canât dribble + doesnât touch the ball, Rockets No. 1 pick exposed 3 shortcomings, forward 24 rebounds in 2 games adapted to Shenjing
The focus of the Rockets this summer league is Smith, the No. 1 pick, in the first game against Banchero , Smith scored 10 points and 7 rebounds, but struggled on the offensive end. In the second game against Thunder team , they will intuitively compete with second place Chet. Smith has always been the favorite for the No. 1 pick, but fell to the third position. He is not the Rockets' first choice. In the game with the Thunder, Smith's performance Still struggling. Mainly focused on shooting, which was his advantage, has now become a disadvantage.
Smith only shot on the offensive end, but his shooting in this game was very average. He made many strong shots and Smith's dribbling ability was average, which resulted in him being unable to create offensive opportunities by himself. If you want to break through, you basically have to pass the ball out with two dribbles. The Rockets gave Smith enough shooting opportunities, but it is impossible to have an open shooting opportunity every time. Of the Rockets' three rookies this year, Smith, the third overall pick, played the worst. If he can't make a shot, Smith will be useless.
In the last quarter of the game, when the Rockets needed points, Smith hit a three-pointer and a mid-range shot. He has shown his shooting ability, but it is not stable enough. This is his biggest problem. Smith's offensive method is very single. The Rockets don't have a suitable defender in the summer league, so Smith doesn't have many open opportunities. Smith exposed his three shortcomings. The first is a single offensive method, he can only shoot. The Rockets traded Wood for him this season. .
Judging from the first two games, Smith's offensive methods and stability are not as good as Wood's. Smith's style of play will be very accurate in some games in the future, but he struggles most of the time and does not have the ability to become a star. ability. The Rockets have to find a way to train Smith. The second shortcoming is mentality. In the game against the Thunder, Smith was very frustrated when he couldn't make a shot, which led to the whole game being like this. He didn't play with confidence enough. , this is the biggest problem.
The third shortcoming is confrontation ability. As a power forward who plays outside, confrontation is insufficient. If Smith does not perform well, then treat Ethan as the third pick. Ethan scored 13 points and 11 rebounds in this game, 14 points and 13 rebounds in the last game, and grabbed 24 rebounds in the two games. During the regular season, Ethan will not have much shot power in the Rockets' offense. He has to focus more on defense and rebounding. The Rockets' starting center in the new season will be Shen Jing. His defense and impact are both shortcomings, so the one who is more suitable for Shen Jing in the new season is Ethan.
Smith scored 12 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks in this game. He only made 5 of 19 shots and continued to struggle on the offensive end. On the defensive end, Smith was remarkable, preventing Gidi's winning layup at the last moment. Among the Rockets' three rookies this year, Smith has received the most attention and the most pressure. In the two summer league games, the Rockets achieved a record of one win and one loss. In the next game, the Rockets will face and the Spurs . This is a good opportunity for Smith, the third overall pick, to prove himself.
