Welcome to Grading the Blue and Gold, where Golden State Warriors writer Adam Teich breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly for each Warrior’s 2019-2020 NBA Season.
Alen Smailagić has learned to shrug things off. After making the Serbian national basketball team at 14, moving to the United States at 18, and making his debut in the NBA as its third-youngest player, the big stage doesn’t phase him as much as the typical 19 year old. This lack of fear is part of the reason why he’s wormed his way into the hearts of teammates and fans alike. After all, what other rookie big waves off everyone else on the court in order to play point guard in his second ever NBA game?
No big deal for Smiley.
It’s clear that the Dubs view Smailagić as a development project; the Serbian frequently bounced between playing at the Chase Center and the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, only seeing the hardwood with the big league squad for 14 games. Nevertheless, the Warriors front office has made it clear they expect him to be a key piece for them in the future. Let’s take a look at his progress this season, as well as how he projects to fit in with the team going forward.
Offensively, though Alen was rough around the edges, he showed plenty of flashes of a skill set befitting of the ideal modern big. He’s got a wide arsenal of post moves, utilizing a variety of spins and fakes to make up for his lack of verticality. However, his lack of strength often hampered the rookie’s efficiency down low. At 215 pounds, he often struggles to back down smaller defenders or clear space on drives, making finishes like the one below all the more difficult.
The most tantalizing part of Smailagić’s game lies in his combination of shooting potential and playmaking ability. He immediately displayed his quick trigger finger from three–nearly a third of Smiley’s shots came from behind the arc. Though that lack of fear didn’t necessarily translate to great results (his NBA three-point percentage was a measly 23.1%), Warriors fans can fall back on his Santa Cruz number, a much more palatable 34.1% during his time in the G League. His shooting motion is fluid, and his 84% free throw percentage is a good indicator that with more experience he can be a threat from distance.
Smiley is at his deadliest when using his shooting threat to create shots for himself and his teammates off the dribble. A humongous part of why the Warriors traded up to draft him last summer was his ability to put the ball on the ground.
There are few centers in the NBA that can make this play, let alone make it look easy at the age of 19. Yet attacking off the dribble from the arc was a regular part of the rookie’s scoring routine in Santa Cruz, topping off double moves with some incredibly difficult finishes in an almost guard-like fashion.
Moves like this with a floor spaced by the Splash Brothers will be practically unstoppable in the years to come.
Aside from his strength, the most significant area for improvement on the offensive end lies in Smailagić’s tendency to turn the ball over. In both G League and NBA play, Smiley averaged 2.8 turnovers per 36 minutes, a rate higher than 85% of all NBA players.
The vast majority of these resulted from Smailagić getting careless with his dribbles; it wasn’t uncommon to see him lose his balance or outright forget about defenders as in the play above. Others were classic cases of rookie jitters, including committing one of the most egregious traveling violations of the last NBA season.
Still, these mistakes are caused more often by lapses in judgement rather than a lack of skill, and should be ironed out by experience over the course of his career.
On the defensive side of the ball, Smailagić didn’t give Warriors fans as much to be excited about. While his high motor and hustle would occasionally get him in the right place to block shots and grab rebounds, Smiley has a series of bad habits that prevented him from being a positive defender. Once again, the rookie yips were a constant in Smiley’s game, causing him to easily fall for pump fakes and reach in more often than he should have. He also has a case of happy feet– he tends to overshuffle his feet while guarding perimeter players, almost as if he’s trying to step out of quicksand.
Here, Smiley’s habits prevent him from moving parallel with Elie Okobo, and it results in an easy whistle against the Serbian.
Against larger opponents, it would certainly behoove him to put on some muscle. Lighter bigs and even some wing players such as Kyle Kuzma could routinely back him down in the post, and though Smailagić is already adept at leveraging his quickness to recover, he’ll be much more successful when he can use that as a plan B rather than his main defensive tactic.
On the glass, Smailagić didn’t offer anything overly impressive. His 7.0 rebounds per 36 minutes isn’t bad per se, but at only the 54th percentile it’s clear that he does not project to be a monster on the glass. That being said, the Warriors function best with a spread rebounding load, and with Smiley’s hustle and willingness to dive for loose balls, it’s easy to see a stronger version of him splitting boards with Draymond Green and Marquese Chriss moving forward.
Negatives aside, it’s clear that both the coaching staff and players alike adore Smiley. Steve Kerr has regularly praised him for the fearlessness that he plays with. Though Green has admitted to Smailagić looking lost at times, he’s taken on the youngster as his pet project, and takes any chance he gets to gush about Smiley’s inquisitiveness and ability to learn quickly. Those skills have also translated to his personal life, where he’s quickly learned English, mastered the drive between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and even learned to love Chili’s. Now that his father lives with him, the Bay is feeling more and more like home.
Overall: Throughout his rookie season, Smailagić enticed Warriors fans with his hustle and offensive potential. Despite a consistently entertaining season from the young Dub, his lack of shooting and defensive contributions means that his grade can’t be any higher than a C-. Still, with a whole NBA season of experience under his belt, look for Smailagić to be a regular fixture in the Dubs’ rotation when they return to the court.
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