Jalen Smith news, highlights and other discussion

[RunDogGun]

"and she'll like it too." Not sure if everyone has seen the Nugenix total t commercials around the globe.

[sunskerr]

Jalen Smith looks stronger. Definitely added a couple of pounds.

[Saberestar]

Jalen Smith looks stronger. Definitely added a couple of pounds.

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[Saberestar]

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[bwgood77]

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That steal and fastbreak around 2:50 is really nice. Can't really see Ayton doing that. Good job with anticipation there on defense and running the floor with the dribble.

[matt131]

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That steal and fastbreak around 2:50 is really nice. Can't really see Ayton doing that. Good job with anticipation there on defense and running the floor with the dribble.

Well, I've seen Ayton do that...

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[Qwigglez]

I don't have much to say except I like Smith's 3ball release, it's all in his arms and very mechanical. I would prefer he gets his weight up to around 240lbs which shouldn't be too hard for him to do. I'm still really unsure if he'll be a rotation player this season, but hopefully he gets some more consistent minutes in general as opposed to just the 4 minutes end of game when the Suns were blowing opponents out.

[Saberestar]

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[bwgood77]

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That steal and fastbreak around 2:50 is really nice. Can't really see Ayton doing that. Good job with anticipation there on defense and running the floor with the dribble.

Well, I've seen Ayton do that...

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I guess I remember that...I stand corrected.

[Frank Lee]

My bias will not allow me to see anything but a future Euro leaguer till he proves otherwise in actual game time situations. He also needs a new nickname, unless we want to associate it with his wooden legs running style. May be we should call him StIF because so far he’s one big IF. I don’t se him as a contributor this year, and anyone who plays behind SHANK does not deserve to be in this league anyway. That will be his first benchmark of success, minor as it seems.

Just sign Perry and Mr Anonymous can continue to ‘develop’

[lilfishi22]

Stix needs to become Thix. He's got the tools, just needs to keep building muscle and girth. And obviously work on his 2pt game.

Yep, he needs to get on the roids Giannis is on.

Honestly though, Giannis built is freakish, he has David Robinson like deltoids but difference is Giannis entered the league super skinny and by year 3 he was jacked.

David Robinson entered Navy in college where there is a daily requirement to lift weights, run and basically get in tip-top shape. So Robinson was muscular as a college player already. He got even more jacked when he took that 2 years off to be a Navy officer where again, hitting the gym is a daily thing for members. So Robinson being so jacked by the time he was 23-24 years old entering the league has some sort of logic behind it.

Giannis... he was a stick figure as an 18 year old, where basketball is primarily cardio work out so any gym weight lifting he did would be neutralized by cardio... to develop muscle you need to preserve calories for post-gym recovery so the body uses it to get big. But cardio after gym neutralizes it as calories are expended... but you get stronger and also better heart condition. Giannis getting so jacked in a short time frame while doing cardio is most likely due to high testosterone boost. Now, this can be natural... but unlikely as he would need to dead lift or squat super heavy to force the body to exert testosterone, sure he can be naturally high testosterone but it would have been apparent by the time he was 16 years old... there are 16 year old boys with natural high testosterone and they are BIG bodied and frame, you can tell.
So natural testosterone is unlikely for Giannis.

Second option is... supplements. Boost testosterone by about 300%, means you get muscular super quick if you start lifting. So a 3 month cycle would yield 10-15 pounds of muscle. And to maintain it you would just need to continue lifting heavy... combined with cardio he can maintain muscularity.

So in short... Giannis most likely got unnatural "help" to get his body like that.

We're talking about top 1% of top 1% athletes here. For every thousand regular gym junky that see that kind of change, maybe a handful does so naturally. Giannis is in that 1% of 1% of athletes (not just your average joe) so unless we see a positive test, either he's clean or EVERYONE is on something.

Remember, PED's is not just about growing muscles and the results being observable physically. It can be about being able to train longer, recover faster, increase endurance and increase strength, attributes which a normal looking NBA player like say....TJ McConnell or Steph could benefit significantly from but you won't know just looking at him. Not to mention, Giannis was a stick coming into the draft as a kid who grew up in poverty on maybe one meal a day (or none) and he didn't start to focus on nutrition, weight training or really live a strict athlete lifestyle until he came into the league.

[Saberestar]

My bias will not allow me to see anything but a future Euro leaguer till he proves otherwise in actual game time situations. He also needs a new nickname, unless we want to associate it with his wooden legs running style. May be we should call him StIF because so far he’s one big IF. I don’t se him as a contributor this year, and anyone who plays behind SHANK does not deserve to be in this league anyway. That will be his first benchmark of success, minor as it seems.

Just sign Perry and Mr Anonymous can continue to ‘develop’

He led the Summer League in rebounds with 12.5 per game and he shot 36% from three on a HIGH volume.

I think that he showed to James Jones and Monty Williams that he is ready to contribute in those two areas as early as this season. I really see him on the rotation since the first game.

