I love Sengun, Tari, Cam and Jalen, but i think Bari has the skill set (and mindset) to be the #1 guy if Ime would give him more shots.
Jabari has consistently taken step forwards, and hasn’t regressed, even when team adjusted for him. He’s being very smart, he’s keeping himself on the floor, staying productive, being a good teammate, etc. This is very different from Jalen Green who takes 2 steps forward and 3 steps back, Jabari has been remarkably steady on his improvement. He very well can become a 25 point 12 rebound guy as he grows into his potential.
Do you think he is ready? I don't think he is. More shots this year for him might just mean forcing shots. For me it is better he gets his shots in the flow of the offence still, and see what his 3rd year development step looks like.
I am impressed with Jabari's continued improvement but I'm under no illusion that he will ever be a #1 scorer but that doesn't mean he can't be an effective offensive player. Klay Thompson can be super effective as an offensive player but he had many nights scoring 14-18 points and when teams choose to sag off him, he could heat up and drop 30. You could say the same about the Khris Middelton/Rashard Lewis comps that are often thrown at him - great, effective scorers, but they were most effective when they weren't the #1 option. That being said, I think Jabari still has a way to go to be considered a really good player - I think he will get there by the way BUT the progress we are measuring him by today is against a pretty awful first year so being significantly better than last year means he is just competent this year.
If Rockets didnt have sengun, I wouldn't mind Bari taking all those shots in the post Sengun gets. I think Bari can take some of DB's post ups (that's like 2 a game lol). I personally don't think we have to force feed Sengun as much as we do when I think Bari can be just as effective in the post, especially when he is being guarded by wing players. I wish the players on the court were smart enough to recognize Bari is always being guarded by a dude who is 6'5. Sengun is smart enough to see Bari's mismatches, pass him the ball! Bari to me is not a "flow of the game" player when he is not the focus. Tari is a "flow of the game player" I think we can see Summer league Bari more often if he got more focus. I'm patient though. Bari should def be the focus of the bench unit, especially with all of Jalen's recent struggles.
His efficiency and measures of play are well above just competent. Comparing it to last year doesn’t diminish any of that. “Just competent” is a false look at how well he’s been playing this year
I think we could get Jabari 16 shots right now. He won’t create much for others though. He needs to go back to stepping into the 3 at the top of the key bringing the ball up or in semi transition. Add 2 of those, 2 jumpers coming off off screens and 2 turnarounds.
I think if they have some plays run specifically to get him open looks, he will have more shots. But right now, that is probably not the team's priority. What they need now is to get acclimated to an offense run through Sengun. And they are also dealing with Green's struggle. I expect that once the whole team are settled and get more comfortable, Jabari will be featured more on the offensive side.
The Jabari Turnaround/Middy should be a calming play for this team similar to the Sengun baby hook. It should be called when things are getting chaotic and we need to notch some baskets. Its money.
Yes to this. Steady improvement and gradually putting on the muscle to make him a plus defender against 4-5’s.
Regardless of what the shooting spits say (and he's actually been pretty efficient this year) Jabari has one of the prettiest jumpers I've seen in a while with good, solid D to boot. I could watch him stroke it all day, and he's getting better at penetrating and sucking opposing players in before giving it up to an open man. I know not a lot of people are talking about Jabari outside of Rockets' fans, but he's showing signs of being a great, great player in the not-so-distant future.
I am continually impressed by Jabari. This second year is going about as well as it possibly could. He’s just awesome.
Yesterday he shoulda got more shots up in the fourth. He was hot and they went away from him, didn't make much sense.
Jabari, according to NBA.com, is shooting 48% from Mid-Range after shooting 37% last year, while shooting about 51.5% from 10-16 feet and 44% from 16 feet to the 3 point line. Give him a few more years, and if keeps improving at it, he could be one of the very few efficient volume mid-range shooters of our time (+50%).
