Philadelphia 76ers: Zhaire Smith is missing out
Philadelphia 76ers’ second-year guard is missing out on the Disney Bubble.
With position and lineup changes, its easy to forget that the Philadelphia 76ers are missing one of their building blocks of the future in Zhaire Smith inside of the Disney Bubble. Missing out on this experience is bad for Smith’s development.
It was another mark against Smith’s short career when it was made known that the second-year wing was injured with a bone bruise in his left knee. Smith’s injuries are more predominant than his contributions on the court up to this point.
The gifted athlete has only played in 13 NBA games and 39 G-League games in two seasons. He hasn’t shown much on the NBA level, he did show some improvement on the G-League. While an improvement on the G-League level shouldn’t be dismissed, experience in this “Bubble” probably would have had a positive impact on his game for the NBA as well.
Why the “Bubble” is important.
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The main reason why Smith’s game would have improved in the “Bubble”, is because he would have gotten game action in the scrimmages against NBA level talent. Each team gets three scrimmages before the regular season picks back up and the Sixers have already played in two of those games.
In both of the scrimmages that Philly played in, pretty much every player got to see some game action unless injury wouldn’t allow so. Two-way player Marial Shayok is getting playing time and rookie center Norvel Pelle has been one of the standouts in these scrimmages thus far.
While it’s doubtful that Smith would break into the wing rotation for this upcoming playoffs, if he performed well during these scrimmages, he could earn himself a rotation spot next season.
Both Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson will be free agents this offseason and it’s more than likely they would be playing elsewhere based on the 76ers’ salary cap situations. With that in mind, Smith could show what he learned in the G-League in the “Bubble” and prove he can help Philly out next year.
Next. Podcast: First two scrimmages, Thybulle’s spotlight. dark
The Disney Bubble would have been a great time for Smith to prove the Philadelphia 76ers that he can be a part of the team’s future. Sadly, he won’t get that chance at this time.