Hoosier State of Mind
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Indiana Basketball: Justin Smith’s path to the NBA

By Trevor Gersmehl

BLOOMINGTON, IN - FEBRUARY 23: Justin Smith #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers brings the ball up court during the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Assembly Hall on February 23, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - FEBRUARY 23: Justin Smith #3 of the Indiana Hoosiers brings the ball up court during the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Assembly Hall on February 23, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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Justin Smith just recently entered his name into the early entrant list for the NBA Draft, although he’ll almost surely be back at Indiana next season.

Justin Smith put his name into the early entry list for the NBA draft after the season. The purpose of this is so Smith can meet with NBA scouts, get some feedback from them, and return to school with a distinct purpose and vision on how to improve.

It’s a smart move for him professionally to be able to form relationships with teams, but Indiana will benefit from it as well. Nothing is more motivating than receiving specific feedback about how to improve from the very people who hold the key which unlocks the door to your lifelong dream.

Smith is the only Indiana Basketball player to undergo this process this offseason, but it got me thinking about potential NBA futures for players on the current roster. Indiana is grossly underrepresented in the NBA both historically and currently, and we need to see more Hoosiers at the highest form of basketball.

In light of this, we will be doing a mini-series documenting the Indiana players who have even a slight chance at making the NBA and going through scouting reports of them and what they need to do to get to the league. The categories in every article will be the following:

Current Draft Stock

What are the player’s current rankings on the big boards from scouts?

Likelihood of being drafted

My humble opinion of if the player will exceed his current draft projections, meet them, or fall short of them.

Areas of improvement

Pretty self-explanatory.

NBA Comparison

Who does the player play like now, OR who SHOULD that player play like to have a successful NBA career?

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s get the series started by talking about Justin Smith.

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