NBA Draft: Grading every first-round pick after rookie year

NBA Draft: Grading every first-round pick after rookie year: 10. Jalen Smith

Stats: 

• 2 points
• 1.4 rebounds
• 0.2 blocks

There are a ton of great things that you can point to for the resurgence of the Phoenix Suns. They successfully went from perpetual laughing stocks to one of the best teams in the league. They had multiple players make the All-Star game for the first time since the Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire days. Even more impressively, they found a way to take down LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs this past season.

In spite of all of those superlative words used to describe them, they made a huge mistake in drafting Maryland center Jalen Smith with the 10th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

The team already had a long list of big men and didn’t need another one. Deandre Ayton has become one of the best young bigs in the league. When the coaching staff is tired of him banging down low and want to switch things up, they often turn to Frank Kaminsky or Dario Saric to provide some outside shooting. Simply put, Smith was never needed and his lack of playing time shows that they wasted a draft pick on him.

Smith has no offensive game whatsoever. He’s more of a defender, rim protector and lob catcher. Of all of the first-round picks, his 5.8 minutes per game ranks dead last. It comes as no surprise that Smith’s numbers are horrendous as he barely gets on the floor. 2.0 points and 1.4 rebounds are the results.

With that said, even when the Suns assigned him to the Agua Caliente Clippers, he still didn’t shine. Under normal circumstances, a G League trip gives a high draft pick an opportunity to play and show that they have the potential to be a great player. Yet, when it came to Smith, he only averaged 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds.

At this point in time, it appears as though Smith just isn’t NBA material. He may not even be G League material either.

Grade: F