Bulls big Jalen Smith has found his way and the numbers are eye popping

NEW YORK – It was a look that Billy Donovan admittedly would have leaned on last season.

The Bulls coach would have loved to go at bigger teams with a two-big lineup of his own, especially after Zach Collins was acquired just before the trade deadline.

There was one issue: Jalen Smith wasn’t exactly a willing participant.

It wasn’t that Smith wouldn’t do it. But every time he was out there it just wasn’t working. Smith with Collins, Smith with Nikola Vucevic, Smith just out there as the lone big, too many empty minutes from a veteran that the Bulls were excited to pluck out of free agency months earlier.

That’s how Smith found himself as a key rotation piece out of the gate for the 2025-26 campaign to an end of the bench guy that was in and out of the backend of the rotation by last April. Not what anyone saw coming.

That also forced Smith to get back in the lab last summer.

“Lots of times last year when they threw me out there, I wasn’t being impactful,” Smith said. “I was getting targeted a lot, I wasn’t rebounding, I wasn’t really doing anything to help the team, and this year my main goal coming in was to try and do whatever I can to stay on the court. If I gotta rebound, I gotta rebound, if I’ve gotta block shots, I block shots.

“It’s about being ready at any point and time, but really I felt my preparation this summer with the player development (coaches) helped out a lot. We worked on a lot of different situations, playing the four and the five with the main goal just coming in and trying to impact the game as much as possible. Try to be overall a consistent player for the team and to try and help them win. They’ve trusted me and now I’ve just got to continue.”

He better.

As good as Smith has been off the bench this season, the Bulls are still a 19-22 team, trapped in play-in mediocrity. There are a lot of reasons why, but Smith – who goes by “Stix” – isn’t one of them.

His 18.7 minutes per game are the most he’s played since 2022-23 with Indiana, he’s averaging 9.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game when he is out there, and he’s tied for third on the team with charges drawn. Whatever it takes to make an impact.

But those aren’t the numbers that tell the real story.

Last season, Smith finished the year minus-36 in plus/minus. Not only does he lead the Bulls in that category through 41 games this year, but few are even close to his plus-61. There are only three players on the roster even on the plus side, with Collins a plus-18 and then Coby White a plus-10.

That’s impact.

“He’s been great for us honestly,” Vucevic said. “Playing the four, playing at the five, different situations, different positions. He’s done a great job for us protecting the paint, rebounding the ball as well, bringing us some physicality. I’ve enjoyed being out on the court with him. I think our two-big lineup helps us, and I think we have good chemistry. Yeah, he’s been doing a lot for us. When ‘Stix’ plays that way and he’s aggressive it makes us a much better team.”

It also gives the front office some depth. Not just on the court, but if executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas decides to pull the trigger on a deal. What if the Vucevic to Golden State momentum starts back up? What if a team makes a play for Collins and his expiring contract in a package?

Smith has shown enough this season to be a bridge guy in either scenario.

“At the end of the day it’s about how do I stand out with the four other guys I’m playing with,” Smith added. “It’s doing what it takes to stay out there.”