Realistically, the rookie is here by default
The first rookie selection of this year’s Ranking The Roster series comes via the nineteen-year-old Tyler Smith, a 6’11” shooting big, who Milwaukee selected with the 33rd pick. For those who want to learn more about Smith’s bio, our Van Fayaz wrote a nice introductory piece for the site, which you can refer to for more. But let’s get to the on-court projections for the rook.
By and large, most draft profiles say similar things about Tyler: he’s a very talented and unique player with a silky-smooth jump shot, and decent athleticism, but struggles defensively both on the ball and in help. Brew Hoop’s Riley Feldman did a writeup on Smith in an MMMR prior to him being drafted to Milwaukee, which does a good job of encapsulating his game and how close he might be to contributing on an NBA court. After Vegas, I wrote a bit about Tyler’s performance in the “steady contributors” category of my Summer League Report series:
Vegas was somewhat of a mixed bag for the 6’9” Tyler Smith. The 33rd pick of this year’s draft was largely as advertised: smooth stroke from three, decent athleticism, but needs lots of work on the defensive end with his positioning and foot speed. He projects strictly as a four-man in the NBA at this stage, and switching pick and rolls could be an issue. Most likely, Milwaukee will need to use Tyler in a hedge-and-recover scheme (à la Bobby Portis) if he logs time with the big team.
Smith averaged eight points and seven rebounds per contest. The former G-League Ignite standout shot 28 percent from three, but I wouldn’t read too much into that number. He’s got a track record, the stroke looked smooth, and many of Tyler’s attempts were rushed and/or tightly guarded. Point being, you know a shooter when you see one. He projects as a player who at the NBA level will make hay shooting open looks off penetration from others, and the guard-heavy style in Summer League was not exactly conducive to that. Smith does need to improve his screening technique and learn to make more contact, which in turn will allow him to get more open. Nonetheless, a completely acceptable performance from the nineteen-year-old.
I find myself cautiously optimistic about Smith’s future with this team. The reality is that you just don’t find guys his size who shoot like that. I’m no draft expert, but I thought taking him early in the second round was a completely defensible pick, especially for this team.
The Bucks front office is no doubt trying to plan for the next five to ten years after Brook Lopez is retired and/or Bobby Portis is gone. For all his talent, Giannis is somewhat difficult to build around because you ideally want to surround him with shooting big men, which just don’t grow on trees. Therefore, getting Smith in the fold now, even if he doesn’t play this season, was probably not something they could pass up on. College Basketball Scouting put together a nice little montage of how the New Orleans native scores on offence. I mean, if nothing else, I could watch this kid shoot in an empty gym for hours. That thing is pretty:
But yes, I would be surprised if Smith got NBA minutes this season. It feels like he’ll be a project, but a worthwhile one. The only way I could see him maybe getting some burn is if one of Giannis, Brook, or Bobby got injured—which tells you something about the team’s big depth, but anyway. Milwaukee’s big rotation operates by toggling between this trio, with two of the three being on the court most of the time. Let’s say Bobby gets injured. I would anticipate Giannis and Brook splitting BP’s minutes, and Tyler getting the other half. This way, when Smith is on the court with Antetokounmpo, he can play largely the same role Portis would, and the Greek Freak wouldn’t really have to adjust the way he plays.
And no, I don’t think Anžejs Pasečņiks will be stealing Smith’s minutes, despite my being one-quarter Latvian. Maybe he gets some run in the case that they’re playing a bruising centre and Lopez is out? I mean, after reading Riley Feldmann’s Ranking The Roster piece on Pasečņiks’ and learning he is not a stretch five, I assume that is his main purpose for being on the roster?
At a minimum, Tyler comes in with a very valuable NBA skill: shooting. Now he needs to build around that. Smith is not some heavy, plodding big; he does have legitimate athleticism. You assume there is at least some defensive upside? Can he become a better screener and/or impact as a rebounder? There are many questions for Smith to answer, but he’ll have time to do so. For now, let’s watch the kid develop.
Let us know where you see the rook in the playoff rotation.
And it’s nomination time…
(Editor’s note: there was some wonkiness with the previous polls posted around 10:15 AM this morning. They have been closed and replaced with this one, so if you voted before, you can do so again. Apologies.)
Polls close at 9 AM (Central) on Monday! As in years past, we give this series a break on the weekends.