Where is the board at currently? A cooling period has passed since Jalen's less than stellar series against GSW. Jalen played the second most minutes and had the highest usage and took the most shots on the team last season. Whether he is a franchise player or not that was his role last season and it seems like there is little reason to believe that will change next season if Jalen is still here. So the question is: At this point, would you rather Jalen back in the role he was or would you want the Rockets to go a different route. Bonus points if you can provide a realistic option for a replacement or change to the offense to unlock Jalen next season
The Jalen ship has sailed. He doesn't want to be traded because no other team will prop him up so much and cater to him. On the Rockets, he'll always be the #2 pick of the 2021 draft. No other team would give a care about that after 4 mediocre seasons.
Until Jalen becomes more efficient and consistent, his game is a problem. You can't rely on him. I haven't given up on him yet because his defense improved so much that I think he has it in him to make the adjustments it will take, but even my patience is running razor thin at this point.
Trade or release JVV, move Amen to PG and replace Dillon with someone that can shoot, rebound, and pass. Now where are my bonus points?
Everyone who is complaining on this board were the same ones complaining at the all-star break that he should’ve made the team with Sengun. If the Rockets trade him it will be the biggest mistake this team has made since the 90’s when we traded Horry for Elliott.
Every trade scenario brought up on here involves comments saying Jalen being traded for a bag of cheetos.. How you think the temperature is on here about him? Lol
so do I. one of the very few here that can realise hes been a big disapointment in regards to being our savior or a superstar but has shown consistent (even if not drastic or fast enough) improvement who has become a solid 2 way starting guard with room to still grow. if you respond to me to debate the same jalen debate for the millionth time i will not respond. save your energy like i do and say nothing.
i think if the Rockets manage to get KD and keep Jalen, we will see Jalen as a second or third option meaning he's quite a bit more open. Additionally the court will open up. 20PPG/5APG/4RPG on 45/38/85 splits and his on off will look a lot prettier. If KD is here, everyone remaining is going to be better for it. Jalen is not ready to be a first option at this point and if he is your first option you need to have spacing for him to have clear lanes to the rim because he's at his best when he's attacking the rim.
I’m done with the Jalen experiment. I don’t like paying him $36 mil per for the next 3 years. I think he’s always gonna be a streaky player. To me he is a microwave scorer; a sixth man. I’m sure he’ll be successful somewhere else but you just can’t max out everyone on the team. Amen and Sengun are our future. Jalen is the odd man out to me. but i can live with keeping Jalen for another year if we can’t get real value for him in a trade. My biggest concern is running back the same backcourt with him and Fred. I need to see a change to that backcourt; it’s the weakest part of the team. As far as realistic replacement ideas? 1). Trade up to draft Kon, who is an nba-ready shooting guard that can shoot, dribble and pass much better than Jalen. 2). Trade for an up and coming player like Coby White or Trey Murphy. Everyone has their price.
Jalen was good for the vast majority of the regular season this year. He stunk in the playoffs, but the biggest weaknesses that Golden State exposed (lack of handle and lack of strength) are things that he can fix. He’s not ready to be the #1 scoring option on a championship contender (and probably never will), but he would be a really good #2 option next to someone like Durant who can draw attention away from Jalen and open up the floor a little bit.
Since his trade value is shot, I'm fine with giving him a role change. If that allows him to be more efficient, it's possible we could get similar production out of him at a lower usage rate.
I’ve been hoping, but he’s remained aggravatingly inconsistent. One of my big problems with Jalen is that he’s so ridiculously easy to game-plan against. Coaches know if they send multiple defenders at him early, it throws his offensive game way off. He’s simply not quick enough making reads and knowing what to do. The Warriors exploited this from game 3 on. I don’t want to do the research to back up this theory, but I’ll bet if you check all his games where he went off for 35+, one of his teammates got hot early and forced single coverage on Jalen. Any offensive-minded coach who can figure out how to keep Jalen from being swarmed might end up with a more reliable version of him.
The people that still believe in Jalen are probably salivating over Ace Bailey and Tre Johnson in this draft.
