Welcome Jalen Smith!

[suns12345]

Celtics, Spurs and Heat... Maybe Pelicans also.


Look at where Smith worked out and interviewed with and look at the needs of those teams. Celtics would have grabbed him at 16 and Spurs also had him at their radar.. Probably had a couple of players they were looking at and Smith was one.

Suns trading back probably knew they will lose Smith... Hence only spot I saw Suns willing to trade back to was pick 13.. But not worth it for both teams since players were dropping... Like Vassel and Haliburton. So James Jones went ahead and just drafted what the team needed. I think Suns top 5 would have been Wiseman purely because of his potential, Ball, Williams, Okongwu and then Smith.

Didn't the Celtics have 14? I think them and the Pelicans at 13 would look. Good backup for Zion and guy to compete with Hayes for minutes. They had a lot of guards.

I stand corrected. Yes 14.

As mentioned my friend is a die hard Celtics fan and based on his readings of draft news he was certain Smith was their pick. And some articles online support the interest Celtics had.

Jalen Smith also had nothing but praise for Spurs and stated he had a good interview with the entire team or something like that. They need a stretch 5 who can also protect the rim and rebound... Someone to eventually replace Poetl.

Pelicans was interesting. They lost Favors and Hayes is limited offensively so a stretch 5 or 4 would help.

Story sounding even more similar to Cam last year.

People saying our pick was a reach, but a list of teams right after us keen to take our guy.

[bwgood77]

Celtics, Spurs and Heat... Maybe Pelicans also.


Look at where Smith worked out and interviewed with and look at the needs of those teams. Celtics would have grabbed him at 16 and Spurs also had him at their radar.. Probably had a couple of players they were looking at and Smith was one.

Suns trading back probably knew they will lose Smith... Hence only spot I saw Suns willing to trade back to was pick 13.. But not worth it for both teams since players were dropping... Like Vassel and Haliburton. So James Jones went ahead and just drafted what the team needed. I think Suns top 5 would have been Wiseman purely because of his potential, Ball, Williams, Okongwu and then Smith.

Didn't the Celtics have 14? I think them and the Pelicans at 13 would look. Good backup for Zion and guy to compete with Hayes for minutes. They had a lot of guards.

I stand corrected. Yes 14.

As mentioned my friend is a die hard Celtics fan and based on his readings of draft news he was certain Smith was their pick. And some articles online support the interest Celtics had.

Jalen Smith also had nothing but praise for Spurs and stated he had a good interview with the entire team or something like that. They need a stretch 5 who can also protect the rim and rebound... Someone to eventually replace Poetl.

Pelicans was interesting. They lost Favors and Hayes is limited offensively so a stretch 5 or 4 would help.

Yeah, Spurs would have made perfect sense. Especially with Aldridge likely not being around much longer.

[bhawk]

Posted this on the trade thread, but think it is better served in the Jalen Smith thread...

From a casual fan who reads message board and watches the highlight/breakdowns, I am pumped about the Jalen Smith pick! There is no doubt that Jalen was BPA and the Spurs would have taken him right after. Kind of surprised he didn't go higher. If he would have had the Terrell Terry agent, he could have gone top 5. (turns out that the Terry hype did not work very well)

Some Jalen Smith comps that I liked were - 1) Jaren Jackson who can rebound. 2) taller Amare who plays defense and has range. 3) David Robinson as a Power Forward (they have skinny legs and high-center of gravity in common). What strikes me is how light and fast he is. He covers a lot of ground quickly which allows him to get those highlight blocks. Love his humility, heart, competitiveness and work ethic. We're going to love watching this kid develop.

Any other comps that you guys like? The Amare one is probably my favorite because I distinctly remember discussions about Amare's lack of D, rebounding and range. Now Jalen isn't as explosive as Amare, but he is taller (longer) and definitely more well rounded.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Interesting. I wonder which teams

Also, if those teams also saw him as a 4, perhaps his footwork and agility have improved since the college games we've seen. That would be pretty exciting.

Celtics, Spurs and Heat... Maybe Pelicans also.


Look at where Smith worked out and interviewed with and look at the needs of those teams. Celtics would have grabbed him at 16 and Spurs also had him at their radar.. Probably had a couple of players they were looking at and Smith was one.

