Which is why most teams try to avoid being in a tanking situation. It's hard to build from nothing, the draft has a lot of disappointments unless you're very lucky. It's too bad Jabari didn't come in and light the league on fire as a 19 year old rookie, that would've been great, but it's not surprising that he's having growing pains and it doesn't necessarily mean he won't put it together.
Kid has seriously limitations that he can't overcome unfortunately. Even if he becomes .35-37 behind the arc he'll still be very limited. Kid can't dribble with the ball it's terrible. There are a lot of factors that make him a terrible NBA player not just his inability to shoot atm. If starts hitting 3's it's great i'll take it but i don't expect much from him.
You don’t think he can learn to dribble better? That is the definition of a limitation that can be overcome.
Wouldn't any trade have been voided anyway given the catastrophic state of his knees, seeing how the teams would've done a medical before greenlighting a deal? Not saying that to defend him, just wondering because I always see the narrative.
Said before the draft that him, Paolo and Keegan were my favourite players. Crazy how teams and scouts talk down players with a very mature allround game and little weaknesses (they talked his slow lateral speed to death), while pushing someone like Jabari with extremely visible flaws and a one-dimensional game to consensus #1. The obsession with potential 3&d and athleticism has really clouded the scouting process.
It can be learn yes. Though not by him imo. Not everyone is capable of overcoming his limitations. Kid is just naturally not skilled enough. I don't think i'll ever be satisfied with his dribbling if that's what you are asking. I almost like nothing about the kid other than his defense. It's unfair i know, he is young, he might get to a point where it's not eyebleeding watching him on the court but i wish we hadn't drafted him. We f*cked up it happens hope we won't in the next draft
I don't think you need to be that great with the ball as a big man if you can play good defense, grab rebounds, and get the easy buckets around the basket. Hitting open threes is a bonus at that point. I don't think it's likely that Jabari will ever become the focal point for our offense (although you never know, he's very young). But he can still be the second or third best player on a championship team if his other skills are strong enough even without the ability to generate his own offense.
Way too much drama about Jabari. Everything you were expecting about him is just going to happen a year or two later than you expected. All indications are that he is a hard worker with a good work ethic and if that holds up then there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Even if we have to build his offense from scratch, he's an incredible prospect to have.
Very unlikely he has a #2 option on a championship team. That is like an efficient 20-25 PPG scorer. Right now his TS is below 50% and that's even with taking limited shots. He doesn't have the skillset to be a high volume scorer.
Just don’t sit on the Jabari train too long, if he doesn’t have it by year 3. Trade him like Wiseman and get something back.
Didn't say he could be the #2 offensive option on a championship team, I said he could be the second or third best player. Defense is really important, especially from the 4/5 positions.
That'll happen when your #3 pick that is supposed to be a 3 and D player can't hit 3's and is inconsistent on D. When you know he brings absolutely nothing else to the table, he needs to actually be good at those 2 things and he's just not. Now sure, maybe one day he improves enough to be a taller Trevor Ariza, but when you spend the #3 pick on that, it's going to make a lot of fans upset.
Not sure why people keep repeating this "taller Trevor Ariza" meme. They don't even play the same position. Also, a taller Trevor Ariza who grabs a few more boards and blocks an extra shot each game due to his height would be a very valuable player. Not a superstar, but still could be a key piece on a championship team. Why not compare him to a guy like Lamar Odom instead? Not by any means the centerpiece of his team's offense, but still able to contribute in a lot of other ways.
A few from random writers who don't watch the Rockets. I can name 10 off the top of my head who are clearly better players & possibly another 5-6 if I started looking more into it.
