Marcus Smart Better than Expected

Today I saw this in the DMN about OK St. freshman Marcus Smart.  The quote is from Fran Fraschilla regarding the Big 12 season.

Asked "who is the player to watch for", he answered "Oklahoma St. freshman Marcus Smart has the poise of any 10-year NBA veteran.  I watch tape every day.  He always makes plays that help his team win.  A lot of time I have to rewind to see if I saw what I thought I saw.  He plays to teammates' strengths.  If he has a teammate in trouble, he instinctively knows how to help.  He makes plays you cannot coach."  Below is my post about Smart last winter.

The main reason I went was to see Marcus Smart, the "point-forward".  First thing, he is physically ready for college, in fact he is quite a specimen at 6-4 and looking like a tight end.  As of this post, he is the 3rd ranked national forward, and 14th overall recruit in this class by Rivals.  It can be hard to get a read on his talent because of the Marcus style of play.  He handles the ball a lot and showed some signs of having good floor vision.  His shooting stroke is pretty sound, but he is not a natural shooter.  There is some explosion, as he had a couple of throw-downs tonight.  I watched him hit some 3's in warm-ups.  My impression is that he will have an impact at OK St.  I think he handles well enough to play guard in college and the strength is certainly there.  It would be fun to see him play an AAU game and be turned loose.

S