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SG Lenzelle Smith (Hapoel Eilat - Israel)

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southcampus;1933918; said:
I was over at Matt Terwilliger's house last night and he mentioned that Lenzelle Smith is a guy who's going to get some serious minutes this year. He's gotten himself into great shape and has been killing it apparently. He said he's also got the best hops on the team hands down.
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Thanks. I can remember a few days last season when Smith was put in at the end of the game and he did throw down some pretty nasty dunks:)
 
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Hearing that Lenzelle is getting in great shape is very good news. I'd say him getting in top-notch physical shape is one of the two main things he needs to work on this summer - the other being developing a consistent 3-point shot. I don't know how much of his shooting struggles last year were related to the wrist but I'm willing to guess that it affected him a lot, though, because he shot really well in warm-ups and FTs, shots where he could take his time. He needs to be in great shape in order to help him move faster laterally on defense.
 
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GeorgiaBuck2;1935593; said:
I was reacting to this statement above.

:wink2:
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No need to get in a pissing match over who has the best hops on the team. With that said, Twig said he has seen Lenzelle do a 360 between the legs dunk.

I said I thought he was kinda plump to be jumping like that and Twig said he's in excellent shape. To add to that, Sully is in the best shape of his life too. Not carrying any thing around his gut.
 
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Yeah I think I've seen a pic taken of Sullinger with his shirt off, doesn't look to be carrying a gut at all. Almost looks like he has some definition. I would look for a more athletic Sullinger coming into next season. This team's athleticism will be off the charts.

BTW Southcampus, I wasn't trying to start an argument with anyone, just showing Litlbuck that I in fact did read your post.
 
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Lenzelle Smith Jr.: "Getting his handle down. He was dealt what I consider a bad hand last year, no pun intended, not being able to go through the summer workouts and do the things the guys were doing.

"He?s had a very good spring. (We're) trying to calculate what position is he. We ran him at the point a little bit (last season) just because we were uncertain of how that was going to go. But he can make plays."
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http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2011/06/highlights_from_mattapaulus_1.shtml
 
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Smith 2011

Buckeye Battle Cry Preview on Smith:

Strengths:
As mentioned, Lenzelle Smith is a solid, if streaky, shooter, particularly from long range. He can shoot the three off both the pass and the dribble, making him a dynamic scorer. His size makes him a tough matchup for many guards who he can bully past with physical play, and his speed will make him tricky for many forwards who he can blow past to the basket. As such, his skills and physical attributes make him a great multipositional player on offense.
As a point guard, he is an excellent ball distributor. He combines that with wonderful Basketball IQ, making him a dangerous individual with the ball in his hands. With a host of good players surrounding him, he can make a basketball team very nearly lethal. When his own shooting skills are added in defenses will have a tough time while he?s on the floor.
Weaknesses:
Lenzelle Smith has one glaring weakness that contributed to his lack of playing time last season. Smith is merely an ok defender, which is nearly a kiss of death on Matta?s teams. He needed to slim down a bit in order to help him keep up with his opponents on the perimeter. He lost 30 pounds in the off-season this year, so it will be interesting to see if that helps him any on defense. He also needs to work on his man-to-man defense in order to better fit in with Matta?s plans for the defense.
Lastly, Smith needs work on his ball-handling skills. As a point guard, it?s critical that he be able to maintain ball-control, particularly when driving the lane. If he enters the game with weak ball-handling skills, he will be easy pickings for strong-defensive point guards of Aaron Craft?s style.
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You have to be in pretty good shape to play any kind of basketball at the college or even high school level. For a kid who is in pretty good shape to lose 13% of his body weight is attention getting. If he wants to play defense half as much as he apparently wanted to lose weight I look for him to escape that kiss of death.
 
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2011 Basketball Preview: Lenzelle Smith, Jr.
October 17, 2011, by Eric

images


One of the guys who?s been in the program for a full season, but we haven?t had a lot of opportunity to see on the court, is Lenzelle Smith. As a true point guard he lost the battle for solid playing minutes to Aaron Craft last season, and was only able to see some time in mop-up duty near the ends of games. What we did get to see, however, was quite impressive.

