Jason Smith
Height: 7-0
Weight: 240 lbs
Age: 32
NBA Experience: 10 years
By the Numbers:
Games Played: 33
Games Started: 2
Minutes: 8.6
Points: 3.4
Rebounds: 1.6
Assists: 0.4
Steals: 0.1
Blocks: 0.4
Turnovers: 0.5
Field goal shooting: .391
Three-point shooting: .125
Free throw shooting: .905
Net Rating: -17 (93-110)
PER: 8.8
Out of all of the Washington Wizards’ offseason moves in the summer of 2016, Jason Smith looked like the one that might not be a total failure of an acquisition. That can no longer be said as we fast forward two years later because of an incredibly dismal 2017-18 season that featured his biggest contributions coming as a cheerleader on the bench and preventing his teammates or coaches from receiving technical fouls as a human shield.
Season Takeaways
- Coming to Washington, Jason Smith had made a total of 34 three-pointers in his previous eight seasons in the NBA, but burst on the scene with 37 triples on 47.4 percent shooting in 2016-17. That provided hope that Smith could be a lethal three-point shooting center off the bench for the Wizards, but that did not pan out this season as he was a dismal 4-for-32 from deep. He started the season 1-for-23 from three.
- With the inability to knock down a jump shot to start the season, Scott Brooks could not afford to give the defensive liability consistent playing time although it would have sent a message to his team about how you need to play the game: hard. No matter how poorly he or the team was playing, Smith would provide a spark of energy off the bench, which made him a fan favorite during a roller coaster effort season for Washington.
- For the first time in Smith’s career, he was consistently out of the rotation and played a career-low 285 minutes, which is less than half than the 658 minutes he played in his second year in the season. Even if Marcin Gortat were to be moved (because there is no chance they will be able to move Ian Mahinmi’s contract), Smith probably would not see more playing time because the team would likely draft a big or play a lot of small ball.
Grade: D
Jodie Meeks’ player contract is bad, but Jason Smith’s is so much worse. Why Ernie Grunfeld and company decided it was smart to give a player on the wrong side of 30 a $5.5 million player contract to bookend a three-year contract is something I will always wonder. Even more so because they knew he would be the third string center in a small ball evolving game. Smith will probably be the world’s most expensive cheerleader next season.
The Best of Jason Smith Off The Court
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW-8nvAjtQO/?taken-by=jasonstix
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfrCo-GFVre/?taken-by=jasonstix
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjilXnGHpLL/?taken-by=jasonstix
The Best of Jason Smith On The Court
https://twitter.com/HoopDistrictDC/status/980538029440987137
https://twitter.com/HoopDistrictDC/status/972310609881690114
https://twitter.com/HoopDistrictDC/status/928078878605828096
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