Jalen Smith news, highlights and other discussion

[Frank Lee]

I think he’s a swing and a miss.... but there are not too many other bigs taken after that are studding up. (Achiuwa, Stewart, even Poku. Late pick Perry... there’s a few that would help) Obviously now, Halliburton was the prize. Perhaps was a good spot to pick and swap, to glean a late pick/asset.

Smith has been a big no show this yr, and in the limited action fulfills his nickname... but more so from having wooden legs.

We just didn’t get an upgrade. The dude can’t sniff non blow out minutes. And if you compare who we got against who we could have... Jones whiffed badly.

And it just seemed so obvious

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think he’s a swing and a miss.... but there are not too many other bigs taken after that are studding up. (Achiuwa, Stewart, even Poku. Late pick Perry... there’s a few that would help) Obviously now, Halliburton was the prize. Perhaps was a good spot to pick and swap, to glean a late pick/asset.

Smith has been a big no show this yr, and in the limited action fulfills his nickname... but more so from having wooden legs.

We just didn’t get an upgrade. The dude can’t sniff non blow out minutes. And if you compare who we got against who we could have... Jones whiffed badly.

And it just seemed so obvious

I'm not here to argue for Smith, he hasn't played enough for me to have any opinion on him. But you can't compare Poku, it's just such a different situation because if OKC had any desire to win Poku doesn't play at all. They are wisely letting him play through his mistakes and they are many. Princess Achiuwa hasn't been good and has fallen out of the Heats rotation. Beef Stewart has been pretty good but it's a team not trying to win and he's someone people thought was a major reach where he was picked.

Smith wouldn't have been my first choice but I do understand the allure of his floor stretcher on O and rim protector on D skill set. That's a very useful combo. I'm probably not as down on him as some simply because I viewed him as a very raw prospect (both physically and polish wise) so I didn't expect him to do much this year.

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[bwgood77]

I agree. No opinion yet. No rookie is playing heavy minutes for a team with a top 3 record in the conference.

Also, that chart someone showed earlier showed we are mostly barely ahead or barely behind in games and rarely are involved in blowouts.

As I have mentioned before, I think multiple things have impacted his development...now some of this happened with all rookies, but only a few with heavy minutes have started to really flourish, like Haliburton, Edwards and Ball, and to a lesser extent, a few others like Quickley.

Now something that happened with all rookies was not summer league, training camp, etc. One thing that happened to Jalen Smith was an immediate injury not allowing him to practice and being in COVID protocol away from the team for a few weeks.

Then we are a really deep team. Really like 12 deep or so already.

I don't think it's fair to assess him too much yet. If he looks poor next year with a summer league, training camp, maybe less depth, time to work out and work on his game, perhaps less depth on our team next year, then I think you can assess a guy.

I typically don't assess guys on rookie contracts until at least their 2nd year anyway, but maybe even their 3rd. Some guys just simply flourish later. Guys like Sabonis and Oladipo got traded because they didn't show much early...not just to Indy for George, but from Orlando to OKC for an expiring Ibaka.

[cberry78]

Am I the only one that thinks it's extremely short-sighted to write off an NBA draft pick in their first year? I mean, even Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss got more than.....*checks notes*....89 total minutes of NBA playing time before these higher drafted first-round picks were even whispered about being busts. Maybe he just needs more than 4.2 minutes per game of garbage time to begin to show what he might be capable of.

[sunsbg]

Hopefully Jalen can make a jump next season to say Chris Boucher's 3rd season stats. I like to compare those two.

[bwgood77]

Am I the only one that thinks it's extremely short-sighted to write off an NBA draft pick in their first year? I mean, even Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss got more than.....*checks notes*....89 total minutes of NBA playing time before these higher drafted first-round picks were even whispered about being busts. Maybe he just needs more than 4.2 minutes per game of garbage time to begin to show what he might be capable of.

No, I'm sure the majority don't think we should write him off. We've played 60 games, in which maybe 40 he was healthy, and we have super depth and are fighting for a top seed. Not necessarily the best time to integrate rookies.

