Perhaps no one knows Nick Smith Jr. - basketball wise - as well as Tim Holloway, the president of Brad Beal Elite. Check out my interview with him...
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Arkansas picked up a major commitment Wednesday night in five-star guard Nick Smith Jr.
He is immediately one of the highest-ranked recruits the Razorbacks have landed during the Rivals era and gives them one of the top classes in the country for 2022.
For more insight on what kind of player Eric Musselman is getting, HawgBeat reached out to Tim Holloway. As the president of Brad Beal Elite and an assistant coach in the organization, he has known and coached Smith for about three years.
Here is our conversation with him about Smith…
HawgBeat: Hey coach, we appreciate you taking some time to talk about Nick. First off, what’s the scouting report on him? What does Nick Smith bring to the table as a player?
Holloway: The funny thing about Nick is there probably isn’t a scouting report because he can score at all levels pretty much at any point. He can shoot it from deep, he’s got a great midrange, great pull-up game, and he’s aggressive enough to get to the bucket and get fouled and he’s extremely proficient from the line. You have to try to find a way to contain him because you’re probably not going to stop him.
I think probably the most underrated part of his game is his passing. If you’re going to double him or throw a couple guys at him or try to scheme him that way, I think that’s probably one of the most underrated parts of his game. Just a tremendous player.
I’m happy for Nick because I think the attention he’s getting is the attention he’s always deserved and he’s always played with that sort of chip on the shoulder, like, ‘I’m going to continue to improve. I’m going to continue to show people what I can do.’ And he’s never wavered in his work ethic to continue to get better. He’s never pouted over rankings or being overlooked or whatever. He just continued to get better, so it’s great to see a kid persevere and get better year after year after year.
Now he’s at a point where I think people recognize what he can do, but the funny thing with Nick is he’s still not satisfied. He still talks about how he needs to get better and what he needs to work on and all of that. I think the future’s pretty bright for him.
HawgBeat: Depending on where we look, we’ve seen him listed as a point guard, shooting guard and combo guard. How would you describe what position he plays?
Holloway: You really can’t because he can play them all. He can play on the ball, he can play off the ball. In his 15U and 16U year with us, he kind of played on the ball and was great - facilitated, got guys shots, got his shot off, had no issue handling the ball in the backcourt.
This year, with Jeremy Fears, he played off the ball and had no problem doing that. I would just say he’s a player. He’s a guard. He’s a player. He’s definitely one of those kids I think if you’re recruiting him or bringing him to your team, he give you that flexibility.
HawgBeat: You’ve known Nick for about three years, so I’m wondering - When was the ‘aha’ moment where you knew he was going to be a really special player?
Holloway: Honestly, the ‘aha’ moment came early when I was watching video when we were trying to convince them to play for Brad Beal Elite. In a high school game, he was coming down the court and he just throws this no-look, left-handed pass down the middle of the court. I’m like, ‘Okay, I haven’t seen pros do that.’ That’s when I said, ‘We have to go meet the family. We have to go figure this out. We need this kid in our program.’ That was early.
I think for me, it was progressive and I saw it all along. He can attest to this: I always told him, ‘Listen, don’t worry about the rankings. Don’t worry about being invited to this, that or the other. It’s going to happen. If you keep playing the way you’re playing and getting better, it’s going to happen.’
There were a ton of ‘aha’ moments along the way. I think if you just look at that Peach Jam game, there were so many in that game alone, just answering the bell, hitting big shot after big shot, from deep, midrange, going to the bucket, and-ones. His whole game was on display for the world to see, but it’s something we’ve been seeing for three years. Like I said, it was great for him to have that moment.
HawgBeat: What part of his game would you say has improved the most over that time period?
Holloway: I think patience. He wants to win so bad. This kid is a competitor like you would not believe. He had to learn how to be patient with his quickness, with his skill, letting guys set themselves up, letting the play develop, letting the screens kind of set and open before he goes. I think that’s been the biggest thing.
