Jabari Smith is only 20 years old. He has made a major leap this season - 47/38/81 with a TS of 59%..... and has made a similar leap defensively as well. Go back and look at the history of players that are 20 years old, and have his style of game and his statistics at this age ....... there are not many, and the overwhelming majority of them continued to improve. He is clearly better than players like Rashard Lewis at the same age, and he has more to his game than Lewis did - he is already better defensively than Lewis ever was. If Jabari Smith stays healthy, he is going to be really good. He won't likely be a franchise player - but he has a real chance at shooting 50/40/90 and pushing 20 points a game. If he is put next to someone like Mikal Bridges, his defense can be all Team Defense caliber.
Jabari was billed as an elite shooter coming out. He hasn't even been an average shooter. He is closer to a 40-30-80 guy than 50-40-90 so far. I understand he is young and will improve. But 50-40-90 means you are an elite NBA shooter. Asking a guy to make that kind of jump, I don't see it. He needs to get to being an average shooter before we even consider his ceiling.
I don't understand your argument? You said he needs a bag, and referenced DMo. I showed you the facts that DMo (in his best ever single season, and only counting the games he played 30mpg as a starter and 3rd option) has a lower scoring average not only than Smith's best season, but Smith's entire career has more ppg. And DMo was 4 years older (in his single best season) than Smith currently is. I agree that Smith needs to develop offensively. But a DMo comp is pretty poor. Also, for reference, you might look up how many current NBA players younger than Jabari have a higher career PPG?
Jabari Smith is 20 years old and he is shooting 47/38/81 this season...... I don't know were you are getting 40/30/80 from....... he is literally 3% on 2's and 3% on 3's from shooting an elite level from the field.... indeed the one he is the farthest from is the free throw line, which is the least important of the 3 stats. I am not really asking him to make very much of a jump. A player at 20 years old shooting 47/38 can certainly shoot 50/40 later in his career. I don't think people realize how young he is, and how shooting tends to improve as players age. He won't even be in his prime for another 4-5 years... and possibly later than that as a shooter.
In fairness - the league is more offensively generous than it has been in generations. However - even with that being the case, Jabari Smith at 20 years old is better than DMO. Smith defends better and arguably shoots better. Also - Smith doesn't need to be ball dominant to make an impact, which is something that is often overlooked. Not every player can control the ball or have high usage. Having someone like Jabari is very important.
Bari will be fine, let him get bigger and stronger and he can play great at the 4. In the mean time we should try playing him at the 3 at times aswell. Mix it up a bit
You don't know where I got it from? I was looking at his career stat line. Closer to 40-30-80 than 50-40-90, like I said.
I don't give a **** what he shot like as a 19 year old rookie. He is shooting 47/38 this year as a 20 year old second year player - which is a massive improvement over what he did last year, and bodes well for him going forward as well.
He will be a very valuable starter for us moving forward--an elite roleplayer is basically his floor at this point, and his ceiling is low-end all-star. That kind of sure thing on a rookie contract is worth a ton. I would only even consider giving him up for a young star who is a good fit with our roster & timeline.
The simplicity, and facts of your post here is truly a site to be hold. Jokes aside, Jabari needs more reps at small forward, I agree with that. More importantly, he needs to spend more time in the weight room getting bigger, stronger, and more explosive. His inability to keep small forwards in front of him has been an issue also. That's why he's guarding bigger players. His footwork on defense needs work but transitioning to small forward maybe his ultimate light going off moment. It he maintains his current frame it may take 2 more years for him to break out, but his break out will be win a big way.
I made an accurate statement. Looking at his full body of work he's closer to 40 - 30 - 80 than 50 - 40 - 90. It isn't a matter of opinion. Whether you both choose to disregard a full season or not is none of my concern. It is great he has had an uptick so far this year but I am not about to say he is on his way to 50-40-90. That was my point.
Okay - if, you want to use the statistics that a 19 year old had as a rookie - when he already has drastically improved in his second season, at 20 years old - in a large sample size.... and you don't think he can improve another 3% on 2's and 2% of 3's - you are entitled to do so. I would say that claiming that is a below average shooter isn't accurate at this point though.
I won’t speak on behalf of Nook, but I myself am scoffing at the concept of using career stat line to judge a young 2nd year player in the years of a player’s career where they improve the most dramatically. It is downright disingenuous.
I'd argue that in a 1.5 year long career, omitting a full year is more disingenuous than not omitting it. If he had been in the league 3 years already maybe its easier to omit. I will agree that I should walk back the below average shooter claim. Ill change it to average.
Who is omitting his rookie season? Nook and I are both saying that his performance this season and its improvement over his rookie season easily disproves your claims. If anything it supports the complete opposite.
We don't need to go round and round - but he is closer to a 50/40 than 40/30.... he is 20 years old and has a large sample size this season and he is near 50/40 this season, he has clearly improved. What he did last year, as a rookie has little impact on what he will be going forward based on his most recent performance and at his age. If he had a 5-10 year track record, then you would have a point - but we don't.