[lilfishi22]

I don't think having an opinion based on his showing is anything like passing a final judgement. It's more like a progress report. Sure the sample size is small but collectively when you consider his G-league showing and the garbage minutes he's gotten, I think there are some takeaways about where he is. Sure it doesn't say EVERYTHING we need to know about the guy but there's some takeaways

I don't agree with the notion that saying anything negative (or positive, for that matter) is like our final opinion or "writing him off".

[Frank Lee]

Two words... Shank Kiminski... the rook can’t even keep him on the bench, and Shank is superShite.

Not giving Jones a pass on this one... at the very least he could have draft and traded Haliburton, and still got Smith. This was some tunnel vision drafting.

[SlovenianDragon]

I agree. No opinion yet. No rookie is playing heavy minutes for a team with a top 3 record in the conference.

Also, that chart someone showed earlier showed we are mostly barely ahead or barely behind in games and rarely are involved in blowouts.

As I have mentioned before, I think multiple things have impacted his development...now some of this happened with all rookies, but only a few with heavy minutes have started to really flourish, like Haliburton, Edwards and Ball, and to a lesser extent, a few others like Quickley.

Now something that happened with all rookies was not summer league, training camp, etc. One thing that happened to Jalen Smith was an immediate injury not allowing him to practice and being in COVID protocol away from the team for a few weeks.

Then we are a really deep team. Really like 12 deep or so already.

I don't think it's fair to assess him too much yet. If he looks poor next year with a summer league, training camp, maybe less depth, time to work out and work on his game, perhaps less depth on our team next year, then I think you can assess a guy.

I typically don't assess guys on rookie contracts until at least their 2nd year anyway, but maybe even their 3rd. Some guys just simply flourish later. Guys like Sabonis and Oladipo got traded because they didn't show much early...not just to Indy for George, but from Orlando to OKC for an expiring Ibaka.

I see what you did here....

And yes im a man child.

[bwgood77]

I agree. No opinion yet. No rookie is playing heavy minutes for a team with a top 3 record in the conference.

Also, that chart someone showed earlier showed we are mostly barely ahead or barely behind in games and rarely are involved in blowouts.

As I have mentioned before, I think multiple things have impacted his development...now some of this happened with all rookies, but only a few with heavy minutes have started to really flourish, like Haliburton, Edwards and Ball, and to a lesser extent, a few others like Quickley.

Now something that happened with all rookies was not summer league, training camp, etc. One thing that happened to Jalen Smith was an immediate injury not allowing him to practice and being in COVID protocol away from the team for a few weeks.

Then we are a really deep team. Really like 12 deep or so already.

I don't think it's fair to assess him too much yet. If he looks poor next year with a summer league, training camp, maybe less depth, time to work out and work on his game, perhaps less depth on our team next year, then I think you can assess a guy.

I typically don't assess guys on rookie contracts until at least their 2nd year anyway, but maybe even their 3rd. Some guys just simply flourish later. Guys like Sabonis and Oladipo got traded because they didn't show much early...not just to Indy for George, but from Orlando to OKC for an expiring Ibaka.

I see what you did here....

And yes im a man child.

You could have made it simpler and better like...(next post)

[bwgood77]

I agree. No opinion yet. No rookie is playing heavy minutes for a team with a top 3 record in the conference.

Also, that chart someone showed earlier showed we are mostly barely ahead or barely behind in games and rarely are involved in blowouts.

As I have mentioned before, I think multiple things have impacted his development...now some of this happened with all rookies, but only a few with heavy minutes have started to really flourish, like Haliburton, Edwards and Ball, and to a lesser extent, a few others like Quickley.

Now something that happened with all rookies was not summer league, training camp, etc. One thing that happened to Jalen Smith was an immediate injury not allowing him to practice and being in COVID protocol away from the team for a few weeks.

Then we are a really deep team. Really like 12 deep or so already.

I don't think it's fair to assess him too much yet. If he looks poor next year with a summer league, training camp, maybe less depth, time to work out and work on his game, perhaps less depth on our team next year, then I think you can assess a guy.

I typically don't assess guys on rookie contracts until at least their 2nd year anyway, but maybe even their 3rd. Some guys just simply flourish later. Guys like Sabonis and Oladipo got traded because they didn't show much early...not just to Indy for George, but from Orlando to OKC for an expiring Ibaka.

[Bogyo]

I see I'm not the only man with culture around these parts
Good. Feels like home

[Jsbath]

do you see smith being able to play c or pf? Do you think that next season I could play at least as a third center?