His skillset has always been there. As most younger players are, they play a little quick, play a little fast, and his patience and his pace has really improved. That’s great to see because you can now see it. He sees the game a lot better because he’s kind of slowed down his pace when he needs to.
HawgBeat: What kind of defensive player is Nick?
Holloway: He’s good. Nick has actually got amazingly quick hands. Obviously it think he’s going to develop as a defender when he gets stronger - and that’s a natural progression that’s going to happen over time - because he’s got great instincts, he plays the passing lane really well, he’s got really quick hands.
He’s just got to get stronger so he can actually guard bigger, stronger, faster players at that same position. And that’s the thing - with him, he can migrate from a 1 to, potentially, a smaller 3, so he’s also got to be able to defend that 3 position. Again, it’s a natural progression, so it’s going to happen over time, but he does lift weights, he’s working on that, but he’s not a big bulky guy. But if you’ve ever seen his dad, his dad is a strong guy, so you know that strength is going to come over time.
HawgBeat: Another guy who Arkansas fans will recognize that you coached with Brad Beal Elite is Moses Moody. I know they’re different players, but having been around both of them, do they share any similarities as far as their mental makeup?
Holloway: For those two in particular, I would say they’re just relentless. Moses’ mom told me early on, and I didn’t get it, I thought it was interesting and almost a little weird what she said to me, but she said, ‘Listen, I need you to watch Moses and I need you, when he’s tired, to take him out because he won’t stop. He will go, go, go under exhaustion.’
Normally, parents are like, ‘Let my kid play, let my kid play, let my kid play. Put him back in.’ This was the first time a parent has ever told me to watch their kid because you need to take him out. But she was not kidding. There would be games where (Moses) would just play and you look over and he was gasping for air, but he played so hard all the time. That’s what he would do. He would play himself into exhaustion.
For him and Nick both, they’re just relentless. They both play so hard. Relentless would be the word I’d use as a characteristic for both of those kids.
Coach's Take on Nick Smith Jr.: Q&A with Brad Beal Elite's Tim Holloway
HawgBeat gets a scouting report on Nick Smith Jr. from one of his AAU coaches.
Arkansas picked up a major commitment Wednesday night in five-star guard Nick Smith Jr.
He is immediately one of the highest-ranked recruits the Razorbacks have landed during the Rivals era and gives them one of the top classes in the country for 2022.
For more insight on what kind of player Eric Musselman is getting, HawgBeat reached out to Tim Holloway. As the president of Brad Beal Elite and an assistant coach in the organization, he has known and coached Smith for about three years.
Here is our conversation with him about Smith…
HawgBeat: Hey coach, we appreciate you taking some time to talk about Nick. First off, what’s the scouting report on him? What does Nick Smith bring to the table as a player?
Holloway: The funny thing about Nick is there probably isn’t a scouting report because he can score at all levels pretty much at any point. He can shoot it from deep, he’s got a great midrange, great pull-up game, and he’s aggressive enough to get to the bucket and get fouled and he’s extremely proficient from the line. You have to try to find a way to contain him because you’re probably not going to stop him.
I think probably the most underrated part of his game is his passing. If you’re going to double him or throw a couple guys at him or try to scheme him that way, I think that’s probably one of the most underrated parts of his game. Just a tremendous player.
I’m happy for Nick because I think the attention he’s getting is the attention he’s always deserved and he’s always played with that sort of chip on the shoulder, like, ‘I’m going to continue to improve. I’m going to continue to show people what I can do.’ And he’s never wavered in his work ethic to continue to get better. He’s never pouted over rankings or being overlooked or whatever. He just continued to get better, so it’s great to see a kid persevere and get better year after year after year.
Now he’s at a point where I think people recognize what he can do, but the funny thing with Nick is he’s still not satisfied. He still talks about how he needs to get better and what he needs to work on and all of that. I think the future’s pretty bright for him.
