Jalen Smith Cleared to Return for Struggling Bulls

Jalen Smith and his healing finger are officially cleared for action on Wednesday night. The Chicago Bulls big man is off the injury report and ready to suit up against the New York Knicks.

If you are expecting this to completely reverse the fortunes of a basketball team currently sitting at 1-6, I admire your relentless optimism. Getting a backup power forward back in the rotation is nice, but it is basically slapping a piece of duct tape on a submarine leak.

"Underdog NBA reported Smith is available to play Wednesday."

The Bulls are currently dragging around a league-worst minus-15.4 net rating. They are giving up points faster than a broken ATM, so any warm body with NBA experience is a welcome sight for a coaching staff desperate for answers.

Smith has been a solid contributor when healthy, averaging 9.3 points and 6.2 rebounds during his tenure in Chicago. He will slide right back into his usual role spelling Nikola Vucevic in the frontcourt.

For the normal fan, this is just a minor roster note. For the degenerate group chats and daily fantasy sickos, Smith returning means you have to recalculate those frontcourt rotation minutes before lock. He is not going to swing the point spread by himself, but he absolutely eats into the rebounding props of everyone else on the floor.

We will see how the finger holds up against a physical Knicks front line at Madison Square Garden. If Chicago wants to climb out of the Eastern Conference basement, they need all the depth they can get.