Suns trading back probably knew they will lose Smith... Hence only spot I saw Suns willing to trade back to was pick 13.. But not worth it for both teams since players were dropping... Like Vassel and Haliburton. So James Jones went ahead and just drafted what the team needed. I think Suns top 5 would have been Wiseman purely because of his potential, Ball, Williams, Okongwu and then Smith.

Didn't the Celtics have 14? I think them and the Pelicans at 13 would look. Good backup for Zion and guy to compete with Hayes for minutes. They had a lot of guards.

I saw a handful of mocks that had him to the Pels at 13, which makes sense because his skill set compliments Zion.

That's why I kind of laughed at the 'reach' talk. Like it's fine to say the suns should have taken Haliburton but this was always around the spot Smith was going to go in this draft.

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[Qwigglez]

Yeah Jalen Smith is the guy I remember watching his highlight reels and wondering if the Suns should take him. Really quick release on his trigger, and looks to hustle and get some dunks. I wasn't particularly impressed with the crop of PG's in this draft so I'm glad we didn't draft any of them at our spot. Definitely think someone else would have immediately taken Smith if we didn't grab him at 10.

[darealjuice]

If the plan is for Jalen Smith to be a power forward, then you'd have to hope he looks something like JJJ. He moves well and is fairly athletic, but I don't know if he has the lateral mobility to defend on the perimeter with how upright he plays on defense. Hopefully that'll improve as his lower body and core get stronger though.

There's some potential in his offensive game. He seemed to put the ball on the floor a bit more his freshman year when he was playing power forward, and he had a couple plays where he'd pump fake and only take one dribble to get to the rim. I doubt he'll ever be a guy you want creating a lot of offense, but I have some hope that he can be more than a spot-up shooter and rim runner on offense. He should be a good player to have off-ball since he's a good screener that can roll hard or pop, and he seems to be a good cutter.

How well he's able to defend on the perimeter is going to decide whether he's more of a power forward or stretch center in the NBA.

[Biff]

Seems a bit redundant with Cam starting at PF and Dario backing him up. I guess Cam can play some SF and Dario some C, and you can never have too many shooters.

The Stepien has him pegged as a 1 position defender (5) so he will likely be Ayton's backup. According to them, he can't cover wings in open space very well at all. If that was the case in college, I don't see him covering the even better NBA wings. This limits his upside a bit. We needed a backup for Ayton though.

Ayton isn't a 1 position defender though. On defense, Ayton could guard 4s and Smith 5s. We probably only deploy these units if we feel we need to for matchup purposes.

Sure, I think we could play these 2 together in certain scenarios. However, I think Smith is largely going to be playing when Ayton isn't on the court. Ayton can definitely guard more than 1 position but our best lineups will be with him playing the 5.

I don't hate the pick and I think he's going to be a solid role player, however it's a reach and like Cam last year, I question why JJ didn't trade back. 2nd round picks aren't super valuable assets but they can sweeten the pot when making trades, or when trying to cut salary. Maybe they liked both of them so much they weren't willing to risk it though, idk.

[bwgood77]

The Stepien has him pegged as a 1 position defender (5) so he will likely be Ayton's backup. According to them, he can't cover wings in open space very well at all. If that was the case in college, I don't see him covering the even better NBA wings. This limits his upside a bit. We needed a backup for Ayton though.

Ayton isn't a 1 position defender though. On defense, Ayton could guard 4s and Smith 5s. We probably only deploy these units if we feel we need to for matchup purposes.

Sure, I think we could play these 2 together in certain scenarios. However, I think Smith is largely going to be playing when Ayton isn't on the court. Ayton can definitely guard more than 1 position but our best lineups will be with him playing the 5.

I don't hate the pick and I think he's going to be a solid role player, however it's a reach and like Cam last year, I question why JJ didn't trade back. 2nd round picks aren't super valuable assets but they can sweeten the pot when making trades, or when trying to cut salary. Maybe they liked both of them so much they weren't willing to risk it though, idk.

He probably didn't trade back because he really wanted Smith and it was rumored that SA, NO and especially Boston wanted him at 11, 13 and 14. Boston fans said they expected him to be the pick. They desperately needed a big.

