For the third time I'll say, you are confusing what you prefer with what results in championships (see bolded quote). There is no evidence what you're saying is true, and it's not even a common idea. Ben Simmons was an elite defender who was great at passing, rebounding and running transition. He is barely hanging on to staying in the league, much less earn the contract he's on. PJ Tucker is a plus defender who can do one other thing (shoot). He is not a max level player, he is a role player on a championship team. You can not win a title with two PJ Tuckers. Hell, you can't win a title with 5 Jrue Holidays. Of course Jalen Green is not currently worth a max contract. Neither are Amen, Jabari, Whitmore, Sengun, Tari. Nor was Kobe Bryant after his second season. This is yet another arbitrary standard. Jamal Murray and Steph Curry projected to be horrible defenders when they were young, and they ended up being adequate enough as long as their offense produced enough points. It is impossible to delink offense from defense, and it is flat out false to say defense has absolute importance over offense. You MUST start asking yourself why you have so many arbitrary standards for Jalen Green. It is probably because you have an arbitrary bias for defense. Amen Thompson has played 0 games. He has never shown he can do anything in the NBA. You are ignoring clear red flags (25% shooter) and jumping to the conclusion that he has a knack for finishing around the basket. I think his potential is very high, but going by your own methodology judging Jalen, he has not proven anything yet. Same goes for Jabari. There is no correlation between guys who just project to be good defensive players and have the highest value in the NBA. Additionally, there is absolutely no truth to the myth that offense-first players are less likely to win titles than defense-first players. Earning a max contract is not more influenced by defense. High scorers are not less important than great defenders. Scoring is THE MOST IMPORTANT stat in all of basketball by far. Every other stat is meant to lead to points scored or deducted otherwise they have no purpose. The person who is scoring the most points is doing the most important single thing in all of basketball. The truth is it takes a top 10 defense and a top 10 offense to win a title. Any combination of players that can get you to those rankings will put you in position to win a title. There is a reason why it's 10 and 10. If defense were more important, we would find it takes - for example - a top 5 defense and a top 15 offense. That is not the case. Offense is half of all possessions. In fact, offense is a hair more important because all else equal with the game on the line, you would prefer to have the ball and the best scorer rather than give up the ball and have the best defender. So you can say offense accounts for 50.1% of the importance.
Just adding my two cents. You're completely wrong that he hasn't shown the ability to be a plus defender. There have actually been moments when he has demonstrated that he can be a good to great defender (see clips). Which is why his (and the entire team's) defensive production last season was so frustrating. We were tanking and defense wasn't a primary concern, which is why I am really excited to see what we have under Coach Udoka and the increased defensive focus. Add in the additional accountability plus the fact that he will be eligible for an extension, and I believe you have the formula for seeing Jalen become more of a two-way player. In essence, Jalen has the tools to be a good defender... adequate size, stellar athleticism (see the 1:10 mark of video - dude loses his man and is still able to recover for the block) and when dialed in has pretty good instincts (he clearly understands angles and can play passing lanes for steals well). With him it's all about consistent effort along with adding more strength. I'm pretty confident that with what's on the line for him personally and for this team next season... effort will not be an issue.
This is pretty much the canvas cleaning answer which does apply. We were tanking. The team was trying to lose and it got us Cam Whitmore and Amen Thompson. I disagree with Jalen having adequate size. He's 6-4 and wirey. Coupled with poor defensive game feel makes for a poor defender. Tari Eason he is not. He's likely working on adding muscle which will help. You're probably correct in that he knows it's a make or break year for him. I'm not even really worried about whether or not he's super efficient. I remember last year how frustrated I was watching the team not because they were missing shots. They're young, they're going to miss shots. It's missing bad shots that bugs me. If you miss a good shot, oh well. If Jalen can show effort on defense and take *good shots* man....this team will win games. It will be a play in team if he can do that. I agree that he's a rare offensive talent. Just like....Steph Curry level defense would be enough to get him to All Star status. I think we're at least all in agreement in that there's no more excuses this year for almost anyone outside of the rooks.
If I tried to make the most annoying, grating song possible, it wouldn't be half as bad as this song.
