NBA Draft prospect Zhaire Smith projects to be an offensive Andre Roberson

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BOSTON, MA – MARCH 25: Zhaire Smith #2 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders is unable to dunk the ball against Mikal Bridges #25 of the Villanova Wildcats during the second half in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional at TD Garden on March 25, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Skills:

Zhaire Smith is an outstanding rebounder from the wing spot, crashing the glass at an unreal rate. Defensively he has the ability to keep up with both shooting guards, and small forwards with a special swatting ability. Zhaire Smith has outstanding basketball IQ, along with the aforementioned rebounds, he rarely turns the ball over and constantly takes high percentage shots.

Smith shot 55-percent from the field, and 45-percent from the college 3-point line. Zhaire Smith added a true shooting percentage of 61-percent, with an effective field goal percentage of 58-percent. One of the biggest skills he has, is his ability to finish at the rim. Lastly, Zhaire Smith took home a .084-defensive-win-share which puts into perspective how good he truly was defensively.

Weaknesses:

While Zhaire Smith will make teams extremely happy defensively, he will struggle to stroke it from distance. Smith projects to shoot just 33-percent from 3-point land in the NBA. His Texas Tech team rarely ran offense through him, which is strange for such a talented basketball player.

He has just an 18-percent usage rate. His scoring needs to improve, drastically. 11-points per game while getting picked in the lottery–or close to it–will not sit well with teams and fans. However, even that offensive weakness is somewhat negated by his tremendous defense.

NBA Combine:

Zhaire Smith was jaw-dropping at the NBA combine in Chicago earlier this offseason. He reached a MAX Vertical of 41.5-inches, good enough for third in that category. Smith came in at fourth in the standing vertical leap with a 33-inch leap.

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