Jabari Smith Jr & Amen Thompson chosen for USA SELECT TEAM

Well the weird thing is Jabari was supposed to be a better shooter right away--he shot 42% from three in college. He is already an above-average shooter for a power forward, so it hasn't been that far off, but I definitely expected him to hit the ground running a bit better in that area.

Another guy who jumps to mind--Gradey Dick shot over 40% from three on high volume in college and had an abysmal first half of his rookie season from 3P land, before finally picking it up and getting to around league average by the end of the year.

I think the main thing it shows is, the transition to facing NBA defenses is tough. Biggest leap in difficulty most of these players will ever face. Some will adapt and overcome it, some won't. (I'm getting worried Jalen might be one of those guys who don't.)

It should also show, we shouldn't expect Reed Sheppard to come in and light the world on fire with his shooting right away. As insanely good as he was in college, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him shoot like 36% or so early on, before gradually improving from there.

 

Gee willickers, you guys expect way too much from role players.

 

Inanimal is the king of silly comments and threads. Jabari just turned 21, averaged 14 points, 8 rebs, and shot 38% from three. He also is a very good defender heading towards great. He is the guy we put on Wemby, Durant, and others.

 

You are aware that he's played as a SF/PF right? I know you all want to project him as a 2 guard so he can replace Jalen but he's a forward and always has been. He models his game after Melo, he's a 6'7 230lb SF who slides to PF (draft comps were Carron Butler, Jae Crowder) not a small 3 who slides down to the 2.

 

I agree he is a sf and he may get a few mins at PF in a small ball lineup. I don’t think he is a sg, but that would be a better position for him than PF. He needs to play bully ball on offense and is not going to do great overpowering PF’s and is too short to guard most PF’s or keep them off the boards. Jabari is our PF and Alpi is our center. Cam will be our starting sf when Amen moves to point. You are just worried about him taking Jalen’s spot.

 

What are their stats? TIA

 

Houston Rockets' Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson don't look out of place against Olympic squad

 

Feel free to post the text ;(

 

Maybe of his shooting, but I don't think anybody thought Jabari was at the level of Flagg's fluidity on his offensive moves and aggression. Flagg is on another level. He is one of the few players I can think of recently that rates at at least "good" at damn-near everything. He's a good defender, good interior scorer, good perimeter scorer, good at getting hmself a shot, good motor, etc

 

Everybody doesn't possess the same skills. Magic, Clyde, LeBron are just a few I can think of who does not have great outside shots.

 

Sweet Bejesus.

I'm surprised Tilman Fertitta opted not to pray for Cooper in the next draft.

 

Does anyone see some similarities between Jabari and Patrick Patterson? PF, solid character and work ethic, not great at ball handling or creating for himself, not great at rebounding, but great at defending and can shoot the 3.

Not saying they are identical players but there are definitely a few similarities.

 

I remember one of the draft people say Jabari would've had to adjust to the NBA 3pt line, and I noticed that in his rookie year. He clearly had to adjust his shooting to account for the NBA line. I think he has clearly shown that range can improve with time from his performance last year, but him taking time to adjust wasn't really shocking to me.

By the same token, when i watched Sheppards film it was obvious he can shoot consistently from the NBA line. And if he's not bombing 3s at a high clip in summer league I'd be pretty bummed

 

LeBron James shockingly wins eye-opening Team USA poll

• “That’s what I told my brother after the first day, I was like dude’s 40 and he’s the best player on the court,” said Amen Thompson, a forward for the Houston Rockets and a voter in the poll, due to his participation in camp as a select team member.

• In a different question for the same poll, Flagg — who is two years younger than LeBron’s son and new Los Angeles Lakers teammate, Bronny — was easily the top vote-getter among select team members with nine votes.
  
  “If I had to choose one person (on the select team), it was definitely Cooper,” said Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr., another select team member.
  
  
• “I feel like LeBron’s focus, Steph’s focus, people who have been doing this for so long and still keep that focus, still keep that hunger — that’s what impressed me the most,” Smith said.

 

All of them improved their shot from earlier in their careers

 

Yeah he was better across the board (significantly in percentages) and people just pretend like it didn't happen.

 

ngl, i prolly only know like 4 names on that list.

 

I posted this in one of the Amen Thompson threads a few hours ago. It's the only extended clip of the ending of that Select vs. US Team that I've found. It's 27 minutes long (there is some dead air, and Podz takes a huge swing from Embiid that creates a long pause in the action).

Amen and Bari look good on the court, and Amen has a stretch of pretty dominant play with Cooper Flagg. If you're starved to see our Rockets in action, this might tide you over until Friday's first SL game.

 

Sparring partner needs length to emulate the opponent.

They asked Coop Flagg.