Smart guards don't do stupid stuff like that anymore. It's basketball 101 for Dummies.....DONT F*ING STEP UP FROM 3 TO SHOOT THE WORST EFFICIENT SHOT.....An 18 to 19 ft Lowest PERCENTAGE SHOT in the game!!!!!! It's the opposite of smart and everyone should know this. Why NBA can't stand Wall/Westbrook.
It's still bad. He struggles mightily to finish around the basket, as you can see from the shot chart below. Hell, even TyTy managed to shoot .496 from two despite taking a very similar volume of midrange jumpers and shots in the paint, so that's not the explanation. That's right, TyTy finished in the paint and at the rim better than Jabari. It's a problem he'll need to fix.
Yeah, in the film session video, he almost never showed any post up moves. Most of his attempts around the rim seem to come out of the chaotic necessity of the moment, rather than Auburn's game plan for Smith. I'm interested to see how it differs for him in Houston. Also, the measured way he shoots and the high release of his jumper reminds me of Dirk Nowitzki (and to a lesser extent Patrick Ewing). If he could add some back to the basket moves, he could be at least a Nowitzki lite, but with none of the defensive weaknesses.
His at the rim percentage is actually at 64.7%. He is struggling in the rest of the paint. He had some pretty nice statement dunks, but due to how seldom he drove to the basket (only 13% of his shots were at the rim) and how stacked the paint usually was, there weren't many of them. And I agree, he isn't the player who tries to put others on a poster. But yeah: he does have issues and areas in which he hopefully improves. But the same is true for every player drafted in 2022. (by the way, I got the numbers from here: https://cbbanalytics.com/tools/shot-charts - pretty nice tool to look deeper into a player).
Yeah you are right about the at rim percentage. I'm not sure exactly how they determine if it's at the rim or not, but when looking at his heat map though, there is a lot of blue near the basket. That's the part that is concerning to me. I don't have stats to back this up, but it feels like when guys can't finish inside they never develop that ability. The one and only example of a guy I can think of who really improved that was Tony Parker, who went from being unable to finish inside to being elite at it. Jabari's hot zones are corner foul line jumpers and most of the area from 3. That's not useless, of course. But if guys start closing out on him a ton and force him to put the ball on the floor, will he ever be able to drive the ball (with his poor handle) and score at the basket (with his poor interior finishing)? I hope so.
Jabari can finish, he just seems to prefer not to bang inside. However, there have been quite a few plays where he sneaks in like Wood did for the easy dump off dunk. He can feast on those types of passes from Sengun. The other thing to consider is that Green, KPJ, Tate, KMJ, and Eason all play downhill so often that if they do stick close enough to close out on Jabari, it's just more lane space for them.
The Rockets are going to be a terrific transition team. Eason, KPJ, Jabari and even Green will be getting steals in bunches. Jabari will get plenty of transition dunks. We also should have better half court defense which will allow Sengun and other rebounders to elevate the outlet passing that Wood couldn’t seem to bring himself to do. We also won’t be just taking the ball out of the basket every time down the floor. Now all this only takes place if Silas truly puts more emphasis on defense and has the capability to do so.
Jabari can finish in the paint. The problem with him is whether he can or cannot drive to the paint. I believe with his work ethics (on par with Jalen) that he can overcome the problem and become a much more effective scorer. The way Jabari plays reminds me a little of Dirk and LMA. If he can shoot like those 2, he may never really need to dribble much.
This chart also shows his real weakness the short midrange shot. This is the area where he tried Fadeaways and turnaround shots and he couldn’t convert them at a high rate. But he should be able to improve here as well as he developed some better moves. But to start he should concentrate on threes and not so heavy contested midrange shots.
Which is the average for everyone in college basketball. Considering Jabari is 6'10", there's no way he should be finishing at the average. You've gotta go all the way down to #25 (Blake Wesley) in the draft to find a college player whose percentage was worse. The only other first rounder lower than Jabari was Peyton Watson at #30, and that kid might have the most pitiful shot chart I've ever seen.
See the twitter post above. He’s over 80% when Kessler wasn’t there clogging the lane with his defender. Sengun will not be hanging out at 3 feet all game long - he’ll be at the high post or wing.
Some interesting college numbers I dug on Jabari. He shot overall 41.9% from three (90th percentile) and 43.6% of his total shots were 3's. He is in the 85th percentile of catch and shoot percentage at 41.4% and 83% of these catch and shoot shots were guarded. He hit 65.2% of open catch and shoot shots (100th percentile). 25% of his shots were in the paint and at the rim while 75% of his shots were mid-range or 3's 45.2% FG% on spot up shots (94th percentile). 40% FG% shots off the dribble. He was money on 3 pt wings (shot 48.7% from right wing & 45% from left wing). The Rockets likely drafted Jabari to open up the driving lanes for Jalen and KPJ since teams have to guard him at the wings. He can play off ball as well coming off flares etc. Interesting is Klay Thompson’s numbers his Freshman year was very similar to Jabari’s (.421 FG%, .427 2P%, and .412 3P%). He also had issues with handles and going to the rim but improved on this through the years. Jabari can play off ball and if he can improve on this and his handles to drive to the paint more he could be very effective and have a very good career similar to Thompson’s.