He has to gain a lot of weight that I see very thin and I don't know if his body would hold it

if not transfer meat to release cap space

[Ghost of Kleine]

do you see smith being able to play c or pf? Do you think that next season I could play at least as a third center?

He has to gain a lot of weight that I see very thin and I don't know if his body would hold it

if not transfer meat to release cap space

Jalen Smith will absolutely be able to play power forward for us. AND IF he puts on say.............another 20- 25 lbs, He'll become a pretty solid 4/5 3 and D combo big. Alot of people on here seem to want to box a player into a specific position. However, Smith is actually more mobile and fluid than some may realize. Also he's played both as a 4/5 throughout his college career at Maryland. Smith is just a very versatile 4/5 combo forward with nice mobility and solid athleticism. But also with a very nice offensive skillset! Even Monty in an interview had stated the braintrusts' intent to have him eventually replace Saric at the 4. As he considered Smith a more versatile version of Saric ( in time).

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2021/04/19/where-phoenix-suns-rookie-big-man-jalen-smith-should-right-now/7281816002/

That's something that we've talked about is Jalen becoming a more athletic Dario and that's a high goal, if you will, but we feel like with the work he's put in with Coach (Mark) Bryant, he's going to get there someday," Williams continued.

However, I will agree that he can become a pretty solid athletic small ball 5 in a fast paced, up tempo offense in time. Either way, He's easily worth more than the cap space we'd acquire by moving him. If we need more cap flexibility by moving a frontcourt player, We should absolutely look to move Saric this offseason and add more length, rim protection, and actual athleticism. As neither Saric or Kaminsky have NBA level athleticism or consistency to warrant a spot on a potential playoff contender's roster.

[Keith_myath]

Stix extremely unlucky not to make either of the All-Rookie Teams.

[Fo-Real]

Stix extremely unlucky not to make either of the All-Rookie Teams.

How would he?? He didn't play bro!

[RunDogGun]

It was unfortunate that Stix got Covid and had a minor injury. He just never got a chance to get settled in to the team and do anything. We gave him decent minutes in one game and he produced. Hopefully he can do something nice next year.

[Saberestar]

Watch on YouTube

[alamin330]

I think he’s a swing and a miss.... but there are not too many other bigs taken after that are studding up. (Achiuwa, Stewart, even Poku. Late pick Perry... there’s a few that would help) Obviously now, Halliburton was the prize. Perhaps was a good spot to pick and swap, to glean a late pick/asset.

Smith has been a big no show this yr, and in the limited action fulfills his nickname... but more so from having wooden legs.

We just didn’t get an upgrade. The dude can’t sniff non blow out minutes. And if you compare who we got against who we could have... Jones whiffed badly.
And it just seemed so obvious

I’m telling y’all. Drafting is Jones biggest weakness. He might be trying too hard to find Monty Williams type of players. He needs to get the best talent and worry about everything else later. Trade smith now while you still can.

[King4Day]

I think he’s a swing and a miss.... but there are not too many other bigs taken after that are studding up. (Achiuwa, Stewart, even Poku. Late pick Perry... there’s a few that would help) Obviously now, Halliburton was the prize. Perhaps was a good spot to pick and swap, to glean a late pick/asset.

Smith has been a big no show this yr, and in the limited action fulfills his nickname... but more so from having wooden legs.

We just didn’t get an upgrade. The dude can’t sniff non blow out minutes. And if you compare who we got against who we could have... Jones whiffed badly.
And it just seemed so obvious

I’m telling y’all. Drafting is Jones biggest weakness. He might be trying too hard to find Monty Williams type of players. He needs to get the best talent and worry about everything else later. Trade smith now while you still can.

Much as I want to see him develop here, I think I'm on board with moving him if we can get value.
Title window is now, for a few years (with Paul). Smith isn't likely to help us too much. He's just very raw and green. It's OK that he needs time to develop but we need him to help us now.
And the natural worry, as you suggest, is that his value goes down if he doesn't see minutes this year (or even if he does). Don't want to lose that. Let him be another teams project and if he turns into Dirk/Duncan, then you tip your cap and regret later. Lord knows we've had enough regrets in franchise history.