2011 NBA Draft Results: Nolan Smith Goes No. 21 to Portland Trail Blazers

2011 NBA Draft Results: Nolan Smith Goes No. 21 to Portland Trail Blazers

Nolan Smith started the year out as the third-biggest star for the Duke Blue Devils while playing primarily off the ball at the shooting guard position.

When Kyrie Irving went down with a toe injury, Smith shifted over to point guard and got even better. In fact, I’d go so far as to call him last season’s best regular season player after averaging 20.6 points, 5.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game while helping the Blue Devils avoid skipping a beat with their starting point guard on the bench.

Smith is a very reliable player who is just as capable of scoring as he is creating a play for someone else. Because of his physical build and lack of any one standout aspect to his game, he probably won’t develop into anything more than a very good backup guard though.

At the same time, he won’t be anything less either. 

Smith is going to head to Portland now and I wonder how much of this pick was the Trail Blazers saying that they're giving up on Brandon Roy. 

He's a very solid pick for any team and it's no different with Portland. 

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