Not far from it. Reminds me of Shawn Bradley's legs, only with a far more disproportionate upper body to support. I am now as concerned with injury as I am with effectiveness.
Jalen Smith
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Not far from it. Reminds me of Shawn Bradley's legs, only with a far more disproportionate upper body to support. I am now as concerned with injury as I am with effectiveness.
JCSunsfan
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Charles wasn't all that built in his upper body. But you are right about the legs and glutes. He said that as a teen he would do side hops every day over a 3-foot fence in his back yard.
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That second picture is Tyson Chandler.
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That's Chandler? It's a wonder HE didn't get hurt, then.
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Pre-season impression of Stix:
He's a project. I like his confidence on offense, he isn't afraid to shoot the 3 but he needs to improve his percentage. He isn't afraid to drive either and he almost always draws a foul. He needs to improve his lower body strength greatly to be able to finish drives. He doesn't have the power to explode upward after contact, forcing him to play smaller than he is.
Defensively he needs a LOT of work. His hips are pretty stiff and his lateral agility is almost non existent. He is better suited to defend near the rim than the perimeter, but he's not big or strong enough yet.
I hope he proves me wrong but I don't see him being a real contributor for a few years.
He's a project. I like his confidence on offense, he isn't afraid to shoot the 3 but he needs to improve his percentage. He isn't afraid to drive either and he almost always draws a foul. He needs to improve his lower body strength greatly to be able to finish drives. He doesn't have the power to explode upward after contact, forcing him to play smaller than he is.
Defensively he needs a LOT of work. His hips are pretty stiff and his lateral agility is almost non existent. He is better suited to defend near the rim than the perimeter, but he's not big or strong enough yet.
I hope he proves me wrong but I don't see him being a real contributor for a few years.
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If the Suns wanted an immediate contributor at power forward Achiuwa might have been the better pick. He already has the NBA body. Jalen has more skills and may be the better player long term. Suns will have to be patient with him.
As a fan of his, I said this from the beginning. He has a lot of long term potential, but he has a lot of developing to do, including at the most basic physical level, and he is at least 2 years away from being a reliable contributor to an NBA rotation. He really shouldn't get more than 8-10 minutes per game as a back-up to Ayton. We should also consider using spot #15 on the roster for more interior depth.
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Point guard Cam Payne is #15.
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Really like this kid’s aggression on the court, but it’s going to take a while for him to catch up to the speed and size of the game. Even more so because of the accelerated season and no summer league long training camp.
CardsSunsDbacks
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I don't think they will need a whole lot from him this year with Crowder, Saric and Cam getting most of the 4/backup 5 minutes. Anything he can provide will really just be icing on the cake.
Ouchie-Z-Clown
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Agreed, and thank goodness cause he isn’t close to being ready. Everything looks rushed or hesitant, no in between which comes with confidence and calm. I really have no idea if he’s going to be a good player at this point because the only thing we know for sure is he’s aggressive. He hasn’t shown any other ability at the nba level at this point.
edit: he shows some promise as a rebounder
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He has shown NBA rebounding ability.
Ouchie-Z-Clown
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Ha I just edited to add that.
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In addition to rebounding another thing Jalen Smith can do well is block shots. He blocked one and almost blocked another.
Suns fans have always wanted a shot blocker and they have one here.
Also Jalen is an excellent shooter. It's all about confidence right now but he can flat out shoot.
What we have seen from him so far does not indicate how well he will shoot once he gets comfortable.
Suns fans have always wanted a shot blocker and they have one here.
Also Jalen is an excellent shooter. It's all about confidence right now but he can flat out shoot.
What we have seen from him so far does not indicate how well he will shoot once he gets comfortable.
Ouchie-Z-Clown
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Not ready to anoint him a shotblocker yet. He has 2 in 4 games.
and not be snarky, but how does one “almost” block a shot? You either do or don’t.
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bridges was an “excellent” shooter in college as well and has been average at best in the pros.
until guys show their shooting translates to the speed and spacing of an NBA game, I take a wait and see attitude towards anointing anyone a shooter, much less an excellent one.
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Jalen came over and almost blocked a shot near the rim. He darn near got it. I'm sure he will get more than his share of weak side blocks where the shooter doesn't have a clue he is coming over to help.
In his sophomore season he average 2.4 blocks a game.
Also Jalen has some serious hops to go with a 7'2.25'' wingspan and a 9'2.00'' standing reach.
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IMO, someone messed with Bridges shot once he got to the NBA. There is even some video out there which seems to hint at it.
Yup. Igor Kokoskov.
Ouchie-Z-Clown
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He may have almost blocked a shot, but he didn’t. Coming close is no different than not coming close at all of the result is the same. What if the majority of his block attempts are almosts instead of actual blocks? It means he’s not a shotblocker. He was in college, but as I said in the thread about him as a prospect, I don’t think he has the quick twitch necessary to be a consistent shotblocker at the nba level. Close just doesn’t count. We’ll see.
and when a player is going into their third year you can forget what they did in college because that no longer matters. So bridges’ shooting in college is really immaterial at this point.
When I went to summer league, man his shot was a lot smoother and quick. Then came the season and his shooting woes during his rookie season.
I'm not sure who's responsible, but he developed what looks like a double hitch. He always went left to right when bringing the ball up, but there was no hitch in college.
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Is it just me or is Bridges hitch completely gone... again. He looked smooth against the Mavs tonight.
