That's literally not true. Why don't you Google 2017 NBA mock draft. Almost every single site had Tatum 3 or 4. Why the hell would the Celtics work out Tatum who's No.8 on the board. Before the draft Tatum was talking about living in Phoenix and stuff and how warm it would be. The reason Celtics traded their pick was because Fultz fked his workout, Lonzo didn't want to be in Boston, and Tatum nailed his
Exactly. Everyone yelled at the Kings for passing on Jaden Ivey because he was higher ranked on a bunch of self-reinforcing/groupthink mock drafts and draft boards that had Ivey as a tier above. Turns out Keegan Murray has been a much better fit for the Kings and what they want to do. The draft is an inexact science obviously but the fact that all of the draft gurus converge their big boards seems to indicate that they're feeding data to themselves rather than tracking an external consensus. From what I've seen of Smith this year i still think it's nuts anybody ever perceived of him as a #1 caliber player. He looks like the definition of a role player even on his good nights
You guys still aren't getting it. You have no idea how this draft will turn out. In fact...can someone tell me which of these players turned out to be the MVP caliber player from the 2017 draft? Donovan Mitchel turned out to be a perennial all-star player to be sure but Tatum turned out to be MUCH better. Every draft multiple times you can do this. Oh and for ***** and giggles, the ROY for that class was none other than BEN SIMMONS. Surely a future super duper star in the NBA, right!? Judging a draft after one season (well, season isn't even done yet lol) is silly. It's beyond silly. No one knows how these guys will develop and as @daywalker02 wisely said, progression is not always linear. Some guys that look good now might not ever add to their game while some of the guys that look bad now might do the opposite. So saying things like the Rockets fumbled the 2022 draft, well that's fine to say as a prediction but acting like it's fact?
Jabari will end up being one of the best players on the Rockets team in a few years. His troubles right now don't come from fumbly hands, non-coordination, brain dead plays and getting pushed around... it comes from inexperience. He seems to have a mindset to keep working on his game every year and with his defensive skills already NBA caliber it won't take long for his shot to follow suit. Once he starts understanding how to position himself on the floor to his spots he'll be a very hard player to defend. I can see him being a 20/10 player within 2 years if the system allows it.
People who think his college shooting was a fluke neglect that he was already a good shooter in high school. It's no fluke. A good shooter doesn't just forget how to shoot. I am pretty sure his current struggle is all mental. Once he's settled down, he'll be good again.
Nobody is saying he will be a shetty shooter after almost dominating the college scene. However, the NBA is vastly superior league. Heck, the league average this year has been 37% from 3. (Jabari 31%) That is saying a ton of roleplayers are shooting 37% which won't be special. Mediocre or bad shooting stretches were contagious on this team during the Harden era. The best shooting season in recent history was one season and that was the year they went to the WC and then they started bricking there.
Jabari is no defensive ace yet, but historically it's pretty rare for a player to be this good defensively as a 19 year old. People really underrate the importance of his defense. It's half the game and as long as he's a net positive offensively (which is a low bar) his overall impact will always be excellent. Decent rebounding and shotblocking too. Better than average passer. Desperately needs a hook shot. I'm starting to see a future for him as a full-on defensive anchor. I think defensively he's more of a PF/C than a SF/PF. We're going to have to build that skill up from scratch though which can take time but he certainly has the attitude and defensive instincts for it. A defensive anchor brings even more value than just your average great defender so that's going to increase his impact tremendously as well. I think it's not the worst thing in the world we're forcing him to get uncomfortable on offense. Getting good at operating without plays off the ball. Getting better at finishing inside. It's important that he gets much better at draining wide open 3's. Hoping to see an upward trend for him after the ASB.
And so we know the Rocket's GM and scouting department didn't do their own homework? We know they went with consensus instead of coming to their own conclusion about Jabari?