Great thing this is not a song, just a mixtape, random edit. 2 cents...how Jalen swallows his words at the end.
If Crocs were a rap verse. My guy sounds like he just got out a dental appointment and went straight into the recording booth.
Looks like it was a successful Team USA showing for Jalen. There’s just something special that happens when you play with better players than you’re used to and against older players. Udoka kept a keen eye on things and will surely have some advice for Jalen. Being around Kerr, Spo and Lue is a blessing too. Udoka will have seen how Jalen can use some more off ball action. Also, he looked like an NBA sized SG out there. How silly was it when people claimed he wouldn’t be able to put on muscle? Redemption is coming. I can feel it. I said from Chapter 1 that Jalen will sink very low before he rises up. We hit absolute rock bottom last season and for a scorer of his caliber rock bottom still means leading all scorers from his draft and the next (albeit on not so great efficiency). That’s incredible. It’s been a really rough couple of years physically, mentally and tactically. Things are aligning just in time. Training camp can’t come soon enough.
Jalen ranked among top 24 shooting guards.. tough hill to climb for next season.. but a good start for his road to redemption https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-rankings-predictions-top-24-shooting-guards-2023-24-season/ 11 Jalen Green (Houston) Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports If there’s one thing we have learned two years into Jalen Green’s career, it’s that the explosive 2-guard can score, albeit not that efficiently. Through two seasons, Green is shooting 42.0 percent from the floor and 33.8 percent from beyond the arc. He did improve his swing rating last season, going from a minus-6.7 his rookie year to minus-1.8 in 2022-23. Regardless, we’re going to judge Green in 2023-24 with a completely blank slate, hence his place in this ranking. For the first time, not only will he have an elite head coach in Ime Udoka, but he’ll also have a far better supporting cast than any he’s had so far during his time with the Houston Rockets, so we expect the best season of Green’s career in 2023-24 – not just the flashes of brilliance but consistent impactful play becoming of a former No. 2 overall pick. 2022-23 stats: 22.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.7 apg, 0.8 spg, 41.6 FG% in 76 games 2023-24 salary: $9,891,480 (projected 159th overall in salary)
Yup. This is just another story just with guys like Reeves of players just being in significantly better situations and NBA media giving credit to those players individually for those team wins while ignoring those teams have literally all time greats on those respective teams.
Agree, was scratching my head when I saw Maxey at 6. The kid is decent, but he would be around number 12 or 13 on my list.
Interesting. I agree, I think Melton is a better option for Philly, they look better with him than with Maxey. I’m just surprised that the two of you can correctly identify an empty offensive player who is a total zero on defense, effort and tenacity…
https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4765/onoff#tab-team_efficiency https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4480/onoff#tab-team_efficiency So according to this no. You have a fetish with overhyping defensive only players with little self creation ability. The irony is they have the energy on defense because they aren't navigating defenses dribbling the ball on the other side. It's like concepts like scoring gravity doesn't exist in your head. Scoring contributes to winning also. Stop pretending self creating scorers are useless in the NBA.
I can only assume that this was your best attempt at an off-handed insult... pitiful. If you are going to come for me, you are going to have to try harder...that insult showed zero creativity, effort or imagination - It's a slow summer and some people have short memories so I'll bite... "..total zero on defense..." "...total zero... ...effort..." "...total zero... ...tenacity.." In that last clip from his rookie season among some of the folks he blocks are Jason Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Cam Johnson, Kristaps Porziņģis, and LeBron James... showing some highlight reel defense, giving that extra effort by helping from weakside or getting chase down blocks, and many times displaying true tenacity in fighting through or around screens to get the block. I'm not saying Jalen is a great defender now, but people like you who try to insinuate that he is a zero on defense or doesn't have the ability to be a good defender are just wrong.
Here are his advanced rating on defense on types of defensive possessions like on ball perimeter, screen navigation etc. Like others and you have suggested, He's really really good in some areas and very poor in others and the parts he is poor on are things mostly due to inexperience and low stakes(everyone on the team knew they were tanking). And as usual @NewAge with stupid Jalen Green takes completely dismissing any thing positive about him.
