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Amid a busy offseason that included the re-negotiation of Dirk Nowitzki's contract, the ever-lasting back-and-forth to get Nerlens Noel under contract and a successful Summer League, Mark Cuban's highlight of these last few months was drafting Dennis Smith Jr. with the ninth overall pick.
Smith showed his potential early on, taking the Dallas Mavericks to a Utah Summer League championship and a 5-1 record in the Las Vegas Summer League, impressing with his sheer athleticism and innate ability to score the ball.
The North Carolina State product was recently picked as the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award by his fellow draftmates in this year's rookie survey — a thing Cuban wasn't overly pleased with.
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“What a curse,” Cuban told Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show. “You talk about putting a jinx on a guy but I got to tell you, Dennis Smith Jr. is phenomenal.”
“Put aside his athleticism, I mean his ball handling, his intellect for the game, he's already on Synergy Sports watching great point guards [and] learning from them. He's committed to getting better every day. He's just got that mindset of a winner where he doesn't just want to be an athlete with a motor that plays basketball.”
While Cuban is enamored with his potential, he isn't quite ready to put all the load on his back quite yet, cognizant that there's a process in place to turn him into a star.
“He wants to be a basketball player with a great basketball IQ that also happens to be an amazing athlete and I think, hopefully, that is what can set him apart,” added Cuban. “Now we're not expecting miracles in season one but I think he really has the chance to be something special.”
Smith is expected to compete for the starting point guard spot against Yogi Ferrell at the start of training camp, having a physical and a height advantage while Ferrell boasts a better shooting stroke and an extra year of experience in the pro ranks.
