The Bahcesehir star explains how going to the German EuroLeague team helped turn him into the leader he is today
Jaleen Smith: ‘Being at ALBA was like learning basketball all over again’
Player Spotlight
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Jaleen Smith is clearly one of the leaders of Bahcesehir College Istanbul and a big reason why the Turkish club hopes it can win the BKT EuroCup, which would give it a direct spot in next year’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. A major portion of that leadership stems from his move to ALBA Berlin back in 2021 – a massive change during which he admits to struggling to find his game.
Smith has averaged 13.3 points per game as one of four Bahcesehir players in double figures for the team that leads Group A with a very impressive 13-2 record.
“We're pretty good right now. We're achieving what we set out to do, what I thought we could do at the beginning of the season,” Smith told David Hein. “So now we just got to keep it rolling and, keep this momentum going into these last couple of games and also into the playoffs as well.”
The 30-year-old arrived in Istanbul this past offseason and is in his first year in the EuroCup after spending the last three years in the EuroLeague. And he has been impressed with the level.
“It's very fast-paced – maybe a little bit faster than the EuroLeague. It’s a little less physicality than the EuroLeague, but it's still good basketball. And the teams are also ambitious to get to the EuroLeague. They're trying to put their money in to try to get to the EuroLeague for the following season,” said Smith, who suited up for ALBA for two years in the EuroLeague and then for Virtus Segafredo Bologna and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in the 2023-24 campaign.
“Bahcesehir wanted a project to be one of the best Turkish League teams up there with Fenerbahce [Beko Istanbul] and [Anadolu] Efes [Istanbul] and the ambition to go to the EuroLeague. So I came in with a mindset of we're going to try to win the EuroCup, try to win the Turkish League and be a part of a project of getting the team to the EuroLeague.”
Smith remembers well his first season in the EuroLeague back in 2021-22 – the first of his two years with ALBA. He had just won the German League MVP award in his second season with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg. But things did not go so smoothly for Smith in the German capital at first.
Smith was a star for Ludwigsburg as he averaged 15.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals in taking home the top individual honor. But he was playing for a head coach in John Patrick whose whole philosophy is based on defense.
In his first season in Ludwigsburg, which was his first year in the German first division after two years with Heidelberg in the ProA, Smith had a very strong core of teammates including Nick Weiler-Babb, Khadeen Carrington, Marcos Knight and Tanner Leissner.
“John Patrick had a lot of rules. Even guys who didn't really play defense, he even made those guys play defense,” he said. “It was a crazy experience, but it helped me in the future. Now guys that come out of that system, everybody sees them as defensive players because that's how John Patrick is. And that's what he demands out of his players. I think that kind of helped me throughout these last couple of years, just realizing that I'm a defensive guy.”
In his first season there, he was a glue guy who averaged 10.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals. Then after many of the team’s top players left, Smith became the star of the team.
“I ended up showing what I could do without those guys being there, while also being the defensive guy that I am now. So that kind of helped me,” he said.
That offseason he went from Ludwigsburg to ALBA Berlin – the first season in which Israel Gonzalez had taken over for Aito Garcia Reneses.
“It was a complete contrast. ALBA’s offense: run and gun, different defensive rules. It was like night and day,” he remembered. “I think in ALBA, that's where I learned about team ball. Ludwigsburg is more one-on-one and defense, but in ALBA, it's fast-paced, quick shots – if you're open, shoot it. Spanish defense. It was so different, and it was basically like learning basketball all over again.”
Smith averaged 8.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.8 steals for a PIR of 3.2 over the first 20 games in the EuroLeague in 2021-22, but he eventually turned things around and collected 11.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 0.8 steals for a PIR of 10.6 in the final 14 games.
“They brought me in as a ‘1’, but then I started to show my versatility and I moved to the ‘2’. And that's where I really found my shooting stroke.”
The 2021-22 season also ended with Smith helping ALBA secure the German League and German Cup double – his first championships since high school.
“Man, that was awesome. I think that cements you in history that you're a part of a championship team,” he said “It’s an amazing accomplishment. And it's crazy to still think that we won it that year.”
Smith followed that with averages of 11.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the EuroLeague in 2022-23. And then, after six years in Germany, last season saw him move to Virtus. Three months into the season, Smith then upped sticks and joined Partizan.
Despite the move, Smith was one of four EuroLeague players last year to shoot 50% on two-pointers, 40% on three-pointers and 90% on free throws.
“It's great to have that, even through all the adversity and everything that happened: the midseason switch and me going from playing to not playing. It was tough,” he recalls. “I think it just goes to the confidence that I had in myself and the work that I put in just to get to that. I put a lot of time in just to get like numbers like that.”
Now, Smith is not worried at all about his numbers but only winning the EuroCup and using the lessons he learned in his first season in the EuroLeague to get his team to the best league in Europe.