There just aren't very many big players who developed a good handle, period. It's just very difficult. If you can dribble like a guard in a 7 ft body, you are a unicorn. I have no idea what Jabari's dad told him. I suspect that dad probably saw that Jabari wasn't exceptionally athletic or powerful (by NBA standard), he thought getting him to do fancy dunking wouldn't give him a meal ticket. Shooting is a skill that depends least on athletic abilities. Shooters age better than athletic freaks. Maybe @daywalker02 is right. If he worked more on his rim game, he would have a better chance to stardom. I still don't believe that a guy who shoots well all his life would suddenly lose the touch. That's why I brought up his high school and college stats. It's not like Jabari can't get off a clean shot in the NBA. He had plenty of open look and missed. So it's not about the speed. I think it is more mental. Once he gets back his confidence, he will make more shots.
Jabari is a Star, most people love Mobley but Jabari is far superior on the offense side and their defense are the same. If you watch the Cavs play, Mobley makes points on alley hoops, crafty passes for a layups and rebounds for points. He has no offense. Jabari needs to get out of his shooting slump, but he is going to be a great player.
Kawhi Leonard, Giannis, Paul George, Klay Thompson, Lauri Markannen, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Pascal Siakam, Zach Lavine, Al Horford, Blake Griffin and many many more players materially improved their handle after they joined the NBA. All of these players expanded their opportunity to make plays for themselves and their teammates by improving their handle. It is rare, but certainly not unheard of. I don't think it's really that important to Jabari. Give me 40% on 10 3PA plus transition and hustle points and we're good. Expand the mid range and post jumpers and hook shots over time. The offense will be designed around some player who can get to the rim 10 times a game anyway. Jabari is more in the mold of a Steph Curry. Defenders are going to be chasing him through multiple screens and he's going to rise up and take the shot in an instant. It's a blessing to have that type of player as your second or third star, makes them complimentary with your top scorer. People always figure out how to complain about a blessing don't they.
I didn't want to give up on him yet but it is safe to say the Rockets won't become the Warriors, at least the Championship Worriers and Bari won't be Curry. Part of his 3s are at the end of the shot lock, heat checks. If you are a basketball parent, teach the kids fundamentals, I'd rather develop more Duncans. From Moreyball to 5 Out. What a decade it has been.
He is already entitled in his 1st year, I bet he believes that stuff too. He feels he can play Head Honcho and snap at anyone.
Perhaps this was brought up earlier in this thread and I missed it but I wonder if he is just still adjusting to 3 point line being slightly farther back in the pros?
You could never go wrong with fundamentals, FT shooting, drawing fouls, plain layups, midrange, handling the ball. Eurostepping.
It shouldn't surprise you if kids shoot pedestrian percentages in their first two three years. You don't have to make it about Banchero and Smith Jr. They did the draft, now they are separate entities. Bari got nothing else in his Offense bag other than shooting, that's the main problem.
That's just your preference of the game. I don't blame his parents for trying to mold him to fit into the current era. Being able to shoot 3, no matter your size, is a sure meal ticket to the NBA. The post game is not as valued as the long shot, whether it is fair or whether you like it. If Duncan had his prime now, he would probably attempt to develop a 3. Look at Embiid. The dude could dominate just by being a low post player. But he shoots the 3 too. Now look at Sengun. Yeah, Silas is dumb for not using him correctly. But it's a testement how the game has changed. An efficient post scorer would have been highly valued 20 years ago. Now he has to be able to shoot from outside to be a star.
If you watch the history of the game, all the Championship teams have multiple fundamentally sound players and GSW had the best overall package of team, management, ownership. Stone hasn't shown he cares about styles. You have a version of LaVine and Booker in Green, you have a homeless version of Rashard Lewis in Jabari, you have a poor version of a triple threat in Porter, you have a Mini Jokic, you have a Corey Brewer meets Tayshaun Prince in Tari, you got a dunking wonder in Kenyon Jr...... A static, pulling 3s from the mid court fun loving Eric. 100 of different player types which makes it interesting.
Why are we harping on inefficiency? Yes he was inefficient but that really has nothing to do with the actual discussion. As for Smith do you think he is going to accept not getting the Max after being the #3? Can you name any top 5 player who accepted less with the same team? Yes you can trade them or release them and that would make them a bust which is my point even with all of Wiggins inefficiency he was still a valuable player and way better than Smith.
To the folk who are big mad at Jabari right now....who in the class should we have drafted instead with the 3rd pick? Murray? Mathurin?
All of those players came in the league with a workable handle and got better over time. I don’t think Jabari’s handle is as polished as any of those players coming into the league. I will agree that it’s not that important. He does however need to know what to do on a fast break. He seems completely lost. Either run to the corner or learn to finish inside. The decision making in those moments are very poor especially when he’s initiating the break. I haven’t seen enough to indicate Jabari is a motion shooter. Maybe it’s on Silas. I just don’t see him running through screens or any kind of offball movement. He’s just standing in the corner. Steph and Klay are elite at moving off ball I just haven’t seen that at all from Jabari. One thing Silas should clearly do more is get him the ball in the high post. He reminds me a little of Aldridge from that spot. The problem is, this isn’t the early 2000’s and players generally don’t need the ball in their “spots” to generate offense. Especially from midrange. At any rate I hope you are right, we all do, but nothing is guaranteed and my point is that relying on speculation of what a player might be 40 games into a season isn’t ideal. I’m still hoping for the best
How the heck can anybody who have watched both Smith and Banchero play claim they don't know who will be the better scorer? It's much easier to raise your 3 point shooting percentage than creating an entire new bag of offensive abilities. Even if Smith gets up to shooting 42% Banchero will still be a better scorer or do you think Smith could be a better scorer than Giannis?
Who is big mad at Jabari? Its amazing how you all keep creating these strawmen and yeah its posssible we should have drafted Mathurin or Murray its something to keep an eye on. Have you seen what Murray is doing lately and he is shooting much better than Smith. He just got rookie of the month.
It’d be so much easier to root for our Jabroni if some dipshiit posters didn’t insist on him being a star and a blessing and the second coming of motherfcking Kevin Garnett.
We can nitpick at any list, but all of those players improved their handle 20-50% and especially Kawhi is a tremendous example of just how much you can improve your handle if you work hard. I'm not sure if you're saying Jabari can't shoot off motion or that Silas hasn't put him in the position. In college, he was doing it fairly often. His height makes it so that he doesn't need to run around as much as Curry. He can shoot over most players with a tiny bit of space. I too hope Silas starts implementing this. Pretty obvious to me he's exactly that type of player, but as far as NBA goes that's still speculation and he's only just adjusted to the NBA 3pt line. I wouldn't worry man. Players who are good defenders, have a high work ethic and have a useful offensive skill always work out in the NBA. Nothing is guaranteed, but some things are more guaranteed than others.
Jabari shot an incredible % of shots under duress in college. It’s one of the things most intriguing about him. The question still remains if he can do the same thing over NBA length. I’m not entirely convinced but hopeful. Regarding Keegan Murray, I’d much rather bet on Jabari’s potential being that he is 3-4 years younger. I’m not even too skeptical that he can reach a good ceiling. The problem with young projects is that oftentimes things start to really click or they start to hit their ceiling on their second contract or heaven forbid second team. That’s what is scary to me about projects. You don’t really get that rookie deal value which is important considering we should be competitive next year. I don’t want to develop a player and then watch him flourish on another team when he hits his prime. That happens all the time in the NBA
