Jalen Green is the Rockets' Franchise Player

Too soon to say that IMO.
But his growth curve has been slower than I expected and slower than most of the other guys.

 

I think Jalen is in that awkward celebrity phase of life where he is going from boy to man and struggling with it. He still wants to cling to being a cute childish teen beat star but the world is telling him to drop that cause it's holding him back and he's too old for that $hit.

There will come a time soon where he will switch that off and then he's going to come into his own. I think Udoka is the only one who can get him through that transition and I hope it happens in the second half of this year after he has had a chance to look at himself objectively.

 

This kind of post is so ridiculous. We did not "waste" the 2nd pick. The Warriors "wasted" the second pick when they drafted Wiseman and never really got any production out of him. Green has plenty of time to turn it around, and it's not he hasn't put up numbers. Regardless, if he just becomes a Jordan Clarkson type, that is still not a "waste" of a 2nd pick.

This board is absurd at time.

 

I have a feeling that Jalen will string together some 30+ point games soon and a lot of loudest posters will go silent for a while.

 

The question is: was it worth my blood pressure on lottery day to sweat OKC getting that pick swap?

Let's say we played more or less decent basketball that year and didn't get #2, everything else being the same.
So we trade for Sengun at #16 and we get #18, where we can get another Jalen, Jalen Johnson.
Would that be a worse outcome? How much worse?
I feel defo it was not worth to stress so much for that swap...

 

I hope! All I ask for is some semblance of consistency at a quality level. Doesn't need to be 30 point games. Just average levels of consistency.

 

Jalen, Tari and Jabari all suffer a bit from low basketball IQ/awareness. They get too amped and make mistakes. In the past 3 drafts the only American kid that looks like he understands how to play team basketball is Chet Holmgren.

 

Funny how you picked the one guy who has done anything in that range. You didn’t pick Kai Jones, Keon Johnson, or Isaiah Jackson.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing, huh?

 

I think he had

Great: 2 games
Good: 1 game
Terrible: 3 games
Bad:1 game
Average: 4 games.

 

That is true generally for young players. It should improve with the additional vet presence this year.

 

I don't think Jabari looks like he has low basketball IQ. I felt that way last season, but he seems to be playing much more within his limits this season, hence why his efficiency is up. He's also playing really solid D and not turning the ball over much.

 

I think we can agree that the high value basketball intangibles will always boost a player's value beyond those who have demonstrated more skills with less natural talent to be a differentiator in the NBA. I think the NBA generally has a lot of highly skilled players but what sets people apart are the natural things they can do that few can - exceptional length, incredible passing vision, defensive instincts, exceptional speed, etc.

I don't know of a lot of 19yr olds who are big enough to play in the NBA immediately. Almost any player at that age is a gamble on their form filling out, them learning the skills to supplement their talent, their body being able to withstand pushing it to the limits(particularly a problem with taller players), etc. There isn't a formula - it's all computational to a number of subjective factors that we don't understand or agree on. I think what I'm hearing you say is, you sit on the more conservative side of that conversation - and that's fine but surely you can see how your risk profile changes relative to team needs at a moment in time, how much risk you feel your team can whether, how much value you do or (in our case) don't have on your roster, etc. You could also say a big part of the reason why we drafted Jalen has everything to do with spending the last x years watching Harden - everyone thought the #1 need was an elite scorer to run a heliocentric offense - just like James. That's not Jalen's fault, that's everyone in Houston forgetting there are other ways to build a team and I feel like these "X is our franchise player" threads is 100% proof of that because not all title winning teams have the "head honcho" mentality.

Also:
"scouting definitely needs to do a better job of judging talent and whether or not it will translate well into the NBA."
...haven't people been saying this since the beginning of drafting time? It's kind of like saying these people are stupid because they don't have the benefit of hindsight. I mean - that's what drafting is, a calculated gamble with risk factored in.

FWIW, I forget the play but I remember a play from one of the LA games this weekend where Green got hit HARD going to the hoop and still managed to get the ball up despite the hard foul from a much bigger player and I remember thinking to myself - that's NOT a play Jalen would have been able to make at any time before this so he IS becoming stronger/more capable as a driver...but maybe you were talking about height....

 

I’m not arguing who it’s for im merely stating that Jalen won’t be here.

 

JG has not provided that attribute at any level: HS, GLEague or the NBA

 

Finally someone get it

 

Lol, I’d take Rodman an HOFer and what he brings 10/10 over what Jalen provides a team.

 

Jalen was a terrible number 2 pick.....he isn't even Steve Francis - whom is what you are hoping is a baseline.

DD

 

Maybe they only know how to build a playoff contender and are in over their heads when it comes to really follow up to greatness.

 

He basically missed his 2nd year and has to play his 2nd year again......but yeah probably not the superstar....