3 Thoughts From Braden Smith's First Scrimmage at the NBA Scouting Combine

After spending Tuesday going through athletic and shooting drills, Braden Smith was back in his element on Wednesday afternoon, participating in a live scrimmage at the NBA Scouting Combine. The former Purdue point guard had a solid outing in his first five-on-five session in Chicago.

Smith ended the game with eight points, four rebounds and three assists in Team Adams' 95-84 loss to Team Carpenter. He was 2-of-7 from the floor and 1-of-5 from behind the three-point line.

What were some of the takeaways from Smith's first scrimmage at the NBA Combine?

Assist total didn't reflect his passing ability

Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) dribbles the ball. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

This will come as a shock to nobody, but Smith's greatest asset is still his passing ability. You can't look at the assist totals to evaluate how well he distributed the basketball, though. The former Boilermaker had only three assists, but several of his passes resulted in missed shots.

Smith's team shot just 39.7% from the floor. In the first quarter alone, he could have had four assists, getting guys the basketball with open looks, but those shots didn't drop.

At times, Smith appeared to press too much and didn't put the ball in the best position for his teammates. Overall, though, he showed his ability to create open looks offensively, often with dribble penetration and pick-and-roll offense.

Could have been more aggressive with his shot selection

Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) shoots the ball. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

One of the skills Purdue tried to develop for Smith was his aggressiveness as a scorer. That wasn't in his nature through the first two-and-a-half years in West Lafayette, but the Boilermakers needed him to be a scoring threat to be more effective offensively.

Smith attempted seven shots on Wednesday, converting on just two. There were times, especially in the first half, when the point guard had open shots. Too often, though, he passed up those looks.

On more than one occasion, Smith got a defender to bite on a pump fake or created separation off the bounce. He hesitated too much at times, losing the option to take an open shot and forcing him to get the ball out of his hands.

As a distributor, Smith doesn't have to take every shot that comes his way, but he should be ready to take the open ones at the NBA level. Those are hard to come by on that stage.

Positives and negatives defensively

Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) defends Northwestern Wildcats guard Jordan Clayton (11). | David Banks-Imagn Images

The thing that stood out about Smith defensively was his aggressiveness from start to finish. He was willing to defend the entire length of the floor and tried to create turnovers and bad decisions with his pressure. Early in the contest, he forced a missed shot and drew a charge, a great start to the game.

There were some defensive lapses, though. He got behind plays, allowing opponents to drive to the basket for layups. Smith also had trouble at times fighting through screens.

Smith can be a pest on the defensive end, especially if he's willing to pressure the basketball from the inbound. Playing on a team with limited time together also caused some of those lapses on pick-and-roll defense because of a lack of communication.

Overall, Smith had a positive day on the defensive end. There are just a few things to clean up on that end, as is to be expected at this stage.

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