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Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 1:53 pm
by Indomitable
Jalen Smith who physically look the part can not catch the ball cleanly or dribble on a straight line.
Jalen also falls all the time and I think maybe he has a weak core. This man is on the floor half the time he is out there. Part of me would rather see the Australian then keep watching him fall.
I thought he was better then this. Maybe he needs to update his prescription.
Please Zach Collins come back. This man is going to make break my big screen.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:01 pm
by sco
Man, it's been 3 games, and one of them was a very good game. I have confidence he'll get better.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:07 pm
by Indomitable
sco wrote:Man, it's been 3 games, and one of them was a very good game. I have confidence he'll get better.
He has been butt since last year. He been constantly dropping and falling for two years.
He will occasionally not stink. He will become a towel waver once Collins heals.
Him hitting a couple of shots is not the problem. He is bad on rotation and has struggled to rebound. He has been bad since last December..
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:17 pm
by Guru
sco wrote:Man, it's been 3 games, and one of them was a very good game. I have confidence he'll get better.
What is it with this board and a rush to call people busts. Is there some sort of contest I don't know about?
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:24 pm
by sco
Guru wrote:sco wrote:Man, it's been 3 games, and one of them was a very good game. I have confidence he'll get better.
What is it with this board and a rush to call people busts. Is there some sort of contest I don't know about?
We all, including me, love our hot takes. I'm usually wrong, but it's fun to debate.
I'll go the other way and say that I think Vuc will revert back to being "old Vuc" once Coby comes back, but a lot of that is just going back to a smaller role. That said, I feel like Vuc has also benefitted from 2 very good PG's, setting him up for good shots, which he hasn't had in a while.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:39 pm
by League Circles
I generally kinda want to see him get a chance, but my expectations aren't high. He doesn't seem to have good lower body strength and he often tries to do too much on offense. But he does block and defend well. If we didn't already have him under contract for next year I'd be less interested.
He reminds me a bit of Bobby Portis in that they put up good counting numbers and seem like they should be good, but really just aren't.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:54 pm
by RSP83
Give him time. He's not some world beater but he's better than this.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 3:48 pm
by Indomitable
Guru wrote:sco wrote:Man, it's been 3 games, and one of them was a very good game. I have confidence he'll get better.
What is it with this board and a rush to call people busts. Is there some sort of contest I don't know about?
He was inconsistent and falling all over the place last season.
I am doing this mostly as a joke. Get that stick out okay.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 4:08 pm
by HomoSapien
There's a weird groupthink taking over this board when it comes to Jalen Smith. It's almost as if AI bots have infiltrated RealGM and are spreading the narrative that Smith sucks. We saw him play 64 times last year. He was overwhelmingly good in those 64 games. Most of us felt like he should have played more. Two poor games shouldn't matter this much to people.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 5:02 pm
by nomorezorro
i would say the preponderance of his career suggests that he's actually not particularly good despite having some offensive talents
there's a reason two teams were fine letting him walk in his first 4 years in the league, and why we were able to sign him for $9m a year despite him being a 23 year old coming off what was statistically a strong offensive season
he's better than he's shown to start the season, but it also should be expected that he'll have stretches where he's just a net negative
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 5:21 pm
by HomoSapien
nomorezorro wrote:i would say the preponderance of his career suggests that he's actually not particularly good despite having some offensive talents
there's a reason two teams were fine letting him walk in his first 4 years in the league, and why we were able to sign him for $9m a year despite him being a 23 year old coming off what was statistically a strong offensive season
he's better than he's shown to start the season, but it also should be expected that he'll have stretches where he's just a net negative
Just wanted to point out that the Pacers DID want to keep Smith.
Dustin Dopirak: Rick Carlisle on Jalen Smith: "We wanted him back but we were limited as to how much we could pay him. ... He had a very good year and he had a great second year for us that set him up for the Bulls. This was an opportunity he had to take because of the financial aspect."
https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/rumors/2025/01/08/pacers-coach-rick-carlisle-we-wanted-jalen-smith-back/84557894007/Pacers coach Rick Carlisle indicated that he understood that and knew he could only keep Smith in the position he was in for so long.
"Loved him," Carlisle said when asked by a Chicago reporter about his experience coaching Smith. "He's one of the most wonderful young men I've ever been around. Always in a great mood, high level of skill. He's a great rebounder and he can really shoot the ball and he can block shots. He knows how to play. He's a great teammate. I was really disappointed that we lost him, but I could really see that it was gonna happen. He's just too good."
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2024/12/10/jalen-smith-pacers-bulls-good-terms/76867970007/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 6:33 pm
by GoBlue72391
The problem with Smith is, if his 3 ball isn't falling (and it usually isn't) he provides next to nothing else on offense. And his defense isn't good enough to make up for his offense when his shot isn't falling.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 6:36 pm
by GoBlue72391
HomoSapien wrote:There's a weird groupthink taking over this board when it comes to Jalen Smith. It's almost as if AI bots have infiltrated RealGM and are spreading the narrative that Smith sucks. We saw him play 64 times last year. He was overwhelmingly good in those 64 games. Most of us felt like he should have played more. Two poor games shouldn't matter this much to people.
