Purdue faded from the national conversation after the departure of Zach Edey, but the Boilermakers didn't take a huge step back. A lot of credit for their sustained excellence belongs to diminutive point guard Braden Smith. Absent his favorite low-post target, Smith didn't miss a beat, leading Purdue to the Sweet 16, where they suffered a brutal two-point loss to the Houston Cougars.
Smith will face natural obstacles when it comes to NBA Draft scouting. He's a 6-foot senior. The NBA is already predisposed to fade small guards, not to mention older small guards without outlier physical traits. But here's the thing about Smith: He's just better at basketball than most folks. Sure, he will get picked on defensively. He will run up against problems finishing at the rim. But on the whole, Smith has shown time and time again that he can negate the ill-effects of a small frame with unmatched poise and IQ.
As he enters his final campaign at Purdue, Smith profiles as a potential Wooden Award candidate and arguably the best point guard in college basketball. He was already trending in that direction as a junior, averaging 15.7 points and 8.7 assists on .428/.381/.833 splits. The Boilermakers will be right back in the thick of contention this season. Expect Smith to be front and center, making a strong case to NBA scouts despite our baked-in (and often justified) bias against small guards.
Braden Smith NBA Draft bio
Height: 6-foot-0
Weight: 180 lbs.
Birthdate: July 25, 2003
Position: Point Guard
Offensive Role: Primary Facilitator
Defensive Role: Perimeter Pest
Projected Draft Range: 40-60
NBA Draft highlights
Strengths
Smith is the beating heart of Purdue's offense. He is arguably college basketball's top setup man — a pick-and-roll wizard who can deliver every pass in the book, plus a few you won't find even scribbled in the margins. He's able to process the floor at warp speed, thinking outside the box, with spatial awareness reserved for a select few individuals at the highest levels of competition.
As a junior, Smith posted the second-highest assist percentage (44.2) in college basketball. He was also on the floor for 92.4 percent of Purdue's minutes, averaging 37.0 per game. That was ninth in all of D-I. Smith is on the floor constantly, able to handle a significant workload without lapses in judgement. His 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio is remarkable when considering just how often Smith is pulling the strings. He led the Big Ten in minutes and assists and won conference player of the year, and deservedly so. Few players exert more influence over a game.
Smith's ability to snake through the middle of a defense and serve up easy looks to his teammates will be his defining trait at the next level. Odds are Smith won't be an everyday starter in the NBA, but he should quickly carve out a niche as a sparky bench guard capable of greasing the wheels on offense and scrapping his way to passable defense.
He also happens to shoot a lot of 3s (6.1 per game) with excellent efficiency and deep range. Smith looks equally comfortable firing pull-ups and off-movement, catch-and-shoot 3s. He tends to dominate the rock, but Smith is not Sixers-era T.J. McConnell. He can slide off-ball, space the floor and make swift decisions to connect the offense, too. He's not out there to dribble the air out of the rock. He can coexist seamlessly with other guards, possessing an innate understanding of where to be on the floor, when to pick his spots and how to improve his teammate's chances of a made basket.
While not overly quick with his first step, Smith operates at a very deliberate and effective tempo, able to deploy hesitation moves and crossovers to create separation and generate an advantage when he needs to. Smith, to his credit, can also see the floor with what feels like X-ray vision. Even when he's smothered by taller defenders, he finds the out and delivers a pinpoint pass. It's hard for the defense to lock Smith out of the game completely. He keeps his dribble alive, he's effective spotting up along the perimeter and he doesn't fall into the traps of ball-watching or ball-hogging. He's a kinetic player, consistently promoting motion within the offense.
As far as defense is concerned, yes, NBA offenses will target Smith like heat-seeking missiles. But he's going to hold his own ... or at least make his best attempt to. Smith is quite committed at the point of attack. He gets low, pressures the ball and is great at anticipating passes. If his NBA team wants to hide him in the corner, you can bet Smith will sneak backdoor and pick a few pockets, whether he's collapsing into the lane to strip an unaware big man in the post or bolting through the middle of the court to intercept a pass. He averaged 2.2 steals as a junior. That ability to turn defense into offense, with his heads-up playmaking in transition, is a real asset. Hopefully it's enough to mitigate the instances where Smith is overwhelmed on an island.
Weaknesses
Uh, well, he's 6-foot even, which is going to hurt him at the next level. There's no way around it. Smith is a genuinely excellent defender for his size, but that caveat carries little weight in the NBA. There are going to be matchups that put tremendous strain on Smith. He won't be easy to keep on the floor in high-leverage moments. He won't be able to share the floor with other smallish guards. There is inherent lineup inflexibility with Smith, despite the diversity of his own skill set.
Smith isn't an especially elaborate scorer inside the arc either. He has a workable floater and there's plenty of touch at the rim, but he's operating at a distinct disadvantage against quality rim protectors — a disadvantage that will only become more pronounced at the next level. Smith converted a career-high 46.9 percent of his 2-point attempts last season, including an impressive 63.2 percent of his shots at the rim. But while Smith can get creative with his finishes, he just does not create the separation levels necessary to translate that success 100 percent over to the NBA.
Final summary
There's a good chance Smith finishes his Purdue career as a Wooden Award winner and the nominal best player in college basketball. He will attempt to do what Zach Edey couldn't a couple years ago and lead the Boilermakers all the way to the mountaintop. This team is certainly capable of it.
When it comes to his NBA projection, however, Smith could dominate all season at Purdue and still end up as a late second-round pick. Such is the nature of small guards in today's league. There will be (understandable) skeptics who watch Smith pick apart college defenses and just don't think it translates.
And it won't translate in full; Smith is not a future All-Star. He's not going to "lead" an NBA team. He will be brought in off the bench, with the expectation that he provide toughness on defense and effective setups on offense. That feels like a reasonable outcome for Smith, and it's certainly worth a second-round pick. If you can land an effective backup point guard with, say, the 45th pick, that is a huge win.
Smith rocks. He's fun to watch and he is going to win over a lot of college basketball fans as his status soars to new heights. It remains to be seen how exactly that all correlates to NBA interest, but you can bet we'll be talking about him next June in some capacity. He's too good to get bogged down in concerns about height.