Using a 4x all-star player like Donovan Mitchell as your "misleading rookie stat line" guy is probably not ideal? Michael Carter Williams is the poster boy for this. Disappointment with Jabari IMO isn't really based on stats, though they're not great, but he didn't really show flashes of elite athletic ability (by NBA standards) that's supposed to go along with being a possible#1 pick like Paolo, the way he basically looks when he's playing an NBA PG game at 6-9 250 or whatever on day 1. I have no idea what Tatum looked like as a rookie but there's way way more guys who were rookie disappointments who went on to NOT make all NBA teams than there are who were, that's the problem i have with this "they're only 19, you have to wait " argument we usually get here. The non star players were also once 19.
Big boards. I’m talking about big boards. Big boards = prospect rankings from draft experts Mock drafts = predictions how teams will draft based off intel and information they’re hearing Big boards in 2017 had Tatum mostly 4-5: https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2716558-brs-final-2017-nba-draft-big-board.amp.html https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...gs-of-the-top-100-best-players-available/amp/ https://nbadraft.theringer.com/2017/ https://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/06/22/tiered-2017-nba-draft-board/amp/ And that’s what “consensus” means. Where a prospect is ranked overall by the draft community. Draft community had Tatum 4-5 — he was not the consensus 3rd pick. As I said in another post. You can nitpick the Tatum thing all you want. Celtics did it again in 2016 with Jaylen Brown, who was 5-10 on big boards, and they took him 3rd: https://syndication.bleacherreport....wassermans-top-50-prospect-big-board.amp.html https://www.si.com/.amp/nba/2016/06/20/nba-draft-rankings-prospects-ben-simmons-brandon-ingram https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...ankings-go-through-shuffle-after-combine/amp/ Either way, I’m not saying Stone drafted Jabari by consensus. I’m pushing back on someone saying Jabari was consensus, so it’s a defense in Stone’s favor even if he never pans out. That’s BS
Jabari Smith is still 19 years old. He is 4 months younger than Amen Thompson, whom many have as a top 4 pick. Thompson is playing against AAU players, while Jabari is in the NBA. Hard to judge Jabari on one of the worst teams ever with a horrible coach, without a good PG, and without easy plays setting him up for high % shots. Also, he is going to get stronger, have more experience, and improve greatly in the next few years. He shot well in college (42% on 5.5 3s per game) and his FT% is 80%, which means it’s highly likely he can be a good 3 point shooter. He seems to have an alpha personality which potentially may be an issue, but I’d rather have someone that cares and works hard, than a Ben Simmons type. Can he be a star? I’m not sure. But he can be a Mikal Bridges type elite 3/D player at the PF/C spot which is definitely worth a top 5 pick. Memphis tried to trade 4 first round picks for Bridges, so that should show us the value of elite 3/D players. TL;DR - Jabari is 19 and younger than the Thompson twins. Have some damn patience!
May not be you. But some people do question his college shooting. They say he has played more games in the NBA than he did in college, which is true. So they are saying that his NBA shooting is more accurately reflecting his true ability than his college shooting. My point is, he had been a good shooter before he played in college. And his shooting woe is clearly not just because the defense is faster and taller in the NBA, although it probably has some effect. He is missing wide open shots. His history tells me he has the mechanic and touch to be a good shooter. His missing open shots tells me it's primarily not about facing tougher defense.
My mere gripe was that the average NBA shooter has become so proficient at their craft that it's scary.... 37% average If Jabari is starting at 29-30% he better improve fast otherwise I don't see him shooting well for many years. Someone also said in this forum that Jabari could end up being a bench player because he doesn't do many things well enough on Offense inside the paint. We'll see.
Yeah, we'll see. If my optimism is correct, then he will improve dramatically very fast. Durant shot 29% as a rookie and shot 42% his second year. Nowitzki shot 21% as a rookie and shot 38% his second year. Not saying Jababi will turn out to be like those guys. Just saying if a player is a good shooter, he will bounce back quite quickly.
They completely **** on Jabari on this video, implying that he might be a bust. It feels like more people are coming to terms with Jabari…
No we don't. We laugh at the awkwardness of saying Brandon Miller is an elite 3pt shooter when we said the same thing about Jabari, but I quickly made a point to note I still believe in his shot and later say he can be a defensive stopper, and actually think he could be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league
