He’s ok but he gets blown by on the perimter and he bites on pump games. I think as he matures he’ll get better but it’s rough out there sometimes for Jabari
I don't disagree. Let's hope for the best. I think Amen can be a plus defender. I don't think Reed ever will. Hopefully he can be a playmaker. I don't know with Jabari. I'll take a Rashard Lewis career out of him
Horry flourished in a role next to Hakeem/Drexler, Shaq/Kobe, and Duncan/Manu/Parker. If the Rockets already have their own version of these players then obviously he's fine just being a Horry. Otherwise Jabari would just be Horry on the Suns.
Not at rim protection. Switching and staying with the ball handler laterally, Ariza was definitely better but Ariza was more of a wing and Bari is more of forward so that makes sense.
The thing is we don't have a Drexler/Bryant/Ginobili in Green. Going to have to upgrade significantly to get their level of scoring prowess to create one of those tandems for Jabari to work off of. Sengun is doing his part.
Draymond Green on his last podcast said during the 2022 Draft If he was Orlando I will pick Paolo Banchero instead of Jabari Smith. Apparently the Magic listened to his podcast said Draymond. Draymond Green will haunt the Rockets even after his retirement talking on his podcast and select this Star player over the Rockets next selection.
All of those guys you posted besides Kobe were playing college ball or overseas at Green's current age.
Eddie Griffin was a better shotblocker than Jabari but Smith is better at literally everything else. Interior defense, perimeter defense, shooting, playing his role, rebounding, mid range, you name it. Not a good comp imo - Griffin had problems and did not develop his talent at all. Jabari improved more in the past year and a half than Griffin ever did.
Don't want him to try ANYTHING new. Just catch and shoot., keep building momentum, let's have your first season averaging 45/38/87 splits. Don't add complexity. Keep the shot types simple. Attack close-outs. Pass the ball intelligently. Back down smaller players when it's a switch. Nothing fancy. Just for one season do the minimum job before auditioning more and more new parts of your game. That over-auditioning of skills is a recipe for becoming a jack of all trades john collins type of player. We need him to strengthen his 1 unique selling point, his jumper. We need a 38% 3PT% season out of him so we can finally call him a serious shooter. However, I would like him to take a higher volume of 3's for the remainder of the season. I don't know why I feel like he could maintain 37-38% at high volume if he's getting that many regular touches. I'd rather he take any pull up or contested 3's over Jalen or Fred. Jabari going straight up and down even if semi-contested > that's a better last ditch shot than what Green and especially FVV come up with when they're over-extended. Jabari's on fire the past 15 games. Clearly when we give him more touches, he heats up. Seems to be his style. I think we should see how he does around 8-10 3PA per game. It would take a huge load off FVV/Green's efficiency and I think it is almost certain to be more efficient the the 3-4 most difficult shots Green/FVV tend to force up. Jabari seems like one of those people for whom the shooting has nothing to do with his defender, he's either on or he's not. When he's rising up and he's nailing them confidently at a high apex point he's Dirk-lite out there. Loving his progress so far. I told y'all he's a fast PF/C. He's not a slow SF/PF. He's starting to really embrace that recently.
Hey, look. Bari had another terrific game. An efficient 20/10 with a team high +25. His haters have sure been quiet lately.