HawgBeat: Depending on where we look, we’ve seen him listed as a point guard, shooting guard and combo guard. How would you describe what position he plays?
Holloway: You really can’t because he can play them all. He can play on the ball, he can play off the ball. In his 15U and 16U year with us, he kind of played on the ball and was great - facilitated, got guys shots, got his shot off, had no issue handling the ball in the backcourt.
This year, with Jeremy Fears, he played off the ball and had no problem doing that. I would just say he’s a player. He’s a guard. He’s a player. He’s definitely one of those kids I think if you’re recruiting him or bringing him to your team, he give you that flexibility.
HawgBeat: You’ve known Nick for about three years, so I’m wondering - When was the ‘aha’ moment where you knew he was going to be a really special player?
Holloway: Honestly, the ‘aha’ moment came early when I was watching video when we were trying to convince them to play for Brad Beal Elite. In a high school game, he was coming down the court and he just throws this no-look, left-handed pass down the middle of the court. I’m like, ‘Okay, I haven’t seen pros do that.’ That’s when I said, ‘We have to go meet the family. We have to go figure this out. We need this kid in our program.’ That was early.
I think for me, it was progressive and I saw it all along. He can attest to this: I always told him, ‘Listen, don’t worry about the rankings. Don’t worry about being invited to this, that or the other. It’s going to happen. If you keep playing the way you’re playing and getting better, it’s going to happen.’
There were a ton of ‘aha’ moments along the way. I think if you just look at that Peach Jam game, there were so many in that game alone, just answering the bell, hitting big shot after big shot, from deep, midrange, going to the bucket, and-ones. His whole game was on display for the world to see, but it’s something we’ve been seeing for three years. Like I said, it was great for him to have that moment.
HawgBeat: What part of his game would you say has improved the most over that time period?
Holloway: I think patience. He wants to win so bad. This kid is a competitor like you would not believe. He had to learn how to be patient with his quickness, with his skill, letting guys set themselves up, letting the play develop, letting the screens kind of set and open before he goes. I think that’s been the biggest thing.
His skillset has always been there. As most younger players are, they play a little quick, play a little fast, and his patience and his pace has really improved. That’s great to see because you can now see it. He sees the game a lot better because he’s kind of slowed down his pace when he needs to.
HawgBeat: What kind of defensive player is Nick?
Holloway: He’s good. Nick has actually got amazingly quick hands. Obviously it think he’s going to develop as a defender when he gets stronger - and that’s a natural progression that’s going to happen over time - because he’s got great instincts, he plays the passing lane really well, he’s got really quick hands.
He’s just got to get stronger so he can actually guard bigger, stronger, faster players at that same position. And that’s the thing - with him, he can migrate from a 1 to, potentially, a smaller 3, so he’s also got to be able to defend that 3 position. Again, it’s a natural progression, so it’s going to happen over time, but he does lift weights, he’s working on that, but he’s not a big bulky guy. But if you’ve ever seen his dad, his dad is a strong guy, so you know that strength is going to come over time.
HawgBeat: Another guy who Arkansas fans will recognize that you coached with Brad Beal Elite is Moses Moody. I know they’re different players, but having been around both of them, do they share any similarities as far as their mental makeup?
Holloway: For those two in particular, I would say they’re just relentless. Moses’ mom told me early on, and I didn’t get it, I thought it was interesting and almost a little weird what she said to me, but she said, ‘Listen, I need you to watch Moses and I need you, when he’s tired, to take him out because he won’t stop. He will go, go, go under exhaustion.’
Normally, parents are like, ‘Let my kid play, let my kid play, let my kid play. Put him back in.’ This was the first time a parent has ever told me to watch their kid because you need to take him out. But she was not kidding. There would be games where (Moses) would just play and you look over and he was gasping for air, but he played so hard all the time. That’s what he would do. He would play himself into exhaustion.
For him and Nick both, they’re just relentless. They both play so hard. Relentless would be the word I’d use as a characteristic for both of those kids.
