Deleted by mistakeDropping facts baby! Dropping facts!.
Obviously Braden is nowhere near Ja on the talent level but he is doing some things that very few have done. I don't recall the specific thing they were talking about last night but I did see that Braden is the 2nd player in history with 500 points, 140 rebounds, 280 assists and 70 steals in the same season. The other player is Kenny Anderson.
Obviously a ton of that is usage driven (Braden is averaging 38 minutes over his last 15 games...not ideal) but still pretty impressive in my book.
I'm playing Monday morning quarterback here, but I don't understand why Painter didn't try to limit Smith's playing time this season. If I remember correctly, he logged some pretty good minutes, even in the blowout against Michigan. It's hard to find fault with this year's results, but I wonder if a better-built team would have resulted if Braden had spent less time on the floor. Who knows?