[GAMEPLAY] Can I or can I not smite Shaco Clone boxes?

So I'm playing a game as jungle Vi against a Shaco, and things are going well for my team. We've won a few teamfights (even though the enemy Darius gets a pentakill in this game), and are looking to group up and take the bottom inhibitor. I learned something new earlier in this game, that you can smite Shaco boxes that are deployed by his ultimate's clone upon its death. One smite kills all 3, apparently. But what happens in the video I'm linking here (yes, this is my own channel; no, I'm not fishing for views) may be a bug. I smite the boxes while they're still deploying out of the recently killed clone. My smite does no damage to the boxes, and my team is CC'd. We still won the fight, and it had no impact on the outcome of the game, but it may be something worth looking into. If this IS in fact intentional, please make the boxes untargetable while deploying. It could end up in a wasted Smite charge in other games.

Cheers!