Young Philadelphia 76ers forward Zhaire Smith has had a rough go at it in the early stages of his NBA career. After being selected 16th and acquired by the Sixers on draft night in 2018, he has had a lot of hardships to handle.
He missed all but six games in his rookie season after a Jones fracture and an allergic reaction and then the Sixers selected Matisse Thybulle in the 2019 draft. All of that almost assured him a spot in the G League with the Delaware Blue Coats despite his hopes and wishes to be in the team’s rotation.
Despite all of that, he understands what he needs to do in order to succeed and that is to work hard in the G League with coach Connor Johnson and he will soon get his chance with the Sixers.
“I think he’s got a good head on his shoulders and he sees the long view of what it takes and how crowded it is up there,” said Johnson. “I think he’s had a good resurgence here lately. There was a month in the middle of the season where he played one game with us and then went up there and played a little bit and it took him a little bit to get his feet back under himself here to the degree where he is making shots like he did in the last couple games and getting to the rim.”
In his second season in the league, Smith has played almost all of it in Delaware with seven games up in Philadelphia. He just finished a game on Sunday where he scored 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting in the Blue Coats loss to the Lakeland Magic.
“It’s just been a process,” Smith said. “This is only my second year playing at the 2 guard so I’m just growing in development and watching a lot of film and seeing where I’m making mistakes and learning from them.”
That is something a lot of people don’t know about Smith. He played power forward and center at Texas Tech so this is only the second year he is playing out on the perimeter. This is all a huge adjustment for the 6-foot-3 prospect and that is why this will be a long view type of approach.
“Growing up, I was a 4,” he explained. “So getting used to that guard [spot]. It’s all good for me and I’m just blessed to be in this situation. I never saw this coming. To play the 4 in college and have the opportunity of coming into the league and develop, you can’t ask for nothing better.”
After getting off to a rough start to the season, Smith has picked it up and he has the vote of confidence from Johnson who is an extension of coach Brett Brown from Philadelphia.
“I think he’s shooting it at a high rate,” Johnson added. “Before he took that month off, he was shooting 40%. The first two games he went like 1-for-7 and 1-for-5 and if you got rid of those, his numbers have been really good. Every game at low volume, he shoots a high percentage and that’s exactly the stuff that’s going to translate.” [lawrence-related id=27339,27330,27310]