South Charlotte Today

Before enduring two years of injury challenges, the Charlotte Hornets posted the NBA’s eighth-best offense (113.6) in the 2021-22 season, the highest mark for any non-playoff team at that time. New Head Coach Charles Lee aims to rejuvenate this unit by integrating more movement and spacing, traits that second-year guard Nick Smith Jr. is well-suited for.

A positive from last season was seeing the 6-foot-2 Smith play significantly more than anticipated. In addition to seven G League outings, Smith participated in 51 NBA games last year, averaging 5.9 points on 39.1% shooting and 1.2 assists in 14.3 minutes per game while playing primarily as a shooting guard (56%) and point guard (39%).

Smith particularly excelled in three-point shooting. Among first-year players with at least 125 three-point attempts, he ranked first in efficiency (43.2%; 63-of-146), surpassing Cason Wallace of Oklahoma City by 1.3%. Only one other NBA rookie has ever exceeded this threshold at age 19 or younger: Jayson Tatum in the 2017-18 season (43.4%).

“The first thing that I’ve noticed about Nick is his overall love for the game,” said Lee following Thursday’s Summer League workout in Sacramento. “Every practice, he’s one of the first guys in the gym and one of the last ones out.”

Most of Smith’s three-point shots came from above the break, where he made 43-of-108 attempts (39.8%). Although it’s a limited sample size, his corner success rate was fourth best in the NBA among players with at least 35 tries (54.1%, 20-of-37), trailing only Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Maxey, and Norman Powell.

Smith identified areas for improvement despite his shooting proficiency: “People were leaving me open a lot last year because I guess I wasn’t much of a focus on the scout,” recalled Smith.

Lee emphasized adding more movement threes to Smith's game: “We talked about transition threes being one of those opportunities," Lee said.

In their recent California Classic-opening win over San Antonio on Saturday evening, the Hornets took more three-point attempts (44) than two-point attempts (40) and dominated fast-break scoring with a margin of 16-2.

“When we first started scrimmaging [during Summer League minicamp], Coach Lee really put an emphasis on spacing because people were cutting a lot,” explained Smith.

According to NBA shot type data from the 2023-24 season, Smith took 289 total shots and demonstrated speed beneficial for transition play with an average court speed of 4.55 miles per hour.

“I see Nick as just a competitor who can play different positions,” noted Lee regarding Smith's versatility during Summer League.

Reflecting on his past seasons affected by knee issues limiting him to just 17 college games, Smith expressed confidence under Coach Lee’s guidance: “Yesterday when we were scrimmaging, I passed up a few open shots,” said Smith.