Love his throwback style of play. I know the midrange J is a "bad shot", but it sure is pretty, and if he can get good enough to actually be efficient with it (while still knocking down some threes), more power to him.
Main challenge to getting Jabari more shots seems to be getting the spacing right. Unlike Sengun, he doesn’t have enough dribbling skills to get to his spots easily himself. So if our players are too close together, passing to him in the midrange either makes it too easy for defenders to deflect or steal the pass, or too easy for defense to converge on Jabari if he ends up with the ball. So scaling up his midrange shots is tricky - I’d rather see him cut more intelligently (right now he has the terrible habit of cutting right into the driving lanes or into Sengun’s post-up space) and get himself a few more easy layups.
I've been a bit disappointed the Rockets haven't run plays for Jabari in similar ways as the Warriors did to free up Klay for his jumpers. Perhaps Jabari's not good enough or they tried and it didn't work well. Regardless, that was one of the comps with him as a prospect and even now I feel the Rockets can really diversify their offense if they can integrate him more in their actions.
Jabari is over 50% in the 8-16 feet range. Still not good enough to be a staple of an offense, but I would not say it is a bad shot as long as he avoids the long 2s.
Agreed. I am a bit disappointed too. But I'd give the coaching staff some more time. It's still early. They need to integrate a lot of new stuff with a lot of young players. I have a feeling that they are trying to go one step at a time. I think fixing the defense has been successful. The next step is to get a Sengun-centric offense down and figure out how Jalen can be more efficient. Jabari is probably a lower priority. For one, his shooting skill (unlike Green's) does not need to be fixed. He just needs to be confident. For two, Jabari is playing within the offense. He seems okay with the role for now.
Probably should watch some KJ/Sengun tape. KJ always seemed to be at the right spot. Granted, Jabari does not have KJ athleticism.
I said it in another thread. With a passer like Sengun, they need to move rather than just stand there and watch. Everyone should watch some KJ/Sengun tapes, especially Jabari and Jalen. Jabari might not be as athletic as KJ and Jalen, but he is taller. It's just about timing.
Smith is pretty automatic from 10-15 feet IMO. I agree strongly with the people commenting that we need more movement especially when Sengun has the ball.
Hope Jabari gets on the Giannis diet this off season. He's got a lot more upside if he gains 20 lbs of muscle.
I love Ime as our coach. Couldn't ask for a better coach for this young squad.... but, he has to know that Bari is clutch as hell when it comes to these moments. Should've had him in during that last possession in regulation. Honestly, I think he should be at least an experimental focus point on offense at some point. He absolutely killed it in summer league as the main focus. Run more plays for Jabari and look for his comfortable spots on offense, and I think we'll prove much better for it down the line.
Tonight showed us again why his ceiling is not the engine but a great role player. If his shots aren't falling he can't contribute to the team offensively. He can still play defense which seperates him from Jalen which makes him a more valuable player but offensively he's nothing more than a spot up shooter. He can't create his own shot or playmake. He can't dribble with the ball he has poor handles so he needs to be a sniper from 3pt line and 10-15 ft.
Jabari like JG are used to being #1 options and having ball in their hands - both proved that during summer league and JG more so when he’s primary ball handler Unfortunately Bari is being turned into a catch and shoot player outside a few possessions … we need to run some more pin downs , and have him coming off screens or taking his baseline jumper If Green keeps at this pace I would love to see them give Bari a shot at being 1/2 in the offense …one thing we never have on our team is a player getting hot and keep getting fed
He's still pressing a bit on his shots. But he's drastically improved from last year. Probably the one young guy I'm least worried about. Sengun included.
Jabari 100% should be starting. He has a 107.4 defensive rating on the season. That's incredible, and his skillset is perfect next to Sengun. If anyone needs to sit for Eason, it's Jalen.
I think @DaDakota is right to some extent. Our best lineup when it gets tight is PG: Van Vleet SG: Brooks SF: Eason PF: Jabari C: Alpi But I'd still start Green for some early scoring punch, ideally. Also, I saw Green defend really well in the post on one possession last night, led to a jump ball.
This is the first time this season I've questions Udoka's tactics and coaching. It's been a couple of games now where we need to get a bucket in crunch time, and Bari is on the bench. Sengun is 1A when it comes to being able to get a bucket. But that situation is literally cater made to a 6-11 guy that can shoot over anyone not named Wemby. This is the lineup that should be closing games. Tari generates steals and general issues. He clamped Mitchell multiple times yesterday. Sengun should be option 1 like he was yesterday, but Bari should be option 2 until he can develop the consistent middie. At which point they'll be 50/50. Tari should be starting now and Jabari should be getting the bulk of Jalen's shots. Jalen should have to compete with Cam Whitmore on the reserves for his shots at this point. Ime needs to figure out the two man game between Jabari and Sengun. Enough time has passed.
I'm still confused about the benching last night. I didn't like that he was matched up with Allen? Why. Then you have Alpi playing free safety. Should I help, not help? Ahhh, I got caught in no man's land..splash. And there was no way of avoiding the fouls both of them collected because of nba tomfoolery. He should have played late. That said, wish Ime was the coach last year so the growing pains would be even less this season.
I didn't like the benching either, I didn't really get it. I didn't think Jabari was playing bad or doing anything wrong, usually Ime benches guys for poor process rather than poor outcome, like I don't think he would ever bench anyone for missing good shots. But I couldn't see anything Jabari was doing poorly other than not hitting shots. Only thing I can really come up with is that it was less about benching Jabari and more about "we have a better shot to win with Tari." And maybe that's all it was. Jabari was fine, but Tari was just doing Tari things to impact the game, and that just gave us a better chance. Not that Bari did anything egregiously bad to deserve being glued to the bench.
