Rockets sign Jabari Smith Jr. to 5-year, $122M extension

25 million is not near a max contract
not even half
ALOT of players getting that who are not even average

Rocket River

 

Aaron Gordon is more versatile on both ends of the floor than Jabari because he is far stronger, far more athletic and can actually dribble. The only advantage Jabari supposedly has is 3-point shooting and Gordon outshot him 41% to 35% last year (career-wise, Jabari has a razon-thin 1% advantage).

The only way Jabari could possibly end up better than Gordon is becoming a consistently elite, +40% shooter from long range. Even if that happens, his upside remains limited IMO.

But...I hope you end up being right.

 

Gordon is 7 years older and 3" shorter than Jabari. 3rd year averages:

Jabari : 12.2 PPG / 44%FG / 35% 3PT / 83% FT

Gordon: 12.7 PPG / 45%FG / 29% 3PT / 72% FT

If Aaron Gordon is the comp then the deal looks even better. Took Gordon 8 years to hit Jabari's % from 3 this year.

 

IMO, if you watched Rockets games, it isn't hard to see why other players were more efficient on offense while Jalen was off the floor.

When Jalen was off the floor, the Rockets offense usually ran sets (not necessarily set plays; sets with options). When Jalen was on the floor, a good number of possessions consisted of giving him the ball and he'd dribble the clock down trying to create his own shot. If he didn't chuck up a shot, the pass often wouldn't come until the shot clock was close to becoming the 6th defender. I'm NOT saying this happened every possession, but it happened often enough that stats show all the other rotation players were more efficient with him off the court.

 

At age 21 Jabari is a better rebounder and significantly better shooter than Gordon was.

Right this moment he is already a better defensive player than Gordon, who has always been meh defensively despite his physical tools.

 

C'mon guy. Do you really think those 3rd year shooting stats show the full difference between the players? Re-read my post.

 

Gordon plays with a first ballot HOF player in the prime of his career and Bari played with Jalen Green.

 

Every Rocket has better stats with Jalen off the floor. The Rockets net rating with Jalen last year played like the 44-win Pistons. Without Jalen they played like the 64-win Cavs. This says more about Jalen's issues than Jabari's prowess.

 

You know why CJ Stroud regressed last year? Because JG was on the floor.

 

Your post: Aaron Gordon....a fully filled out man in his 13th year is a more effective basketball player than still growing into his frame Jabari Smith Jr who is in his 3rd year.

Big if true.

 

Gordon was in an ideal situation even if Russell Westbrook was out there too. Bari didn't exactly have the same opportunities.

 

Seeing how Naz Reid got 5/125, i now feel Jabari bamboozled the Rockets FO.

 

I don’t think a 22 year old Jabari is through getting stronger, through getting better at every aspect of the game. I think we even see a moderate improvement in dribbling at some point, but if not he could still be in the same tier as Gordon, but it is just my opinion. I think you give up on the young guys pretty quickly without taking into context the team make-up or the coaching. People are going to realize that about Jalen as well, but it took him to get Durant and I’m ok with that.

I am afraid that people will be screaming again as Ime will probably put Jabari in the same position offensively as last year. Jabari has been very mature about being a team player and doing whatever Ime asked of him. Folks are so in love with Ime they don’t put any blame on him for his lack of offensive acumen. If Durant comes through we will improve offensively no matter how Ime runs the offense, but he needs to be held accountable if suck offensively again.

 

So basically he didn't make the 0% bet on himself?

 

Right he's not having an Allstars season...

 

Right, but I'm just more blaming coaching than Jalen since the guy by all accounts is a good teammate and does what is asked of him.

I don't disagree with any of that, I understand the reason Jabari in this instance played better is because the ball moved more with Jalen off the court and so he likely just had better and cleaner looks where with Jalen there was a lot of standing around. Jabari is the type of player that would thrive on a team with a lot of ball movement since he can't create his own shot really. If you were to put him on the Warriors, just me, I think he'd look like a near all-star player. Most of his scoring in the paint is off him cutting for example. It's probably why after the series the Warriors were raving about his play because he'd be the perfect fit for that kind of system.

Jalen is a player that would thrive being the 3rd option somewhere. Like the current Knicks, perfect situation.

I think it was just a mistake to give him this role of elite go to scorer when he simply wasn't that and yes, it really did hurt the offense on the nights he was cold because he was so damn streaky. There just wasn't enough quietly average games from him.

 

Jabari seems to be grounded in reality. That is a very good thing.

 

Jabari will never be an all-star. He knows that himself.