Jabari Smith is younger and makes bigger impact defensively, his long Wingspan as a passer in the low Post to Alperen Sengun, 3 point shooting.
I definitely remembered Jabari's draft profile and people had him more than just a 3 and D guy, that was his lowest floor. They had him as a Dirk lite meeting KG lite.....lmao.... I felt completely duped after that first year. Especially when Paolo and Chet were running circles around him. And additionally the Jalen Pick did not look to hit instantly and we needed that star player........
28.9 minutes OFF THE BENCH. Lots of folks on here tried to explain why it was more important to his team that he wasn't a starter, but it always struck me as odd.
Looking back at the scouting reports a lot of them called out his weaknesses pretty accurately. Lots of reports that he lacked an on-ball game, wasn't much of a rim threat for his size, pretty okay rebounder but not a great one for 6'11". The only thing they really got wrong so far was they all largely projected him as an elite jump shooter, when in reality he's only been a pretty good one (and was actually a bad shooter most of his rookie season). If the assessment of his jump shooting had been accurate, I think some of the Rashard Lewis, or "poor man's" Chris Bosh/KG/Dirk comps would be looking reasonable. With one more 3PA and 0.5 more 3PM per game, and the same on on mid-range 2-pointers, he'd be averaging 15+ points on 46% / 39% shooting the last two seasons combined. At just age 21, that would seem a lot more on-track to be a slightly-worse version of the players listed above. Maybe you think he brings those averages up a few points in his prime and ends up around 18-20ppg in his peak years as a player, which is basically what Lewis averaged. (KG was a 22-24 points kinda guy.) He could still get there, but yeah, the shooting has been a bit disappointing.
I got even corrected by a poster and thought Jabari had more than 2 or 4 - 20 pt games in recent season but he did not. He is getting further and further away from ever being an Offensive threat or game changer. I do not mind having him around but not really excited about it.
I'm sorry but the fact that 268 Clutchfans chose Sheppard is very concerning to me. That means I was like public enemy #1 around here during draft season.
lol. Who did you want? honestly the draft was so random. I would have been cool moving back and getting dillingham.
I see your point. But young players also prone to more mistakes + added confidence with starter spot plus unlimited minutes to play through learning curve is very different for a high draft pick that gets garbage time minutes + is yanked from rotation with every bad quarter/game.
Both Dillingham + Sheppard were the only Frosh at UK who came off bench + played as many minutes as starters. Rob was more highly recruited than Reed. Both absolutely earned their minutes via their play.
Jabari was used very different on offense in college. He was much more ball dominant at Auburn than his current role with Rockets. And Reed is learning PG position for 1st time and at NBA level. There are levels to this.
Amen is special. Both Jalen + Jabari were automatic starters + given an extremely long leash. I would also argue that Jabari first season was far less stellar than you remember.
Keegan has had ONE good season so far which was his rookie season. Jabari is playing better this season, easily.
badlee wanted Devin Carter IIRC, whether in a trade back or whatever--a guy I also liked, but also having a miserable season so far (granted it's VERY early days for him because he was hurt to start the season). It was just a crap draft. Looking at how guys are playing right now you could maybe say we should have drafted Castle, but he can't shoot, so amount of improvement over Reed is pretty marginal and it's hard to see him as a long-term fit here if that doesn't change. Bub Carrington would be the guy I think would have helped us the most right now. Dude's having a solid rookie season at the same age as Reed. Shooting the ball fairly well, dishing a lot of assists, good AST:TO ratio, good defensive potential (not showing up much right now because the Wizards suck). He's pretty much having what we hoped Reed's rookie season would look like. But he was the final pick in the lottery and wasn't really even in the conversation--just one of those things where the Wiz got lucky. And he may not end up amounting to more than a good bench player anyway.
I selected trade the pick. I feel like a lot of my worry about Reed has manifested. Im not too worried at this point
It was, his first 30-40 games were catastrophic.....he was pushed around, bullied out of his position, you just decided to forget.
No, Reed situation is looking catastrophic. Jabari had already shown flashes multiple times within those games. Plus his defense was always helpful.
