Rotoworld....
Anyway, the Mavs went for pure upside with their selection of Dennis Smith Jr. at No. 9. It looks like they know that these days having a good point guard can make the difference, and they know Yogi Ferrell isn’t quite the guy to lead them to the promised land. Last year, six of the top eight seeds had an All-Star point guard — it would’ve been seven in the last year if nine-time All-Star Chris Paul got a spot this year.
Sometimes teams don’t want to dump pressure on guys. The Magic were pumping the brakes a bit on their No. 6 guy, Jonathan Isaac. “We don’t intend to take our team and say [to Isaac], ‘Hey, take us to the promised land right now.’” coach Frank Vogel said. That’s not true for the Mavs, though. Check out how hard they are rolling out the hype train on DSJ:
Hype train full steam ahead!
OK, so what’s with the hype? While he is a shade undersized at 6’3”, DSJ has a 6’10” wingspan and he’s a straight up freak athletically as you can see by that 48-inch vert quote above. DSJ himself said he’s also gained eight inches to his vertical from his ACL tear during his senior year in high school. Here’s a GIF of him jamming on someone.
Looking at the stats, he obviously isn’t a finished product at 19 years old. He really struggled on two-point jumpers, making just 30.5 percent of those. He also made 35.8 percent of his treys, but he was unassisted on just 48.1 percent of those. His jumper is pretty smooth and quick, so he just needs to work. This was a really nice contested catch-and-shoot J:
Looking at the basic stats, it certainly whets the appetite. In 34.8 minutes per game, DSJ averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 boards, 6.2 assists, 1.9 steals, 0.4 blocks and 1.7 treys on 45.5 percent from the field and 71.5 percent from the line. He also turned in a 27.2 usage rate and a respectable 56.3 TS%.
With DSJ not being the best jump shooter, he’s likely going to have to count on getting buckets in the paint. While the 71.5 percent from the line isn’t great, he should get better at knocking down freebies as he gets older and also going to the line 6.3 times per game last year is solid. He was killer in the paint at NC State with 37.1 percent of his shots coming within three feet while making 64.9 percent of those. Solid.
As we’ve talked about a lot on our pods, we love DSJ. His opportunity is huge and the Mavs will be letting him loose. Yes, we’ve seen coach Rick Carlisle limit rookies, but this time is different as the Mavs look to rebuild.
He’s shaping up to be a top-three 2017 draft pick for fantasy and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him win Rookie of the Year.
6/27/2017 9:39 PM