Bulls young player who deserves more minutes
12/09/2024 04:34 PM
The Chicago Bulls have struggled in 2024-2025, owning a 10-15 record through their first 25 games. In his fifth year with the team, Billy Donovan is in danger of ending the year below .500 for the fourth time despite all the talented young players on his roster.
With an average age of 25.14, the Bulls have the ninth-youngest roster in the league. However, having lost in the play-in tournament the previous two seasons, their current roster seemingly cannot get over the hump in the Eastern Conference.
Continuing the narrative in Chicago under Donovan, the Bulls’ biggest liability has come on defense. Through 25 games, they are tied with the Washington Wizards for worst in the league in points allowed, ceding an average of 123 points per game to opponents. Most of those points have been in the paint, where they are dead last, allowing 57.8 points per game on the interior.
Some of that blame has been placed on Nikola Vucevic, whose 116.6 defensive rating is a few notches below the league average. The Bulls allow 19 points per game to opposing centers — Vucevic’s direct matchup — tied with the Denver Nuggets for the most in the league.
However, size has also been an issue. Typically starting 6-foot-8 Patrick Williams at power forward, the Bulls are often undersized across the board and particularly on the block. Vucevic’s backup, Jalen Smith, gives Chicago a different look with more versatility and athleticism. Smith is not going to supplant Vucevic in the starting lineup but Donovan needs to get him on the court more, even if it means playing the two big men together.
Why Jalen Smith deserves more minutes for the Bulls
As a former lottery pick in 2020, Smith has not turned into the player some had hoped he would be. However, throughout his five-year career, he has remained a reliable rotational piece and is coming off one of the best years of his career with the Indiana Pacers in 2023-2024.
On a roster with just four true big men, Smith is hands-down the most athletic and versatile of the group. The same roster allowing the most points in the paint in the NBA have the best defensive rating when Smith is on the court than any of their other options down low.
Smith is not the type of switchable defender that Bam Adebayo or Draymond Green are, but his athleticism and quickness does allow him to potentially start alongside Vucevic. He isn’t the world’s greatest defender, but for a Bulls team struggling as much a they currently are, just his size and mobility are enough to make an impact.
Offensively, Smith is not Vucevic, but provides a different look that benefits the slashing play styles of Zach LaVine and Coby White. Smith can stretch the floor but is his most effective as a rim runner in pick-and-roll sets, something that Vucevic is not.
One way or another, Smith is currently the Bulls’ best young player who deserves more minutes. On a team as young as this one, it is often easy to forget how young he still is. Chicago’s fourth-best offensive lineup is one that involves Smith on the floor with LaVine, White, Williams and Juian Phillips, per NBA Stats.
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