Zhaire Smith is Embracing a Developmental Role with Sixers

During last year's NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers chose Mikal Bridges with their first, first-round pick of the draft. And in a very short amount of time, they dished out the Villanova product in exchange for Texas Tech's Zhaire Smith.

As expected, many Philly fans were upset with Brett Brown and the Sixers' decision to draft and trade a player who brought a feel-good story to the city. Soon though, many would get over it for the time being.

Zhaire Smith was no scrub. After all, there's a reason he became a first-round pick. However, his journey in the NBA has seen its highs and lows. His rookie season in the summer league showed promise, but a fractured foot sidelined him early on.

Mix in the fact he had another off-court incident, which involved a life-threatening allergic reaction, and Smith would have an even harder time returning to the court. It wasn't expected at all last year, but the former Texas Tech forward managed to appear in six games for the Sixers towards the end of the season.

He had some flashes, which offered up the excitement to those looking forward to Smith's Sophomore effort. Some might've been under the impression that Smith would start picking up a handful of minutes in the NBA during year two -- but the Sixers wanted to take a different route, which required patience from the organization and the player.

Typically, at this point, patience would be running thin for second-year players. For Smith though, he's looking forward to working on bettering himself for his NBA future. While playing a majority of his second NBA season in the G League wasn't what he expected, the Blue Coats star isn't exactly upset with the way his journey is going.

"It's just been a process," Smith said in regards to his development with the Coats, according to Sixers Wire's Ky Carlin. "This is only my second year playing at the two-guard, so I'm just growing in development, watching a lot of film, and seeing where I'm making mistakes and learning from them. It's all good for me. I'm just blessed to be in this situation. To play the four in college and have the opportunity of coming into the league and develop, you can't ask for nothing better."

Smith still hasn't mastered the guard position in the G League, but he has definitely taken leaps and bounds this season as he has worked on his perimeter shooting and defense. With the Coats, Smith is averaging 27 minutes-per-game and collecting 13 points-per-matchup. After draining only 20-percent of his threes last year, Smith has made a massive jump as he's knocking down 36-percent this season.

As of right now, the Sixers have no plans to call up Smith, so he will finish out the year in a developmental role in Delaware. Soon though, the Blue Coats' season will wrap up, and the former first-rounder will have the opportunity to join the 76ers in Philly. Whether Smith will serve a gameday purpose with the Sixers or not is still unknown. But any sort of developmental role for the second-year guard is good for him.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_