Theodore Nott isn't the brightest Slytherin, nor is he the strongest. He is in fact quite average. If anyone were to actually look into the matter, they might realize that he was remarkable average far to average for average to be his natural state.
Of course Theo prides himself on acting so flawlessly average that no one ever figured out that it is an act. It is Slytherin to be ambitious and Theo thinks he might be the most ambitious of all the Slytherins in his year. After all nobody else seemed to have the ambition to survive the war.