Jake Weingarten of stockrisers.com reported that Duke has “major interest” in 2022 four star guard Nick Smith Jr.
Smith has told Joe Tipton of TiptonEdits that Duke is among the schools recruiting him the hardest. The interest appears to be mutual. When speaking with Stock Risers recently, Smith had this to say:
“Duke, yeah, everybody knows about Duke. It’s just self explanatory.”
Nick Smith Jr. is the 22nd ranked player in the country, per 247Sports, making him one of the highest ranked class of 2022 players Duke has expressed interest in. He is the second ranked shooting guard in his class.
Smith possesses supreme confidence as a scorer and for good reason. Scoring comes naturally to him and he makes it looks easy. He has several effective moves at his disposal offensively, particularly his cross over and his spin move, weapons he frequently utilizes to leave defenders in the dust. Smith is extremely quick and agile, and can change direction or pull up for a shot off the dribble on a dime.
There is no question that Smith has a scorer’s mentality. He is always thinking to score and he is highly effective with this mindset. Even though he is wired to score, he sees the floor well and will find his teammates when open. He is not a player who has “tunnel vision” offensively.
Defensively, there is room for improvement, but he has adequate size for his position and a lengthy wingspan to boot which should prove beneficial in his defensive development.
Below are some highlights of Smith:
Currently, Smith’s crystal ball on 247Sports contains just one prediction of where he will attend college. The lone prediction currently goes to Kentucky. But Duke is pursuing the six-foot-four scoring machine hard, and absolutely cannot be ruled out as a real threat to land Smith. Whoever lands him will be gaining an instantaneous offensive boost.