Philadelphia 76ers: 2019 NBA Summer League standouts

Zhaire Smith

What Zhaire has gone through the past year is more than what most people endure in their lifetime. In case you needed some refreshing:

If this summer is any indication, he looks to be back to where he was and then some. Along with his overall physicality, his springy, freakish athleticism is very much back. The dude really put a hurting on the rim in summer action. He played exceptional defense as well, latching onto his assignment in man-to-man situations and showing off his versatility as a defender.

But there were two areas of Zhaire’s game that looked especially promising. For one, his ball handling looks much much better. It clearly seems as though it’s been a major point of emphasis for him this offseason, as it just looks a lot more controlled. He had a few very nice drives to the hole, distributed the ball pretty well off the dribble, and was able to create a fair amount of space for himself to generate scoring opportunities.

Additionally, he displayed a very encouraging amount of confidence in his perimeter game. He only shot 31.3 percent on 16 total attempts from deep this summer, but the fact he was willing to take those shots with little to no hesitation is a great development. It was a solid variety of shots too, from spotting up to catch-and-shoot, to even a couple off the dribble.

I think it’s safe to say that Zhaire will be getting some significant rotation minutes this year. He’s still a bit of a project, but if he proves that he can be a dynamic defender, a relatively competent ball handler, and capable of knocking down shots from long range, he’ll be a top reserve on this Sixers team.