced by Hurricane Katrina when he was a baby.
Season Stats (per Synergy): 12.6 PPG 5 RPG 1.3 APG 0.8 SPG 0.9 BPG 1.2 TOPG 2.6 FPG in ~22 MPG on 48/36.5/71.4
Pros:
Smooth shooter with good size
Good helpside defender
Good athlete that can quickly get off the ground
High motor
Long arms with a 7’+ wingspan
Cons:
Forces his left hand too often at the rim
Struggles as a defender largely in part due to lack of strength
Lacks defensive awareness and feel for the game
Follow through is inconsistent
Very mistake-prone at the moment. Sets lots of accidental moving/illegal screens
Unnecessarily picks up his dribble too often, forcing bad passes/turnovers or broken offense
Swing Skills:
How does he impact the game when his shot isn’t falling?
How good is his floor vision? Can make some good reads on the move
Can he improve his defense?
Summary:
Tyler Smith is a tall shooter (not to be confused with a stretch big) that can potentially attack closeouts and use his athleticism to become a bit of an unconventional 3 level scorer. Smith has one of the highest shooting upsides in the entire draft, despite having a poor shooting performance at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago in May and mediocre shooting stats for someone with that label.
While he won’t create many drives himself, he will finish cuts well, leading to a 64 FG% at the rim. He can also rise up and quickly shoot over defenders off the dribble in the mid range, while being a lethal spot-up threat (46% on open catch & shoot 3s). I admittedly am a bit worried about Smith’s shot after watching it up close at the Combine, seeing inconsistent releases in his follow-through which ultimately led to a poor outing. Additionally, his 72% mark from the free throw line may indicate that this Combine showing may not have been a fluke. In order to reach his high ceiling as a shooter, Smith will need to develop his handle to create his own shot, particularly against mismatches. Even if he develops just one off the dribble move and a go-to bailout move like a one-legged fadeaway, this will go a long way. For now, with purely spot-up ability and cutting to the rim, he lacks much off the dribble scoring at any level.
Smith’s lack of creation for others, along with a near 1:1 assist:turnover ratio, raises flags about how he may impact his teammates offensively away from his shot. He doesn’t have shooting gravity, and while he can make nice plays occasionally on the move, unless that becomes consistent this is not yet a strength. With only one 5+ assist game on the year, there just have not been enough playmaking flashes to buy into him becoming much more than just a shooter or off-ball threat offensively. Even in this 6 assist game vs the South Bay Lakers (his highest assist total game of the year), 5 of the 6 assists were handoffs, which did not require any advanced reads.
Defensively, while a good help-side blocker, Smith lacks fundamental defensive traits required for successful defenders. He has poor technique (and can often be out of stance) on the perimeter when closing out, and is easily beatable with fakes and give & go’s by surrendering the space behind him by often going all-in on a contest without giving himself much cushion for variables by a ball-handler. His off-ball defense and awareness are rough, frequently losing track of either (or sometimes both) his man or the ball. Some of the defensive concerns are fixable given his frame, but he will have to revamp his entire approach to defense to not be a liability. Because of this, he will struggle to play early on in his NBA career if he is easily huntable on the defensive end. Furthermore, because of these awareness issues, Smith will struggle to truly play the 4 or 5 on defense, but could be an interchangeable forward on the offensive end, hence the earlier call of him being a tall shooter without being a stretch big.
Additionally, many of his stats came in garbage time when the Ignite were routinely down by double digits in the fourth quarter. This could raise some alarms about potentially fools gold stats, especially with a poor outing at the Combine in his drills. As a ball handler and passer, Smith’s instincts are poor. He has a loose handle, particularly with his right hand, and often dribbles into defenses by either looking down or attacking without a plan/attacking with a predetermined move. One final element that puts the cherry on top of poor playmaking is frequent passing inaccuracies. He often throws at teammates’ feet, leading to turnovers or found teammates at the wrong time when they are not expecting the ball because he has a better decision pending that they expect him to take.
With too many mistakes offensively when not taking catch & shoot jumpers and being a clear negative on the defensive end, finding meaningful minutes will be difficult for Tyler Smith. In order to stick, Smith will have to hit his high jump shooting ceiling, meaning his catch & shoot numbers need to be elite and he will need to develop an off the dribble scoring arsenal. With an off the dribble scoring package, this implies his handle will have improved, which has a long way to go. Smith’s ceiling is decent, but his floor is alarmingly low for a usually ideal offensive role player, making him a riskier pick than perceived on a national level.
Projected draft range: 20-40
Expected role: Tall shooter
Unplayable if: Poor defense and decision-making make his margin for error as a shooter too slim to survive in the NBA.
Exceeds expectations if: Jump shot translates at a high level and he develops as an outstanding off ball threat, while developing a solid jump shooting bag.
Videos:
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