The idea of Jalen green is a perfect fit next to Sengun. The actual Jalen Green doesn’t fit next to any other good player because he is only capable of playing hero ball, which is why he looked good in March against those soft teams, without Sengun we needed Jalen’s hero ball so we gave him free reign. That’s something he will never get on a good team with a great player, Jalen needs to learn how to play with him, something he has never shown the ability to do.
The other night Jalen had 4 turnovers in the first quarter and completely stunted the rest of the starters who were locked in. Thankfully he got hot in the second quarter and made his threes which disguised an otherwise mediocre game, but as we know, he’s a 33% shooter so good luck counting on that. I’m not going to comment on every poor game Jalen plays because I would tire myself out. Thankfully I haven’t had to say anything about him for months, but after two preseason games and he’s still making the same boneheaded plays, looking off the best player on the team to hot dog and call his own number, and then I have to come on here and read the same apologists come up with everyone to blame except Jalen Green himself - you see why I’d finally want to say my piece.
People shouldn't be knee jerking one way or the other over one or two preseason games. We have 3 years worth of data to go on, it's going to take more than one good shift in one preseason game to change the narrative but at the same time, 1.5 bad preseason games doesn't mean Green is doomed. Let's come back from the ledge my Jalen superfan friends.
Just put the fries in the bag. "Im not going to tire myself out" Jumps into thread first bad game. Edge Lords -- gotta love em.
I agree. The Thunder targeted Reed on one play with Jalen Williams and it was no contest. Commentators said he will need to body up against players before they get him into the paint or they will abuse him. Good luck with him doing that this year. Teams will keep milking that weakness until Udoka takes him out. Which is what Udoka did after that play. It was too easy. Spun off of Reed in the paint for a bucket and the foul.
I agree. That's exactly what I have categorized Jalen coming out of college. A scorer. Like Michael Jordan was a scorer. MJ was not a good shooter coming out of college, but once he made a few layups, dunks, FT's, then he can go off. In time MJ picked up his 3-point average and became a mid range demon. He perfected that mid range because he often went against 6'3" or 6'4" players that could jump as high as him. I talk about Wilt Chamberlain and people say, he was just more athletic than those in his era. Well MJ was too big/strong for guards in his time and too fast for those his size or bigger. Jalen needs to get a few layups or dunks some FT's go through the rim....then everything can fall. That's why I've been preaching spacing for 3 years. Crested alleys for Jalen to get the layups or dunks. Reed had some better looks but wouldn't pull the trigger while Sengun looks still too apprehensive.
There we have it, we already have MJ on the roster if not for Udoka, Sengun and Reed holding him back. Thankfully Jalen won’t have to deal with them anymore on his next team in a year.
There is also 'jalen needs to get a few layups or dunks some FT's go through the rim....then everything can fall.' and 'he is like mj' in the same post. If your player needs particular things to overcome his psychological problems, that's not good. Talking to the ball did not help sengun, getting a few layups won't help jalen. and what happens if he can't, lol.
We already tried this last year, we spent the entire first portion of games force feeding Jalen to try to get him a basket and get him “in rhythm”, once we’ve dug ourselves a hole in the scoreboard doing this then we go back to playing actual basketball. I promise you Udoka is not doing that a second year in a row.
Lol. I just can't with some of these dudes. Sengun is the best player on this team by such a wide margin (and his screens are good, he set some really good Steven Adams-esque ones yesterday) that he can't even see the next best player behind him. Jalen had a typical bad game after a good game. It happens man. It's actually expected at this point. We're just here hoping that he turns into the Jalen you happen to see every day for some odd reason. We have a game coming up on Tuesday against the Pelicans. They are actually a good team. Let's see if Jalen can shoot straight in that one. Hoping he does.
There is a room for Sengun glazing. The adults who want legitimate conversation here find it. Not sure why you act surprised when there is pushback in a pro Jalen thread where the SOFs drunkenly stumble into after a bad game. Backtrack. Go to the beginning of todays discussion and see for yourself where it goes off the rails. I was ready for it. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would be a tennis death match of petty this year and through TWO preseason games Im not dissapointed.
We disagree a little bit about who's most accountable for this if it persists (unlikely). It's Jalen's choice and he must take responsibility for those shots but Jalen's choices can hurt us so we also have to protect ourselves instead of watching it crash. I want the Rockets to win more than I want Jalen to succeed. If he's taking bad shots, just yank him and remind him that tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake for his future. If the right shot is no good for Jalen, then pass the ball. There's opportunities for assists and hockey assists. I'm not up for another season of Udoka being patient with that stuff. Cam is coming on strong. We're rich with assets to acquire players. They both got a lot of work to do but to be fair this is just 2 preseason games. Most likely I'm overanalyzing and Green just wants to use preseason to polish his jumper. Udoka just getting warmed up. Let's see how the true starting lineup does next game.
There's no one on earth who wouldn't be helped by getting a few layups. Also, Sengun shot better in both seasons that he talked to the ball. I'm not superstitious that way, but superstition works for the superstitious by generating a placebo effect. That's a fact.
I don't think there is a problem on jalen's side, at least not yet. It is preseason and he will try things out, he will fail some, and that's okay. He has time to show progress. It is the 'he needs this and that to get into rhythm' that makes it funny. I am sure no coach thinks about basketball that way.
If the offense is going to be "Make it or break it" then yeah its all on Jalen. If a team concept is truly what everyone wants then there needs to be an engrained effort to get everyone in their spots. Obviously the dick measuring going on after two meaningless preseason games is mostly just carry over from last year and there isnt much genuine insight or back and forth "learning" yet. If he's going to go gunslinger I agree he needs to be reeled in. Hard to make anything of anything when both lineups played so far have had different actors. If this TEAM is going to be successful its because it tapped into each players strengths and minimized the weaknesses and that starts at the top in the creation of the philosophy and identity of who we're going to be. Expecting Jalen Green to be an elite level 3 point shooter and having him hoist 7> attempts per game when he's cold is losing basketball I agree with anyone who has said that. Udoka should tell Jalen "No 3 pointers until you've broken a sweat, made a layup and a free throw"
Of course getting two layups will help you. But if you force it, it loses its positive effect because if you can't get it, then it gets in your head and other teams will be aware of it at some point as well. It helps if it happens naturally. And sometimes it will happen sometimes it won't. Superstition is not for professionals. I wouldn't want to depend on a player who is superstitious and doesn't have the mentality to overcome it by working hard. You can do a pregame routine, and that's fine. But you can't keep talking to the ball. Edit: hopefully sengun will shoot better fts and no hesitation outside shooting. He certainly can do better than talking to the ball.
it's no surprise to me that Adams and Green looked great together. Adams played with Westbrook during his bestbrook seasons. It's always funny to see the overreactions. Reddit Rockets want to trade Green after last night. He was being defended by Lu Dortz and was asked to play point without Fred. Not shocking to see him have an off game.
Oh, coaches do think about basketball that way and constantly refer to it. Part of being a good coach is understanding the players’ quirks and putting them in a position to succeed. We do know that Ime is better than Silas at that skill, but don’t know yet how much better. Young players are especially vulnerable to how they start a game defining what is going to happen the rest of the game. Really great golfers can overcome bad starts by increasing their focus. Good golfers or young golfers have a much more difficult time adjusting to a poor start.
