The offseason acquisition of NaLyssa Smith seemed like a good one for the Dallas Wings. Sure, she brought a number of defensive limitations with her, but she's still a young player who has flashed some scoring chops across her three seasons in Indiana.
Unfortunately for the Wings, Smith hasn't really been the answer yet.
Per PBP Stats, the Wings have been a complete disaster with Smith on the floor, posting a minus-23.12 net rating in her 61 minutes. Much of that has been because of the defense, as the team allows 120.66 points per 100 possessions with Smith on the floor. In an almost-equal 59 minutes with her on the bench, the defensive rating drops to 96,69, and the net rating rises to plus-0.81.
NaLyssa Smith is struggling to make an impact with the Wings
Something interesting to note is that the Dallas offense feels equally bad with or without Smith. The offensive rating is 0.04 points per 100 possessions higher with her on the floor, a number that's essentially negligible. She's not the problem offensively, but she's also not the solution offensively, which is a problem.
Dallas needs Smith to be good enough on the offensive end to make up for how she hurts the defense. Smith, who averaged 15.5 points per game two years ago for the Fever before her numbers dropped with the arrival of Caitlin Clark. She's averaging just 8.7 points per game this season and sits sixth on the team in field goal attempts.
The solution on that end feels simple: Smith needs to be more assertive. She's a good scorer, so that side of things will come around.
But the defense? Well ... it might not come along.
I've long believed Smith has the physical skill needed to be a decent WNBA-level defender, but court awareness has been an issue, and she isn't strong enough to play well defensively when the Wings take Myisha Hines-Allen off the floor.
We've seen 20 minutes of Smith playing without Hines-Allen or Teaira McCowan and that's been the real disaster, with the Wings surrendering 157.89 points per 100 possessions in that time, with a minus-73.68 net rating. Smith at the five with Maddy Siegrist beside her at the four is a defensive nightmare.
Maybe that means the Wings need to focus on only pairing Smith with another big, The 32 minutes with both Smith and Hines-Allen on the floor have been okay! Not great, but a minus-1.52 net rating and a 100.00 defensive rating in those minutes is workable!
But maybe a bigger issue is this: If Smith has to be paired with another big, that limits what the Wings can do. It's clear from their rotations that they don't really want McCowan playing a ton, preferring instead to go with a smaller lineup. If Smith and Siegrist can't co-exist, though, that limits how much Smith can play. Maybe the team needs to try a Hines-Allen and Siegrist starting frontcourt, with Smith getting minutes as the backup four?
It's a tough situation that the Wings find themselves in. The Hines-Allen and Smith pairing can work. The McCowan and Smith pairing can work. But Smith's defensive issues when playing as the lone big means that her and Siegrist can't really share the floor, and that appeared to be something head coach Chris Koclanes really wanted Dallas to be able to do.