He shot 32% from 3 and 3s were more than half his FGA. He takes too many 3s for the level of shooter he is and doesn't do anything else on offense to offset it.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 11:09 pm
by MikeDC
HomoSapien wrote:nomorezorro wrote:i would say the preponderance of his career suggests that he's actually not particularly good despite having some offensive talents
there's a reason two teams were fine letting him walk in his first 4 years in the league, and why we were able to sign him for $9m a year despite him being a 23 year old coming off what was statistically a strong offensive season
he's better than he's shown to start the season, but it also should be expected that he'll have stretches where he's just a net negative
Just wanted to point out that the Pacers DID want to keep Smith.
Dustin Dopirak: Rick Carlisle on Jalen Smith: "We wanted him back but we were limited as to how much we could pay him. ... He had a very good year and he had a great second year for us that set him up for the Bulls. This was an opportunity he had to take because of the financial aspect."
https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/rumors/2025/01/08/pacers-coach-rick-carlisle-we-wanted-jalen-smith-back/84557894007/Pacers coach Rick Carlisle indicated that he understood that and knew he could only keep Smith in the position he was in for so long.
"Loved him," Carlisle said when asked by a Chicago reporter about his experience coaching Smith. "He's one of the most wonderful young men I've ever been around. Always in a great mood, high level of skill. He's a great rebounder and he can really shoot the ball and he can block shots. He knows how to play. He's a great teammate. I was really disappointed that we lost him, but I could really see that it was gonna happen. He's just too good."
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2024/12/10/jalen-smith-pacers-bulls-good-terms/76867970007/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
He's being polite. No coach is going to say "Chicago offered him way more money than we would ever dream of paying him that much on that long a deal".
As to the poll, we should be able to pick multiple options.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 11:14 pm
by Indomitable
MikeDC wrote:
As to the poll, we should be able to pick multiple options.
Now you can.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2025 8:34 pm
by HomoSapien
MikeDC wrote:HomoSapien wrote:nomorezorro wrote:i would say the preponderance of his career suggests that he's actually not particularly good despite having some offensive talents
there's a reason two teams were fine letting him walk in his first 4 years in the league, and why we were able to sign him for $9m a year despite him being a 23 year old coming off what was statistically a strong offensive season
he's better than he's shown to start the season, but it also should be expected that he'll have stretches where he's just a net negative
Just wanted to point out that the Pacers DID want to keep Smith.
Dustin Dopirak: Rick Carlisle on Jalen Smith: "We wanted him back but we were limited as to how much we could pay him. ... He had a very good year and he had a great second year for us that set him up for the Bulls. This was an opportunity he had to take because of the financial aspect."
https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/rumors/2025/01/08/pacers-coach-rick-carlisle-we-wanted-jalen-smith-back/84557894007/Pacers coach Rick Carlisle indicated that he understood that and knew he could only keep Smith in the position he was in for so long.
"Loved him," Carlisle said when asked by a Chicago reporter about his experience coaching Smith. "He's one of the most wonderful young men I've ever been around. Always in a great mood, high level of skill. He's a great rebounder and he can really shoot the ball and he can block shots. He knows how to play. He's a great teammate. I was really disappointed that we lost him, but I could really see that it was gonna happen. He's just too good."
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2024/12/10/jalen-smith-pacers-bulls-good-terms/76867970007/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
He's being polite. No coach is going to say "Chicago offered him way more money than we would ever dream of paying him that much on that long a deal".
As to the poll, we should be able to pick multiple options.
Come on now, you don't actually believe that do you? He wouldn't have to say anything remotely like what he said unless he meant it. It would have been just as easy to simply say we enjoyed having Smith and wish him the best, or even both sides felt like they needed to make changes. If you read the article I posted, it's mentioned that Smith's agent signed that initial deal with the Pacers knowing with the intention of opting out early for money and with the knowledge that Indiana wouldn't be able to afford to retain him.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Sat Nov 1, 2025 1:45 pm
by Indomitable
Jalen has played much better the last 2 games . I hope he keeps in mind he is not Kyle Korver. HE is at his best when he reacts to the defense. All that rushing he was doing was frustrating.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Sat Nov 1, 2025 5:48 pm
by ScrantonBulls
He just needs to get his efficiency up. He's played much better in his Indiana days. I think he's fine as a backup for Vuc. Will he even get any burn with Collins returning? I'm not sure how his defense compares to Collins.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Sat Nov 1, 2025 5:59 pm
by Indomitable
ScrantonBulls wrote:He just needs to get his efficiency up. He's played much better in his Indiana days. I think he's fine as a backup for Vuc. Will he even get any burn with Collins returning? I'm not sure how his defense compares to Collins.
He started off last season well and got hurt in December. Then he became the guy I was criticizing . He was mess and was just rushing.
Re: Jalen Smith?
Posted: Sat Nov 1, 2025 6:00 pm
by GoBlue72391
He's very inconsistent. There's good Jalen and bad Jalen, and you never know which one you're gonna get.
I still think he takes way too many 3s for the level of shooter he is. He'd probably be better off diversifying his offense with a few more post ups and P&Rs.
8 3PA per 36 minutes is way too much for a guy who's shot .319 from deep since arriving in Chicago.