Simon

It's going to be very hard to breathe around, much less score on Jordan Smith Jr. this season. The most suffocating defender in the class.

Potential top-5 pick Jordan Smith Jr. made his college debut for Arkansas tonight 👀 The 6-2 guard finished with 20 pts, 4 reb, and 3 stl in the win

Darius Acuff is the poster child for empty calories scoring. He's taking everything I've disliked about guys like Anfernee Simons, Cam Thomas and Keyonte George, but stretching it to its absolute extreme. Maybe one day he'll be good. Maybe one day he'll find the difference between a good and bad shot. Maybe one day, far into the future he'll actually guard someone...anyone. The Sacramento Kings are 0-11 between preseason and regular season. Keagan Murray and Malik Monk are playing the worst basketball of their lives. Domas looks frustrated. If they replaced Acuff with even a league average PG like Quickley they'd be 2-4 or 3-3. That's how actively bad he's been at controlling tempo, defending and doing virtually anything that contributes to winning other than aura farming for his own stats. Yes, the league should call. And they should literally rescue his teammates from him. Build out a team of only offensive rebounders, screeners and defenders. Guys who will catch his grenades, rebound his misses and sing at his alter of self-focussed basketball. Darius Acuff Jr represents an archetype of everything I despise about AAU basketball, and everything I despise about Vivek Ranadive. Years from now, they'll make a documentary about what this year was like for his teammates. And then you'll see how many careers had to be ruined for this undersized Iverson wannabe to chase Rookie of the Year. It's disgusting basketball. And if you're cheering for it, you're insane.

Arkansas freshman guard Jordan Smith Jr. in an exhibition win against Memphis: 17 PTS | 7-11 FG | 3 REB | 2 AST | 2 BLK | 18 MIN

- we can still draft a young scorer (AJ, Darryn, Acuff, Brown etc) and they wont have the pressure of being one of our only guys who can create his own shots. Takes pressure off JJ on offense - don’t commit long term money to a 34 YO and role over cap space into next summer

Draft Twitter thought leader @NileHoops debuts his newest scouting term: Ariza-ification. [noun] the intentional development of complementary skills in an attempt to maximize NBA viability, often at the expense of high-end outcomes. Ex: Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje at Barca

Brandin Podziemski only scored 22 points last season but I think he could take a massive leap next season at Santa Clara. HS Career: Sophomore 22.5 PTS Junior 27.6 PTS Senior 35.1 PTS 10.0 TRB 5.6 AST 4.0 STL 2021 Wisconsin Mr. Basketball and the Wisconsin Gatorade POTY.