[Biff]

Ayton isn't a 1 position defender though. On defense, Ayton could guard 4s and Smith 5s. We probably only deploy these units if we feel we need to for matchup purposes.

Sure, I think we could play these 2 together in certain scenarios. However, I think Smith is largely going to be playing when Ayton isn't on the court. Ayton can definitely guard more than 1 position but our best lineups will be with him playing the 5.

I don't hate the pick and I think he's going to be a solid role player, however it's a reach and like Cam last year, I question why JJ didn't trade back. 2nd round picks aren't super valuable assets but they can sweeten the pot when making trades, or when trying to cut salary. Maybe they liked both of them so much they weren't willing to risk it though, idk.

He probably didn't trade back because he really wanted Smith and it was rumored that SA, NO and especially Boston wanted him at 11, 13 and 14. Boston fans said they expected him to be the pick. They desperately needed a big.

Well that makes sense then. I had read he was expected more towards the late teens/early 20's.

[phx#7]

He probably didn't trade back because he really wanted Smith and it was rumored that SA, NO and especially Boston wanted him at 11, 13 and 14. Boston fans said they expected him to be the pick. They desperately needed a big.

I still feel like they were looking to move back but couldn't find any takers. Remember how long it took for the Suns pick to get announced vs every other lotter pick?

For all the talk of teams in the lottery looking to trade down none of them did, just seems like the value wasn't there based on nothing getting done.

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

[thamadkant]

Posted this on the trade thread, but think it is better served in the Jalen Smith thread...

From a casual fan who reads message board and watches the highlight/breakdowns, I am pumped about the Jalen Smith pick! There is no doubt that Jalen was BPA and the Spurs would have taken him right after. Kind of surprised he didn't go higher. If he would have had the Terrell Terry agent, he could have gone top 5. (turns out that the Terry hype did not work very well)

Some Jalen Smith comps that I liked were - 1) Jaren Jackson who can rebound. 2) taller Amare who plays defense and has range. 3) David Robinson as a Power Forward (they have skinny legs and high-center of gravity in common). What strikes me is how light and fast he is. He covers a lot of ground quickly which allows him to get those highlight blocks. Love his humility, heart, competitiveness and work ethic. We're going to love watching this kid develop.

Any other comps that you guys like? The Amare one is probably my favorite because I distinctly remember discussions about Amare's lack of D, rebounding and range. Now Jalen isn't as explosive as Amare, but he is taller (longer) and definitely more well rounded.

Agreed with most of that but except the David Robinson bit about having high center of gravity bit.

Robinson is my all time favorite player next to Barkley so I obsessed with him. And Robinson has a short torso build with long legs. He had a relatively lean body and leg area but very muscular arms and shoulders and calves.

Jalen Brown has no calves.... And he has clearly imbalance right now with his build... Robinson was well built all over.

[RunDogGun]

Robinson was well built all over.

[bhawk]

Posted this on the trade thread, but think it is better served in the Jalen Smith thread...

From a casual fan who reads message board and watches the highlight/breakdowns, I am pumped about the Jalen Smith pick! There is no doubt that Jalen was BPA and the Spurs would have taken him right after. Kind of surprised he didn't go higher. If he would have had the Terrell Terry agent, he could have gone top 5. (turns out that the Terry hype did not work very well)

Some Jalen Smith comps that I liked were - 1) Jaren Jackson who can rebound. 2) taller Amare who plays defense and has range. 3) David Robinson as a Power Forward (they have skinny legs and high-center of gravity in common). What strikes me is how light and fast he is. He covers a lot of ground quickly which allows him to get those highlight blocks. Love his humility, heart, competitiveness and work ethic. We're going to love watching this kid develop.

Any other comps that you guys like? The Amare one is probably my favorite because I distinctly remember discussions about Amare's lack of D, rebounding and range. Now Jalen isn't as explosive as Amare, but he is taller (longer) and definitely more well rounded.

Agreed with most of that but except the David Robinson bit about having high center of gravity bit.

Robinson is my all time favorite player next to Barkley so I obsessed with him. And Robinson has a short torso build with long legs. He had a relatively lean body and leg area but very muscular arms and shoulders and calves.

