Tyler Smith: NBA Draft Profile
February 3rd, 2009
by Jeff Fox
Tyler Smith - Tennessee
Tyler Smith
College: Tennessee
Class: Junior
Position: SF
Height: 6’7”
Weight: 215lbs
Accolades: First Team All-SEC (08), Honorable Mention All-American - AP (08), Third Team All-Big Ten (07), Big Ten All-Freshman Team (07), Third Team Freshman All-American - CHN (07), Tennessee Mr. Basketball - high school (05).
Scouting Report: A jack-of-all-trades.
Strengths: Versatile - can play inside or out. Decent rebounder for a small forward. Great passer/playmaker for his position. Great at drawing fouls. Experienced - played three years of big minutes in major conferences. Very good athlete. Explosive leaper - gets way up and attacks the rim. Physically strong player. Can absorb contact and still score. Solid post up game. Hard worker. Battles on the court. Solid defender.
Weaknesses: Age - will be 23-years-old before the start of next season, limiting his upside. Needs to improve his outside shot - hits less than 30% of his three-point attempts for his career. Played a lot of power forward in college - too small in the NBA to do that. Needs to improve his ball handling. Tweener - too small for NBA power forward and doesn’t possess all the skills necessary to play on the wing.
Projected 2009 Draft Range: Late lottery to late first round pick.
Consensus: Tyler Smith’s toughness, versatility and athleticism certainly help his NBA chances. But to truly stick around he’ll have to improve his small forward skills (ball handling, shooting) to prove he isn’t stuck between position in the pros.
Stats: Tyler Smith Stats
NBA Draft on CollegeHoops.net
Current NBA Mock Draft Position
Complete NBA Draft coverage
CHN's Six-Star Ranking System w/ 2008 Equivalents
= Superstar/All-NBA Potential - Michael Beasley
= Potential NBA All-Star - Derrick Rose
= Consistent NBA Starter - Brook Lopez
= 6th Man/Fringe Starter - Russell Westbrook
= Career Reserve - Roy Hibbert
= Fringe NBA Player/12th Man - JR Giddens
0 stars = Life in the Minor Leagues - Drew Neitzel
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About Jeff Fox
Columnist
NBA Draft & International Hoops
Contact
foxyjj@sympatico.ca
Background
Jeff Fox is a freelance journalist based an hour outside of Toronto, Canada. While attending University of Waterloo (Canada) earning a B.A. in Economics and Management Studies, Jeff managed to walk onto the school’s varsity basketball team, the Warriors, for 2 seasons. His final year riding the pine for the Warriors saw the team make it to the CIS (Canada’s NCAA equivalent) Final 8 tournament. In addition to this site, he is a regular contributor to SLAM magzine (& online) and The Hoops Manifesto. When he isn’t planted in front of his computer he spends the rest of his time with his wife, Lisa, his son, Adam and his dog Jeannie.
Location
Toronto, CA
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Endless Potential
This is a guy that came into a Tennessee program from Iowa with a huge chip on his shoulder and every game proves to Bruce Pearl and the rest of the world that he's a professional when it comes to basketball. His extreme dedication and hard work for improvement along with his enormous heart can cut down on his lack of size for a power forward. Shooting is an art that needs time to become a perfection. Look at a guy like Jodie Meeks out of Kentucky. Has a chip on his shoulder for always getting hurt dampening his chances of becoming another legend at Kentucky. Granted he was a good shooter before his junior year but using his disadvantages of being out of basketball due to injury gave him that extra needed motivation to find his shooting art, now averaging 25.5 points and the 4th leading scorer in the country including that unforgettable 54 point kentucky record as I'm sure you're well aware. If the guy has ultimate dedication along with great versatility and athleticism he will be a great NBA pro.