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Dennis Smith Jr. will no doubt inspire fans' oohs and ahs, but also some frustrated not-safe-for-work outbursts; one of the hardest knocks against him is inconsistency.

Smith cannot be entirely to blame for his school's losing record (15-17), nor the 4-14 end to the season, which a midseason dismissal of his head coach, Mark Gottfried, spiced up. Nevertheless, as the starting point guard he bears some of that weight. He certainly takes plays off—quarters off and maybe games off.

There's also a question of whether he is a natural distributor. Some of his passes are telegraphed and a bit lazy, though he's not selfish. Nevertheless, Schmitz's "wants buckets over dimes" comment doesn't exactly sing "lead guard in triangle offense."

Regardless, James O'Connell of Daily Knicks noted a fair assessment in that the triangle shouldn't be the excuse to pass on Smith. (That doesn't mean it won't be.) As O'Connell wrote, "Phil Jackson has just two seasons left on his current contract, and by the time Smith comes into his own as a player, the triangle offense could be long gone."

With or without the triangle, though, the team still might be better off with a pass-first point guard. The Knicks struggled this season under Derrick Rose, one of the better score-first point guards in the league when healthy. So the team may be better served signing a guard who's more inclined to feed Kristaps Porzingis (if he hasn't decided to skip town as soon as his rookie contract expires).

Schmitz also commented that Smith "didn't appear to have great rapport with teammates" and was "not vocal," although Smith's former coach, Gottfried, told NBC Sports' Scott Phillips in November (before all the losing) that he's "very likable" and "a big reason why our guys have an optimistic attitude every day."

One other small question mark: Although you wouldn't know it to watch him burst into light speed from a full stop, Smith did tear his ACL in 2015. Is that injury something that could creep up again in the future? It might factor into the front office's decision.