Jalen Brown has no calves.... And he has clearly imbalance right now with his build... Robinson was well built all over.

Agreed that Jalen as a Robinson power forward is probably a reach... we could be so lucky. I do wonder what Robinson looked like at age 20? Seem to recall Robinson came out of the Navy at age 25 or so? Anyway, super excited about Smith. Could be a true diamond in the rough for this team. Any other comps out there? Is Anthony Davis a ceiling for Jalen?

[thamadkant]

Posted this on the trade thread, but think it is better served in the Jalen Smith thread...

From a casual fan who reads message board and watches the highlight/breakdowns, I am pumped about the Jalen Smith pick! There is no doubt that Jalen was BPA and the Spurs would have taken him right after. Kind of surprised he didn't go higher. If he would have had the Terrell Terry agent, he could have gone top 5. (turns out that the Terry hype did not work very well)

Some Jalen Smith comps that I liked were - 1) Jaren Jackson who can rebound. 2) taller Amare who plays defense and has range. 3) David Robinson as a Power Forward (they have skinny legs and high-center of gravity in common). What strikes me is how light and fast he is. He covers a lot of ground quickly which allows him to get those highlight blocks. Love his humility, heart, competitiveness and work ethic. We're going to love watching this kid develop.

Any other comps that you guys like? The Amare one is probably my favorite because I distinctly remember discussions about Amare's lack of D, rebounding and range. Now Jalen isn't as explosive as Amare, but he is taller (longer) and definitely more well rounded.

Agreed with most of that but except the David Robinson bit about having high center of gravity bit.

Robinson is my all time favorite player next to Barkley so I obsessed with him. And Robinson has a short torso build with long legs. He had a relatively lean body and leg area but very muscular arms and shoulders and calves.

Jalen Brown has no calves.... And he has clearly imbalance right now with his build... Robinson was well built all over.

Agreed that Jalen as a Robinson power forward is probably a reach... we could be so lucky. I do wonder what Robinson looked like at age 20? Seem to recall Robinson came out of the Navy at age 25 or so? Anyway, super excited about Smith. Could be a true diamond in the rough for this team. Any other comps out there? Is Anthony Davis a ceiling for Jalen?

Robinson entered at around that age maybe 24 years old. He completed his degree and then served in the navy so.

Jalen Smith has the shoulders and arms to be similar to Robinson... But Robinson is just a freak of nature overall.. Just like Dwight and Davis are too... Both have super wide shoulders hence the massive wingspan. Robinson had average width shoulders but just very muscular. He has 7'5 wingspan from the looks of it. Pretty much look at Ayton and imagine him with more pumped up deltoids and arms... And calves and he has closest to Robinson physique... He just needs to wear shorter shorts also

[sunsbg]

Posted this on the trade thread, but think it is better served in the Jalen Smith thread...

From a casual fan who reads message board and watches the highlight/breakdowns, I am pumped about the Jalen Smith pick! There is no doubt that Jalen was BPA and the Spurs would have taken him right after. Kind of surprised he didn't go higher. If he would have had the Terrell Terry agent, he could have gone top 5. (turns out that the Terry hype did not work very well)

Some Jalen Smith comps that I liked were - 1) Jaren Jackson who can rebound. 2) taller Amare who plays defense and has range. 3) David Robinson as a Power Forward (they have skinny legs and high-center of gravity in common). What strikes me is how light and fast he is. He covers a lot of ground quickly which allows him to get those highlight blocks. Love his humility, heart, competitiveness and work ethic. We're going to love watching this kid develop.

Any other comps that you guys like? The Amare one is probably my favorite because I distinctly remember discussions about Amare's lack of D, rebounding and range. Now Jalen isn't as explosive as Amare, but he is taller (longer) and definitely more well rounded.

Agreed with most of that but except the David Robinson bit about having high center of gravity bit.

Robinson is my all time favorite player next to Barkley so I obsessed with him. And Robinson has a short torso build with long legs. He had a relatively lean body and leg area but very muscular arms and shoulders and calves.

Jalen Brown has no calves.... And he has clearly imbalance right now with his build... Robinson was well built all over.

My favorites of the 90's as well.

