Well it was last night, but it has been inconsistent, as you would expect from a 19 year old rookie. DD
To quote Dallas announcers yesterday: "Jabari is the 3rd overall pick but he's been struggling a bit with his shot." ".........................he's a rookie...."
Effort is never the question. Lack of athleticism is why he'll never be an elite defender. He'll be solid though.
Arguments like the one Sam Fisher made is flawed thinking and I suspect he has never played sports at any level before. The schedule is as is and these guys are professionals expected to play back to backs or whether they are tired or disinterested or any other reasons. The goal at the end of the day is to win and a victory is a victory regardless of any possible explanations or excuses there may be. We should not diminish victories or accomplishments citing excuses without any factual data or information. Wins are tough to come by at the professional level period.
Thats why they drafted him. As i said before soon after the draft I thought the move was to set a precedence to establish a new culture of defense, tenacity, and discipline. The scouts and Stone likely knew that Smith wasn’t offensively talented as Ivey Banchero or Murray but I believe they drafted him for mainly two things: defense and to space the floor with Jalen and KPJ. Rockets have lacked defense past several years so they drafted two tough defensive guys in Smith and Tari. And his floor spacing ability allows slashers like Green or insert future rookie/vet here to attack the rim.
Are you really this ignorant? I gave you all the statistics needed you need to be in the top 3-5% to be considered elite. You can do the research yourself of who fits in that tier. You are starting to look desperate for attention FYI.
Comes with the hype, advertised as elite switch and perimeter defender, close to elite shooter. Dude is making 7 or 8 million as a rookie, if there is no effort he isn't worth that dough. And yeah bigs have a tougher road than guards.
How are we defining athelticism? Not talking mess or anything just want to understand because he looks very athletic. That block he had in the 4th quarter looked pretty good to me.
No you did not. You said Jabari wasn’t an elite shooter then came up with some arbitrary statement saying most college players shoot 41% without any data to back it up. Then you gave an analogy that was incorrect saying Bagwell wasn’t elite because he wasn’t in the hall of fame. I asked you what your definition of elite was. You couldn’t give me it. By your bagwell analogy you are saying that a group of voters decide who is elite and who isn’t. Now you come up with arbitrary number 3-5%. Then you argued with me that I compared the players when I explained to you specifically that I independently mentioned those 4 players since they had success in the NBA without a one on one or much dribble drive game. And you keep focusing on and accusing me of comparing the players and even argued “stoyakovich is nothing like Jabari” when i never even compared their similarities or differences or analytically compared their data or mention any likeness between the two. Then you tell me stoyakovich was a dribble drive guy which is incorrect. Lol you’re a funny dude. You argue with me just to argue it seems, Again we can both agree that the Rockets suck or maybe you will argue this too lol
Of all the great defensive players in the game today, I don't think the majority of them have 'elite' athleticism. Giannis, Holiday, Gobert, Draymond, Smart. Adebayo, Embiid, Jarrett Allen, etc. Of those, I think Giannis is the only one on that list with 'elite' athleticism. Point is, you don't have to be athletic, to be a great defender. Just have to be smart and your mind has to react quickly to an ever-changing situation.
Yeah dunno lol. Sports writers and fans that never played love to use this word which is an oxymoron really since these guys are all athletes lol. You don’t get to the pro level not being athletic lol. I guess these people are saying hes not as athletic as other players lol doesnt make sense to me.
Draymond is actually very “athletic”. Great strength lateral quickness and jumping. He was a football player as well.
Here is the thing, if he doesn't become an all star level player than we blew it. Top 5 picks are supposed to be good to great players, jury is still out, and I am hopeful, but at number 3, we need a star player not a role player. DD
Athleticism is useful on defense only for shot blocking. Lots of elite defenders don't have exceptional athleticism and aren't shotblockers.
Wasn't Shane Battier an elite defender? Neither Bruce Bowen or Marcus Smart strike me as being more athletic than Jabari either.
