You are simplifying a bit lol. Smith’s skillset is more varied including a post game, attacking from the elbows and pull up jumpers. He just hasn’t shown he can do it consistently at the pro level. PJ never had these skills…ever.
To add to your point: 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). 45.2% FG% on spot up shots (94th percentile). He was money on 3 pt wings (shot 48.7% from right wing & 45% from left wing). Lol love it when people come up with arguments not based on data.
Yeah he isn’t getting the ball in his spots which are the elbows, wings, and low block. They don’t run pick and pop with him either. Theres a lot you can do with him but night in night out you see dumb ass KPJ running amok Holding holding holding the ball. The team has to communicate and learn each other. Coach has to game plan to their strengths.
Yeah I personally liked Murray and envisioned an Ivey Green backcourt that would have been the most electrifying back court in the country. But Smith is interesting and if he focuses on his game and plays within it and the team dynamic he will be fine. Just needs to be more aggressive in the half court and work on driving to the paint and finishing. I think that will open up his shooting. Rockets need to feed him at his spots (elbows wings and mow block). Hopefully it all comes together.
Mobley was help with the season point guard Rubio before he got hurt. Rubio always place or gave him the ball we’re he was most comfortable. If Mobley had a seasoned point guard and prosper last year, then Jabari needs that seasoned point guard as well. Honestly, I believe Jabari is a better player overall than Mobley.
His handles were much better than Jabari's and he had a way better first step to drive by his opponent, better finishing and separation by far to take his guy off the dribble. You guys really need to stop it with the Klay comparisons, it's just not how it was and Jabari looks much less developed & athletic.
Based on what exactly? Mobley has always had a much more well-rounded skill package. Way better handles than Jabari and a variety to score that Jabari doesn't have anyhow atm. Plus Mobley is one of the better defenders in the league.
Gosh, there's so much money to be made off Rockets' fans stupid projections of our own players. They've gone deep into a reverse homerism. How can Rockets fans be more negative than non-Rockets fans when the default is supposedly to be a homer? No one on earth holds a more negative opinion than some of you, how can that be realism? Think about it. How can the most negative projection be realistic? Ask yourself how come you believe you're being realistic and practically no one on the planet holds a more negative projection?
Do you even know what you watched in those clips? What separation are you talking about? Did you even watch him in college? It was even in his scouting report coming out if college that his handles needed improvement and finishing at the rim was not his strong point. Most of his drives were either he had an open lane or he drove on a scrambling defender which he has done his entire career including the NBA. He was never a one on one dribble drive guy. I never said him and Jabari were exactly the same. I said their stats in their freshman year were similar and that Thompson was not great but improved his dribble drive in his 3 years at Washington State. And my point Is if he could do it Jabari can. And you act like Jabari has never driven to the rim on opponents before. Please know what you are talking about before trying to disprove me with silly clips on youtube that doesn’t even tell the complete picture.
Before he learns how to take people off the dribble and finish, both parts of which he looks uncomfortable, how about we first just teach him to use his length to get some easy points in the paint. All he has to do is take a short fadeaway which we know he has and add some physicality to get the position for that shot. This gives him another 6 points a night and he'll be in position for dump offs and offensive boards too. Keep it simple. Then we can get him going to the basket and to the line later. My thing is we have to get him off that three-point line as soon as possible.
Bro using Jabari aint exactly rocket science. He is extremely limited ans can really be used as a C&S spacer. Everyone knew that. Problem is he is a garbage spacer averaging 43% TS. If you are horrible at your job its not the Rox fault its your fault for being such a bricklayer. I think Jabari needs a reset of sorts, maybe the Rox can shut him down by saying he has an injury but secretly lock him in the basement and have him shoot 3s till his groove and confidence comes back. If you look at Jalen it was the same thing he only started getting better after he got injured and had some time off to reset his game and mindset.
Thats the issue he plays soft lots of times. Can you teach a guy not to be soft? I dunno man thats gotta be a personality change or something.
taking people off the dribble shouldn’t be his focus. That’s not his game and will never be his game. You don’t play a whole style your whole life then somehow amazingly transform into a dribble drive guy especially at this pro level. He can improve his handles with certain workouts and he could improve his agressiveness getting to the rim. This he could work on. And as I mentioned Klay was never a dribble drive guy. I imagine Jabari being similar in driving when he has an open lane or when defender slacks off or when he has a defender scrambling on his heels. He could also develop his post game.
Mobley is more of a big .. he was supposed to make an immediate impact with his tools as bigs usually do in making the leap vs wings/guards. He was painted as a unicorn early. A guy who could be a two way force, but his strengths were always going to translate quicker than a wing player like Jabari. You could see it in the discussions last year as the Mobley Mob were taking early victory laps and ridiculing Jalen and the Rockets for selecting him. Jabari is a supersized wing player. He is not a big. Asking him to mix it up in the paint will be something he has to work on. Adding a consistent dribble package another. What he WAS supposed to help immediately with was making 3 point shots on a team that shoots a ton of 3s. He's getting the looks. He's not being frozen out. He's just missing. He's getting muscled on defense and hasnt been the "locksmith" everyone expected of him off top. I feel he will get better at adjusting to NBA speed and distance and should at the very least become a solid 3&D guy, but he hasnt flashed any 'star status' type play yet. If he was hitting his shots the numbers would at least look sexy enough to mask all the other areas and it wouldnt look so bad, but it is what it is.
31% FG 29% 3pt -141 on the season so far Don’t make excuses. Don’t be mad at me. Be upset at his poor play/shooting.
I guess sorry that there are not more clips available nowadays, but that still doesn't change anything. Even if you say those handles and separation Klay had "needed improvement" or that finishing wasn't his "strong point", it still was much better than Jabari is now and has shown at Auburn. So many here acting like Klay or Kawhi played like stiff bums without real handles and it's just not true.
What are my beliefs? Do you even know what they are? I spoke the truth, Smith has never been an elite 3 point shooter.
funnily enoug it was Mobley's dad that didn't want his son to play with KPJ per rumor before the draft.
