The start of the 2019-20 campaign seemed to be an opportunity for Zhaire Smith to earn a spot in the Sixers’ rotation. He was coming out of a beginner season plagued by an injury and near-death situation, but the young guard made his way through those difficulties to also appear in some NBA games during the 2018-19 season, publishing a maximum of career 17 points in a game against Chicago.
However, Sixers fans have rarely seen Zhaire Smith in a true Sixers uniform this season. He had been primarily in Delaware, sent to develop alongside Marial Shayok. To be precise, we only saw 32 minutes of Smith throughout the season, down from 111 minutes we saw last year when he wasn’t even healthy for most of the season.
With the recent news of Zhaire Smith suffering from a bone bruise, you can’t help but ask the question: have we seen Zhaire Smith’s latest as a Sixer?
It is a difficult question to answer when all the variables surrounding the team are broken down.
The Sixers were far from being a deep team to start the season. Aside from the usual top five, the bench has been mostly inconsistent for most of the season. Coming into the season, most people expected the bench unit to be driven by last year’s playoff rotating bench pieces: James Ennis and Mike Scott. Frankly, it didn’t work out entirely.
James Ennis was a solid defender off the bench, but in some places he was defeated by rookie Matisse Thybulle. Mike Scott has largely been a no-show this season, with a 3 point drop from 40 to 36 percent.
The Sixers front office led by Elton Brand addressed the scoring problem by adding two solid players from the other side, Glenn Robinson III and Alec Burks. We saw the two play in a limited time (due to the fact that they walked across the United States to get here, and then, COVID), but it is a common consensus that both of them would be above Zhaire Smith in the rotation too if he was healthy.
While the Sixers shipped off the commercial deadline (in James Ennis), they essentially added two more. Include Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris (sometimes), Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle, Shake Milton and the newly-signed Ryan Broekhoff in the mix and it’s safe to say that the Sixers are loaded on the wing spot. Zhaire Smith has been deeply buried.
There is a good chance that this offseason will decide Smith’s future in Philadelphia. The Sixers will have two free agents at the wing point of the recently acquired Glenn Robinson III and Alec Burks. Both of these players will likely look for the biggest paydays of their respective careers, coming out of some of their best game traits.
In the end, the Sixers will be very limited in what they can do during the next free agency period. The team will have access to a mid-level (or MLE) exception worth around $ 6 million per year. They can only hand this over to a free agent signer, making the resignation of both Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III very low.
However, there is a possibility that one of these two players may be willing to make a cut to be part of a contending team. The Sixers are more unlikely to keep Zhaire Smith in the scenario where they somehow manage to keep both Robinson and Burks. The Sixers are officially in “win-now” mode and will likely not put Smith’s development on top of the winning games anytime soon. Smith will enter his third NBA season at that point and I’m sure he’ll want to get some NBA time.
There are many scenarios that can take place in the coming months, involving exchanges, withdrawal choices, free agents, etc. I’ll avoid that infinite “what ifs” loophole with this:
In my mind, the Sixers should keep Zhaire Smith around, regardless of whether or not they make a new signature of their free agent wings. Smith has a lot of upside and is only 21 years old. Unfortunately he lost that development season with a very dangerous allergic reaction in his beginner year. All in all, this was Smith’s first real rookie season to actually play.
Speaking of his current game, he really put together a great year of development in the G League with the Delaware Blue Coats. Look at his averages between his first and second year:
2018-19: 11 GP (0 GS), 22.7 MPG, 7.2 PPG (40.5% FG, 19.2% 3PT on 2.4 attempts per game), 0.7 BPG, 0.3 SPG, 1.6 APG, 3.0 RPG
2019-20: 28 GP (25 GS), 28.2 MPG, 13.5 PPG (53% FG, 37.6% 3PT on 4.2 attempts per game), 0.5 BPG, 0.8 SPG, 2.1 APG, 3.2 RPG
With the 2019-20 campaign offering a larger sample size, we have been able to see Zhaire Smith improve in most of his averages. His biggest area of growth was his 3-point shot (which we all know is crucial for him to be a successful Sixer).
The Sixers contracted Zhaire Smith for $ 3.2 million next season with a team option in 2021-22. In my mind, the answer is simple; you should keep this guy around. Don’t give up on him. Smith is an athletic wing with a sweater that improves. He is notoriously a hard worker with natural talent.
Many things can happen in the upcoming offseason, but trading a young prospect with a high rise shouldn’t be one of them. The Delaware Blue Coats have solid experience in producing NBA talent and have helped develop three current Sixers into real contributing NBA players: Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz and Norvel Pelle. Zhaire Smith can join that list of successful Blue Coat alumni.
So, did we see Zhaire Smith’s latest in Philadelphia? His future Sixers is as foggy as it has never been, but I definitely hope the answer is no. It is likely that the former Texas Tech Red Raider has just started his NBA career.
