Scrimmage suits Sixers' Smith

Jason Smith looked good.

As a 7-footer, he looked as smooth as a guard.

Coming off a knee injury, he looked as in-rhythm as a veteran.

Unfortunately for the 76ers - as confirmed by Smith and coach Eddie Jordan - it was the first time in this training camp that Smith had looked that good.

During yesterday's end-of-practice scrimmage at St. Joseph's University, the forward-center ran the floor, grabbed offensive boards, and sank a trio of jumpers - one of which was a midrange pull-up shot in transition.

Yesterday was the Sixers' second-to-last day of training camp; they finish with a double session today. On Tuesday, they open the preseason against the Toronto Raptors in London, Ontario.

"His best day so far," Jordan said of Smith. "He did everything. He hit the offensive glass, gave great effort, second effort, made some shots, ran the offense, played pretty good defense. He was seen. He was busy."

Last summer, Smith tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and missed the 2008-09 season, his second in the NBA. As a rookie, Smith had averaged 4.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 14.6 minutes a game.

After yesterday's scrimmage, Smith acknowledged that it was by far his best day of camp.

"You can get in the flow of things," he said of scrimmaging. "When we're doing drills, you go down, back; down, back; you're done. During the scrimmage, you go consistent so you can get a flow. . . .

"That was the first day back, in my mind. The other days, I was kind of hesitant, not aggressive, but today I was more aggressive, more explosive, going after loose balls."

On one possession, Smith pushed the ball in transition, driving the length of the floor and stopping in the lane for a 10-foot jumper. It was an impressive sequence for player coming off knee surgery.

Had Smith been shooting that well all week?

"No," he said, smiling. "I'm not even going to lie."

Quiz time. Jordan has been giving his players quizzes for much of training camp. Yesterday morning, he gave both an offensive and defensive quiz, having his players put their names on the tests and then grading them.

For offense, Jordan drew six plays within the Princeton system and had them name the option.

For defense, he asked them to list the five things they would do in transition, awarding bonus points if they named a sixth.

Said Jordan: "One player said everything right [for the defensive quiz], and for the bonus, he said, 'I don't need the bonus.' "

The offense. Jordan has concentrated on defense for much of camp, but in the last couple of days, has installed more of the offense. He likened his Princeton offense to "Chinese arithmetic."

"I know it's a lot at one time - I went slow at first," Jordan said, adding that "I want them to see the benefit of all the counters and all the ways you can play against denials, fronts, ball pressure, people-switch. And it's a lot."