[bwgood77]

My bias will not allow me to see anything but a future Euro leaguer till he proves otherwise in actual game time situations. He also needs a new nickname, unless we want to associate it with his wooden legs running style. May be we should call him StIF because so far he’s one big IF. I don’t se him as a contributor this year, and anyone who plays behind SHANK does not deserve to be in this league anyway. That will be his first benchmark of success, minor as it seems.

Just sign Perry and Mr Anonymous can continue to ‘develop’

He led the Summer League in rebounds with 12.5 per game and he shot 36% from three on a HIGH volume.

I think that he showed to James Jones and Monty Williams that he is ready to contribute in those two areas as early as this season. I really see him on the rotation since the first game.

Yeah, I think strictly as a spacer and rebounder he is great. A backup 4 for Crowder/Cam with same role and better rebounding. Will suffer some defensively but also would play against reserves.

Or he could work as a backup 5 if we did trade for someone like Young who could play small ball C (and possibly guard 4s on D) while Jalen spread the floor since Thaddeus doesn't have range. Of course we'd have to keep Jalen in a trade for him and maybe deal a later pick, which I'd probably rather not do.

His 2pt% will vastly improve with NBA legit guards/wings getting him good looks. And his defense will obviously improve as well.

[cberry78]

My bias will not allow me to see anything but a future Euro leaguer till he proves otherwise in actual game time situations. He also needs a new nickname, unless we want to associate it with his wooden legs running style. May be we should call him StIF because so far he’s one big IF. I don’t se him as a contributor this year, and anyone who plays behind SHANK does not deserve to be in this league anyway. That will be his first benchmark of success, minor as it seems.

Just sign Perry and Mr Anonymous can continue to ‘develop’

He led the Summer League in rebounds with 12.5 per game and he shot 36% from three on a HIGH volume.

I think that he showed to James Jones and Monty Williams that he is ready to contribute in those two areas as early as this season. I really see him on the rotation since the first game.

Yeah, I think strictly as a spacer and rebounder he is great. A backup 4 for Crowder/Cam with same role and better rebounding. Will suffer some defensively but also would play against reserves.

Or he could work as a backup 5 if we did trade for someone like Young who could play small ball C (and possibly guard 4s on D) while Jalen spread the floor since Thaddeus doesn't have range. Of course we'd have to keep Jalen in a trade for him and maybe deal a later pick, which I'd probably rather not do.

His 2pt% will vastly improve with NBA legit guards/wings getting him good looks. And his defense will obviously improve as well.

A playable Jalen also gives the Suns the option of actually playing somewhat BIG in spurts, with a lineup like:

Payton(6'3)
Book(6'5)
CamJ(6'9)
Jalen(6'10)
DA(6'11) or McGee(7')

All playable, NBA-caliber players, that most importantly wouldn't be playing out of position, and the only real weakness there is Jalen's unproven Defense vs NBA players.

[thamadkant]

Jalen Smith with 15 minutes a game would put up 8 and 5 easily. He is the perfect big next to Ayton because he plays like a PF version of Mikal Bridges.

[Slim Charless]

Bumping this as I hope this recent Stix is our permanent Stix and all he needed was a chance and some freaking minutes.

If this is real then we found someone to play (hopefully) next to Ayton. That would be the next move for Monty to see if these 2 guys can coexist at the same time on the court.

Jalen looks good these last games and if it keeps up then at VERY least he'll be a great trade chip at the deadline.

I'm hoping that this is the new normal and we found our long-term PF though.

[Mr Puddles]

Since the Suns didn't pick up Jalen's rookie team scale option, what does that mean for extending him? even though he'll be an unrestricted free agent do the Suns have (e.g) cap advantages over other teams if we extend him?

[Slim Charless]

Since the Suns didn't pick up Jalen's rookie team scale option, what does that mean for extending him? even though he'll be an unrestricted free agent do the Suns have (e.g) cap advantages over other teams if we extend him?

Good question. I think he'll be a UFA but I'm not 100% sure.

[Saberestar]

Since the Suns didn't pick up Jalen's rookie team scale option, what does that mean for extending him? even though he'll be an unrestricted free agent do the Suns have (e.g) cap advantages over other teams if we extend him?

Good question. I think he'll be a UFA but I'm not 100% sure.

Smith will become an unrestricted free agent during the summer of 2022, two years before his rookie contract normally would have expired and two years after being drafted 10th overall. Phoenix – or whichever team finishes the season with Smith on its roster – won’t be able to offer him a starting salary that exceeds $4,670,160, the amount of his declined option.

So if he keeps playing well and we want to give him a contract we can offer him in the summer a $15M/3 years contract or around that numbers...starting the first year at $4.5M.

Anyone knows for sure if we can offer him that type of deal?

[Frank Lee]

We won’t if we are in taxland..... which all indicators say yes. I could see him at a 2 yr deal for 5 total, but next yr, end of benchers 10-15 are going to be low pay fill ins.


Furthermore, he is playing and at least holding his own against other back ups. These injury forced minutes are just what we/he needed. I do like his stoic demeanor, his effort.... and he makes CamJo’s tippy toe running style look somewhat fluid.