Malachi Smith commits to UConn | Page 7 | The Boneyard

Malachi Smith commits to UConn

Gurleyman said:
If you’re small, you need some sort of “plus” skill. Nobody has ever called a 6-0 player a “glue guy”. Nowell never really showed one last year - maybe something in him will be unlocked at VCU, and there’s no reason not to pull for him. But he wasn’t tough to guard - he didn’t have explosive quickness and he didn’t look like a great shooter or someone who had much of a creative bag. He had a couple nice passes here and there - but struggled getting us into our offense. At a lower level, maybe he’ll be able to get into positions where that will come out a little more. Or maybe he could have improved as a 15 mpg backup here if he wanted to stay - but obviously he had higher aspirations coming out of HS.

Smith is older and has a couple of plus skills - he ranked 14th in the country in assist rate and was in the 94th percentile in spot up three point shooting. He has flaws (shooting off the dribble, finishing at the rim) - but at the very least he can be a change of pace guy who pushes tempo and gets guys shots, and then be a knockdown shooter if the ball comes back his way. And I like the idea of being able to move Demary off the ball if he’s got the hot hand without forcing Solo into doing something he’s not good at. He also makes us less vulnerable to pressing teams and heavy ball pressure.
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Thanks for taking the time to provide a detailed and no condescending explanation. Much appreciated.
 
That Guy said:
My favorite part about this board will always be the fact that you can't point out such a simple and objective fact that the staff has missed on some of the guys they brought in. Any tiny bit of criticism of anything whatsoever leads to being labeled as a massive hater. It's absolutely comical.
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That’s objectively true. But show me a staff that doesn’t miss. Duke had to run their whole team out of town last year. And they frankly whiffed badly on Gillis so they lacked a stabilizing veteran presence, which bit them. He played 25 minutes in the national championship game last year and I had to go to the tape to remember who he was. He brought absolutely nothing to the table. That left James - who had never played in a big game and it showed.

It’s a hypothetical - but I think we’d have been fine this year (ie a 3 or 4 seed making a deeper run) if Liam stayed healthy and on his development curve. Hass staying healthy would have been nice too - we had the pieces in place to overcome Mahaney being a miss. Then those things all happening put too much on AK and he went off the rails.

But we’ll never know. Mahaney was a miss and it left us less margin for error.
 
Captbluefin said:
I feel we are going to get more out of Malachi than we expect.

This is a guy coming in knowing his place and wants to be coached up to help as much as possible.
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And the staff felt what they can get out of Malachi was better than what they could get from Nowell or Mahaney.

More than ever roster construction is a zero sum game.
 
uconn1999 said:
We did play Dayton this year, has anyone gone back and watched that game?
4 TOs in 23 min.
2 assists
9 pts on 2-7 shooting
I’m sure he had better games
3rd game in 3 days, he was given lots of rest
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Good point. So much of a team's success in the portal boils down to the single game they watch when they evaluate somebody.
 
That Guy said:
My favorite part about this board will always be the fact that you can't point out such a simple and objective fact that the staff has missed on some of the guys they brought in. Any tiny bit of criticism of anything whatsoever leads to being labeled as a massive hater. It's absolutely comical.
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Glad I didn’t disappoint. Come up with a new interesting criticism then, rather than stating the obvious, which has already been posted hundreds of times. Also timing. Why rain on the parade?
 
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That Guy said:
My favorite part about this board will always be the fact that you can't point out such a simple and objective fact that the staff has missed on some of the guys they brought in. Any tiny bit of criticism of anything whatsoever leads to being labeled as a massive hater. It's absolutely comical.
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Have you considered the fact that you actually are just a massive hater, as evidenced by your history of posts?
 
That Guy said:
My favorite part about this board will always be the fact that you can't point out such a simple and objective fact that the staff has missed on some of the guys they brought in. Any tiny bit of criticism of anything whatsoever leads to being labeled as a massive hater. It's absolutely comical.
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Your post was the kind of thing where someone would precede it by saying "Not to be that guy, but ..."

Your handle is "That Guy"

The joke was "post/handle." No one called you a massive hater.

It was pretty funny, by Boneyard standards.
 
Inyatkin said:
Your post was the kind of thing where someone would precede it by saying "Not to be that guy, but ..."

Your handle is "That Guy"

The joke was "post/handle." No one called you a massive hater.

