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Jalen Smith news, highlights and other discussion

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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#101 » by oddity » Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:33 am

Those tap outs tho :nod:
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#102 » by oddity » Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:34 am

I think JJJ is a better high end comp than KD. Same build and catch and shoot approach.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#103 » by sunsbg » Sun Nov 22, 2020 12:21 pm

Somewhere between Richaun Holmes with better shooting touch (Holmes shot 40% from 3 his last year in college :o ) and JJJ I guess.
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Re: Suns sign Creighton guard Ty-Shon Alexander 

Post#104 » by Fo-Real » Sun Nov 22, 2020 3:47 pm

I like the dedication to footwork and replicating form on his shot, you can tell he has been coached and put in countless hours toward that. That in its self shows drive and coach ability!!! Anytime you possess these things, you have a high chance at some good results. Good find, good get!!
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#105 » by bwgood77 » Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:07 pm

oddity wrote:I think JJJ is a better high end comp than KD. Same build and catch and shoot approach.


He gets his shot off very quickly and can really move like a wing and then run to a spot, stop, and catch and shoot without much time.

Obviously I don't think he's quite like KD (as agile), though their builds are a bit similar with Jalen having more strength up top.

I was watching this last night which was good and hadn't noticed it earlier because it was the last video in the OP. He compares him some to Myles Turner and JJJ, at least in the first few minutes.

Check out his shot at 3:40 here.

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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#106 » by oddity » Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:14 pm

Spoiler:
bwgood77 wrote:
oddity wrote:I think JJJ is a better high end comp than KD. Same build and catch and shoot approach.


He gets his shot off very quickly and can really move like a wing and then run to a spot, stop, and catch and shoot without much time.

Obviously I don't think he's quite like KD (as agile), though their builds are a bit similar with Jalen having more strength up top.

I was watching this last night which was good and hadn't noticed it earlier because it was the last video in the OP. He compares him some to Myles Turner and JJJ, at least in the first few minutes.

Check out his shot at 3:40 here.



Yeah I mean how can you watch that clip and think that's a 5? Y'know? A big reason for the bad reception to Jalen was that he was typecast as Ayton's backup, but he was actually playing out of positon in Maryland. He even says it in interviews, that there was drama with the centers at Maryland and it forced him to play bigger. Not saying he can't play the 5, but he will eventually be best suited as a 4 imo
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#107 » by thamadkant » Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:32 pm

matt131 wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Read on Twitter



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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.
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Re: Suns sign Creighton guard Ty-Shon Alexander 

Post#108 » by Adrao » Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:43 pm

I love this kind of bets. He's got red flags, obviously, but good strenghs too. I want him scoring triples when Booker rests on the bech.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#109 » by bwgood77 » Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:51 pm

thamadkant wrote:
matt131 wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Read on Twitter



Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app
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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#110 » by bwgood77 » Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:51 pm

thamadkant wrote:
matt131 wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
Read on Twitter



Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app
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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#111 » by thamadkant » Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:26 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
thamadkant wrote:
matt131 wrote: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 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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#112 » by suns12345 » Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:31 pm

thamadkant wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
thamadkant wrote:

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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#113 » by bwgood77 » Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:32 pm

thamadkant wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
thamadkant wrote:

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.
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Re: Suns sign Creighton guard Ty-Shon Alexander 

Post#114 » by Qwigglez » Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:49 am

Hopefully he takes advantage of getting the opportunity to practice daily with CP3. If he's hungry enough he can have a similar story to FVV (going undrafted and getting a huge contract). Not getting my hopes up, but the upside is there.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#115 » by bhawk » Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:13 pm

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. :wink: (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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#116 » by WeekapaugGroove » Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:23 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
thamadkant wrote:
matt131 wrote: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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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#117 » by Qwigglez » Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:41 pm

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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#118 » by darealjuice » Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:03 pm

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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#119 » by Biff » Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:23 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
Biff wrote:
nevetsov wrote: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.
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Re: Welcome Jalen Smith! 

Post#120 » by bwgood77 » Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:26 pm

Biff wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Biff wrote:
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.

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