Draft Watch #3: ‘Word’ is Brooklyn Nets have ‘targeted’ G League’s Tyler Smith
Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images
Would Nets draft a 6’11” power forward? One of the big mock drafts thinks they’re interested. Every tea leaf counts!
At this point in the Draft process — two weeks away from the first round at Barclays Center — there is precious information on what the Brooklyn Nets plan to do and who they might be interested in taking.
As of now, we know of only five players who’ve been in for workouts or have scheduled one: Trentyn Flowers, a 6’9” wing who played for the Adelaide 36ers in Australia after a five-star high school career in the U.S.; Taran Armstrong, a 6’6” point guard who also played in Australia with the Cairns Taipans; Jaylin Williams, a 6’8” forward out of Auburn; 6’4” St. John’s shooting guard Daniss Jenkins and Bryan Antoine, a 6’5” shooting guard from Radford who previously played for Villanova.
We don’t know if the G League’s Tyler Smith, a 6’11” PF/SF. has been in but Aran Smith, long-time editor of NBADraft.net, hints of Nets interest in a mock draft out last week. In his discussion of the Knicks two first rounders, at No. 24 and 25, Smith wrote this about the 19-year-old:
Word is there’s a good chance a team like Brooklyn will make a deal to grab one of the Knicks picks. Tyler Smith is considered a player that could be targeted. If they keep the pick, Smith would help bolster the Knicks’ frontcourt, adding shooting ability.
Although there’s a bit of ambiguity in the paragraph, it appears the Nets have some interest in Smith. The fact that the Nets and Knicks haven’t made a trade in four decades shouldn’t matter. This is a mock draft after all. Here’s what one Smith wrote about Tyler Smith:
He has good length and used two seasons at OTE, prior to this season with the Ignite, to refine his jumpshot. He has become a deadly mid-range and outside shooter, the best aspect of his game, but struggles to impact the game much in other areas. He’s a little like a smaller Myles Turner with his lack of great speed and athleticism but a very composed and mature game and the ability to play as a stretch big ...
Jeremy Woo of ESPN who has Smith at No. 29 wrote a more optimistic assessment in selecting Smith as his “pick that gets the best value” in ESPN’s latest mock.
Although a handful of other teenage prospects have been buzzier names in the pre-draft process, Smith shouldn’t be forgotten as an improving stretch-4 with a positive G League season under his belt at a young age. I like him as a long-term investment here, where he could return top-20 value in the right developmental spot.
He would seem to replicate Noah Clowney who is four months older, but as Sean Marks has repeatedly said the Nets intend to go Best Player Available if they get into the Draft.
Here’s some highlights:
As we’ve noted before — okay as we’ve guessed — the end of the first or the beginning of the second is where Sean Marks & co. would look for a gem.
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