As for Jalen being anything like Amare - it's absurd, taller Amare with D and range is a guaranteed HOFer. It's not about the skill, it's about the mentality. Amare was labeled 'fierce competitor' in mock drafts and he was trying to destroy everybody even in his rookie year. I don't quite see something similar watching Smith. It would be great if he ends anywhere close to JJJ.

[bhawk]

Thx for the David Robinson color. He was really fun to watch. I remember wishing he was on our team and not the dreaded Spurs. I was just pulling standing reach... Jalen Smith is reported at 9.2 standing reach. Some other notables... Anthony Davis 9.0, Dwight Howard 9.25, DeAndre Ayton 9.3, Marcus Camby 9.3, Shaq 9.5, James Wiseman is 9.6 which is freakish.

[bwgood77]

Posted this on the trade thread, but think it is better served in the Jalen Smith thread...

From a casual fan who reads message board and watches the highlight/breakdowns, I am pumped about the Jalen Smith pick! There is no doubt that Jalen was BPA and the Spurs would have taken him right after. Kind of surprised he didn't go higher. If he would have had the Terrell Terry agent, he could have gone top 5. (turns out that the Terry hype did not work very well)

Some Jalen Smith comps that I liked were - 1) Jaren Jackson who can rebound. 2) taller Amare who plays defense and has range. 3) David Robinson as a Power Forward (they have skinny legs and high-center of gravity in common). What strikes me is how light and fast he is. He covers a lot of ground quickly which allows him to get those highlight blocks. Love his humility, heart, competitiveness and work ethic. We're going to love watching this kid develop.

Any other comps that you guys like? The Amare one is probably my favorite because I distinctly remember discussions about Amare's lack of D, rebounding and range. Now Jalen isn't as explosive as Amare, but he is taller (longer) and definitely more well rounded.

Agreed with most of that but except the David Robinson bit about having high center of gravity bit.

Robinson is my all time favorite player next to Barkley so I obsessed with him. And Robinson has a short torso build with long legs. He had a relatively lean body and leg area but very muscular arms and shoulders and calves.

Jalen Brown has no calves.... And he has clearly imbalance right now with his build... Robinson was well built all over.

Agreed that Jalen as a Robinson power forward is probably a reach... we could be so lucky. I do wonder what Robinson looked like at age 20? Seem to recall Robinson came out of the Navy at age 25 or so? Anyway, super excited about Smith. Could be a true diamond in the rough for this team. Any other comps out there? Is Anthony Davis a ceiling for Jalen?

Best comp ceiling is Ibaka.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Agreed with most of that but except the David Robinson bit about having high center of gravity bit.

Robinson is my all time favorite player next to Barkley so I obsessed with him. And Robinson has a short torso build with long legs. He had a relatively lean body and leg area but very muscular arms and shoulders and calves.

Jalen Brown has no calves.... And he has clearly imbalance right now with his build... Robinson was well built all over.

Agreed that Jalen as a Robinson power forward is probably a reach... we could be so lucky. I do wonder what Robinson looked like at age 20? Seem to recall Robinson came out of the Navy at age 25 or so? Anyway, super excited about Smith. Could be a true diamond in the rough for this team. Any other comps out there? Is Anthony Davis a ceiling for Jalen?

Best comp ceiling is Ibaka.

Maxi Kleber might be a good realistic outcome comp.

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[ImNotMcDiSwear]

The weirdest thing for me about Jalen is... I remember when I was talking to bw about who I would draft #1. I had a friend who thought Haliburton would be our first choice. bw had me on Toppin for a bit. I waffled between Hayes, Ball, Okongwu and those two for a long time. But then... I also considered various scenarios in which one of those guys would drop to #10. I remember wondering, if Toppin or Haliburton or Okongwu were on the board, would I still take Smith? Here I was wondering if those players, who I might take #1, would be my pick at #10 instead of Jalen Smith or maybe Nesmith or Vassell or whomever.

Not shocked there were no trades in the lottery. There was no difference in talent from the front to the back to the back of the lottery. The biggest differences were salary and RFA cap hold. What a wack draft.

Watch out for OKC with Bazley and now Poku. Clearly they're swinging for the fences.