Recruiting Report: Tim Smith (2019)
Lakewood received a boost in production this season from 6’6” guard/wing Tim Smith (2019). The junior’s confidence level has risen on both ends of the floor.
“[Coach Silva] came in and pretty much changed the way we did things,” Smith said, in giving credit to his assistant coach.
“My sophomore year, I wasn’t very good at defense. I wasn’t a defensive player. His thing is defense … So I started to get better at defense with my length. Just disrupting a lot of things,” Smith said.
“That got me my role and then I just started to produce on the offensive end.”
Back in the fall at the Prep Hoops Top 250 Expo, Smith impressed us with his shooting ability at 6’6”. The long athlete was stroking it from the outside and mid-range.
However, as he’s developed in other areas, Smith is concerned about getting his shot back to where it was.
“I’m trying to get a more consistent jumper. I think that fell off as I’ve started to grow and I just haven’t been focusing on my jumper as much. That’s certainly something I want to get to be more consistent,” Smith said.
Although he’s not scoring it from the outside as much, Smith mentioned that he’s able to fill multiple roles on either end still.
The 3.4 GPA student (1080 SAT) hopes to find a college that will seem as more of a guard though.
“I’ve been looking at what position I’m going to be playing and what’s going to be my role. That’s probably my biggest thing. And how coaches treat their players,” Smith told Prep Hoops.
“I want to play the guard. I want to facilitate and score if I have to. Facilitating is probably my biggest strength.”
Youngstown State and Hiram are the two programs he’s connected with going into his 17U season with JSBA.
“I’m in contact now with Youngstown State, talked to that coach a couple times … And then Hiram,” Smith said.
He elaborated further on the buzz with Youngstown State, saying, “It was weekly during the season and then it kind of- we haven’t talked that much. I just talked to him the other day though, sent him my AAU schedule and everything like that.”
How about Hiram?
“I talk to them a lot, kind of. I know the coach personally. So, yeah we’re in pretty good contact too. That started in October, is when he got in contact with me,” Smith said.
With such a unique range of college interest, it’ll be interesting to track where Smith fits in at the next level. However, coaches can form their own opinions on Smith over the next year, a crucial time period for all seniors to be.