Hometown: Zion, Illinois
High School: Zion-Benton
Position: Guard (1, 2, 3)
Year: Sophomore
Height: 6-4
Weight: 205

High School Awards:

- Illinois Class 4A First Team(2010)
- High School Academic All-American (2010)
- First Team All-State (2009)

Lenzelle Smith was a three star athlete by scout.com out of Zion-Benton high school. He?s a left-handed player with a smooth shooting stoke and solid ability to distribute the ball. We regularly saw him last season on the fast break making a sweet pass to a teammate (often Sibert or Weatherspoon) to set them up for a layup or dunk.

Smith is also a very cerebral guy who excels in the classroom, as noted by his Academic All-American award in High School. The players who participated in that All-American grade had an average of 3.6 GPA all told.

Last Season:

Season GP MPG PPG FG% 3FG% FT% APG RPG BPG SPG
2010-11 20 4.5 1.2 45.0 12.5 83.3 0.5 0.8 0.0 0.2


Strengths:

As mentioned, Lenzelle Smith is a solid, if streaky, shooter, particularly from long range. He can shoot the three off both the pass and the dribble, making him a dynamic scorer. His size makes him a tough matchup for many guards who he can bully past with physical play, and his speed will make him tricky for many forwards who he can blow past to the basket. As such, his skills and physical attributes make him a great multipositional player on offense.

As a point guard, he is an excellent ball distributor. He combines that with wonderful Basketball IQ, making him a dangerous individual with the ball in his hands. With a host of good players surrounding him, he can make a basketball team very nearly lethal. When his own shooting skills are added in defenses will have a tough time while he?s on the floor.

Weaknesses:

Lenzelle Smith has one glaring weakness that contributed to his lack of playing time last season. Smith is merely an ok defender, which is nearly a kiss of death on Matta?s teams. He needed to slim down a bit in order to help him keep up with his opponents on the perimeter. He lost 30 pounds in the off-season this year, so it will be interesting to see if that helps him any on defense. He also needs to work on his man-to-man defense in order to better fit in with Matta?s plans for the defense.

Lastly, Smith needs work on his ball-handling skills. As a point guard, it?s critical that he be able to maintain ball-control, particularly when driving the lane. If he enters the game with weak ball-handling skills, he will be easy pickings for strong-defensive point guards of Aaron Craft?s style.

11-10-13-MB-0284-DH.jpg


Role for the Team:

If Smith can improve his defensive ability sufficiently, he?ll see a lot more time on the floor. When he arrived at Ohio State he was slotted to be a point guard in Thad Matta?s system. He could still play that position, and give the Buckeyes a fantastic size advantage against most other college point guards. His shooting ability would also enhance OSU?s offensive threat with him on the court.

His skills would also allow him to fill in at the shooting guard and small forward positions. His size makes him capable of playing defense at all of those positions, and he has demonstrated that he can use that size to rebound effectively. He?s also not afraid to post up in the lane, and could be an effective inside/outside kind of player.

Expect to see Lenzelle Smith get more than a few minutes for this team during the early season. Also expect to see him fill in at multiple positions as Matta plays around with different lineups looking for good chemistry. If he proves himself to be a solid defender early in the season, you can expect that Smith will be asked to participate as a role player intermittently through the Big Ten season, much in the same way that DeShaun Thomas participated last season.

The Buckeye Battlecry: Ohio State News and Commentary
 
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I'm excited to see how Lenzelle plays this year. Came on a lot in "garbage" time (for the most part because he missed basically all of the preseason coming back from a major leg injury), but every time he came on, he brought a spark. I remember one particular time he came on and had a moment of brilliance that I thought might have been the most beautiful play of the game. He's a real athlete and can play multiple positions on the floor, which will make him a great asset for this team. Thad loves having guys with great handles, and Lenzelle fits the bill as a second guy that can run with it with Craft or Scott. I'm just imagining just how much more athletic he can be after dropping 30 lbs... good gracious. Dude wasn't overweight to start with! If he can commit to defense the way he committed to weight loss during the off-season, he won't be seeing the floor in garbage time anymore.
 
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