What gives me optimism is Jabari’s improvement. I was extremely disappointed in his rookie season, thought he may been the worst starting 4 in the league. He lit up Summer League last year and his play on the season was sort of in the middle of his rookie year and his elite Summer League. If he can improve half as much this off-season as last, then we may have the 4 spot on lock. I was also impressed by his unselfishness last season.
Jabari is a borrowing from Swahili jabari meaning "brave (one)", which is from the Arabic word جَبَّار (jabbār), meaning "ruler". This guy is 6’11, 7’1 wingspan and elite lateral quickness for that size. He’s going to be a terrifying defender inside and outside the arc. He showed excellent improvement this season defensively and offensively. One more summer of roughly that kind of improvement would make him an amazing player. Give Udoka/Splitter one more off season, training camp and a dozen games to work on Jabari’s shooting, strength and defense. He’s 21. Think about other teams rosters. How many hard working players are there with this kind of two way ceiling? I can see why Udoka chose this roster despite having lots of other offers. Now they’ve responded well to coaching. It’s going really well for him.
Yeah, Smith may not be the best defender on the perimeter nor the best defender in the paint right now. But his biggest strength is that he is able to do both and at a pretty high level. The ability to go back and forth at his height and length is why he's already quietly valuable, especially given Udoka's preference for switch defense schemes.
Dude is 20 years old lol how can people just say he’s terrible and wanna give up on him . Blows my mind .. he’s gonna amazing for us
Now, if only Jalen can improve his shooting like that. These stats really stand out to me, from Jabari in year one to two and Jalen year one to three.... Jabari / Jalen FG% +4.6 / -.3 3PT% +5.6 / -1.1 eFG% +6.2 / -1.0 TS% +5.7 / -.6
What is their impact on team offense? Other points of context. Jabari increased his ppg by 1 from year one to year two. Green increased it by 5 Jabari decreased his self creation rate for fgs made from 27% to 26%. Green increased his rate of self created fgs made from 50% to 60%. Jalen Green in year one was a -4.5 ppp(points per possession )for team offense for on/off impact. In year two he was +5.1 ppp Vari in year one was a -2.0 ppp(points per possession )for team offense for on/off impact. In year two he was -3.1 ppp for on/off impact.
And he's still more impactful with those low percentages than the vast majority of the roster. If the consistency improves, it won't even be a debate, the scales will tip so far in his favour for "best player" that we'll have to put 80% of the forum on suicide watch.
