After Josh Giddey went down with an injury, fans wondered who was going to step up and be the most impactful Bull. Matas Buzelis started a seven-game 15-point scoring streak; Nikola Vucevic has been the team’s leading scorer; Tre Jones has filled in for Giddey’s playmaking, but the most important player has been Jalen Smith.
Bulls Lose Without Smith
Both Giddey and Coby White were injured against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Most people thought that was the end of their season; they’d be sellers at the trade deadline, tank for the draft, and focus on the development of Buzelis as the No. 1 option.
Chicago is 5-4 in the games since Giddey’s injury, unsurprisingly still mediocre. However, two of those losses occurred when Smith missed games due to a concussion.
A more interesting fact is that when assessing Smith’s absences across the whole season, the Bulls are 0-7 when Smith does not play. Chicago is 9-12 in games White has missed this season, and 5-5 when Giddey hasn’t played. So what makes a bench center so important?
Smith boosts the Bulls’ net rating by +14.2 when he is on the court, compared to when he is off the court. He has been Chicago’s best defender this season. He is second on the team in blocks despite playing half as many minutes as Buzelis and Vucevic.
Smith hasn’t finished a game with a negative +/- since Giddey has been out. In fact, he’s the team’s leader in +/-, and one of only three Bulls with a positive one. The Bulls are not just better with Smith on the court, but better than their opponents.
Double Big Lineups
Another reason why Smith is so impactful is his versatility. Chicago’s two other big men are Vucevic, who is a great post player and passer, and Zach Collins, a great rim runner and hustle player. Smith is the best shooter and most athletic of the two, allowing him to thrive in double big lineups as the four. Double-big lineups helped the Bulls go on a five-game win streak earlier in the season when all three centers were healthy.
When the Bulls played the Nets on Jan. 16, Billy Donovan went with a double-big lineup down six with one minute left in the game. The Bulls forced three straight turnovers and scored seven straight points to take the lead with 10 seconds left. Donovan then took Smith out of the game, and the Nets ended up winning.
Double-big lineups have allowed Buzelis to play his natural position of small forward. As mentioned before, Buzelis scored 15+ points in the first seven games of Giddey’s absence. Part of that is due to an opening in shot attempts without Giddey, but most of it is due to him playing the three.
Buzelis is averaging 18.0 points per game without Giddey. In the games where Smith plays 20+ minutes, he averages 18.5 points; that number drops to 17.0 when Smith doesn’t reach 20 minutes.
White returned to the starting lineup against the Jazz. Smith came off the bench and played zero minutes at power forward. Buzelis scored only seven points, breaking his streak of scoring 15+.
Correlation does not always equal causation, but Buzelis has had his best games this season when the Bulls implemented double-big lineups. Buzelis scored 20+ in two games in a row, including his season high of 28, during the aforementioned five-game win streak.
The Bulls are better with Smith on the court. Buzelis is better with Smith on the court. Chicago can’t win in games that Smith doesn’t play.
Smith has been the Bulls’ most important player with Giddey hurt, and has an impact beyond the stat sheet.
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