It was pretty funny, by Boneyard standards.
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Christopher Reeve Reaction GIF
 
That Guy said:
My favorite part about this board will always be the fact that you can't point out such a simple and objective fact that the staff has missed on some of the guys they brought in. Any tiny bit of criticism of anything whatsoever leads to being labeled as a massive hater. It's absolutely comical.
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Hmmm, this sounds suspiciously like the third stage of the lifecycle of a troll – playing the victim.
 
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BigErnMcCracken said:
Good point. So much of a team's success in the portal boils down to the single game they watch when they evaluate somebody.
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Did you watch Dayton (Smith) handle VCU (Nowell going) last season?

Smith had 7 assists to 1 turnover, 1-1 on 3s and great game overall. He is a 5th year guy we are getting so Darius can log big minutes in one more year.
 
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Marat said:
Lots of love for the PG pickups for Hurley and in general for the UConn guard unit.

Just curious why that guy thought Tarris as a bench center to Reibe? Didn't make sense ....
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He's never been a fan of Tarris. He said he didn't like the pickup last season and it was a point of contention for him all season with UConn fans. He's probably needling Husky fans a bit with it at this point.
 
Marat said:
Lots of love for the PG pickups for Hurley and in general for the UConn guard unit.

Just curious why that guy thought Tarris as a bench center to Reibe? Didn't make sense ....
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Yeah, that won’t happen. I just think some of these podcast who review UConn don’t really have a good pulse on UConn’s lineup as the other guy never mentioned Mahaney as playing the PG and totally disrespected Diarra who was injured most of the year and maybe could of been a better scorer if healthy. No way Tarris doesn’t start. Reibe needs time to get use to the physical play and speed of the Big East.
 
Fishy said:
But he’s not that athletic. It’s not really a secret - it hurts him when he tries to finish around the rim. Just not very good at it.

But he’s a terrific passer and he can shoot. Like a poor man’s Shabazz.
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Can he pull up from midrange on a drive? He doesn’t need to finish at the rim if he can create and supposedly that’s his strength.
 
Smith is a solid portal get considering that they just landed Silas Demary Jr. They were not going to land another top level lead guard after landing Silas. Malachi wanted to come here and showed enough that he has the work ethic and experience to give the team some solid backup minutes at the 1. As long as he can handle and pass, and is physically and mentally tough to defend and handle on the ball pressure, he'll be a nice fit.

I know some are a bit concerned about him not being a plus athlete, but I seem to remember a pretty good one, in Bazz, who fit this description that did just fine as a backup and starter.
 
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DogMania said:
Smith is a solid portal get considering that they just landed Silas Demary Jr. They were not going to land another top level lead guard after landing Silas. Malachi wanted to come here and showed enough that he has the work ethic and experience to give the team some solid backup minutes at the 1. As long as he can handle and pass, and is physically and mentally tough to defend and handle on the ball pressure, he'll be a nice fit.

I know some are a bit concerned about him not being a plus athlete, but I seem to remember a pretty good one, in Bazz, who fit this description that did just fine as a backup and starter.
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Bazz is my fav UConn player of all time and it’s a difficult decision to make but he was listed around 6’ right?
 
jibsey said:
Can he pull up from midrange on a drive? He doesn’t need to finish at the rim if he can create and supposedly that’s his strength.
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Shooting off the dribble is a definite weakness, but hopefully he can find a little go to floater or something he gets comfortable with. He’s as good as it gets at spotting up and shooting - and he’s a great passer. When he drives, i imagine the scouting report will be to play him to pass and give him shots, so he’ll need a counter.
 
superjohn said:
He's never been a fan of Tarris. He said he didn't like the pickup last season and it was a point of contention for him all season with UConn fans. He's probably needling Husky fans a bit with it at this point.
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To be fair to Greg, he does love Reibe. It’s not a UConn beef, it’s a Michigan thing he can’t let go of.
 
DogMania said:
Smith is a solid portal get considering that they just landed Silas Demary Jr. They were not going to land another top level lead guard after landing Silas. Malachi wanted to come here and showed enough that he has the work ethic and experience to give the team some solid backup minutes at the 1. As long as he can handle and pass, and is physically and mentally tough to defend and handle on the ball pressure, he'll be a nice fit.

I know some are a bit concerned about him not being a plus athlete, but I seem to remember a pretty good one, in Bazz, who fit this description that did just fine as a backup and starter.
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Yeah people may be overly critical of Smith. He fits what we need as a PG off the bench.

Great ballhandler and playmaker with the ability to make some shots. We’ll have a lot of mouths to feed on this team. Needed a guy that can do that, not necessarily get his own. Smith does that.

I'm more curious to how Silas blends in offensively with the rest of the roster with doing that.
 
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