He’s not a great shooter and he’s not a good ball handler. But, let’s be honest. His biggest negative is his low basketball IQ. When the ball is in his hands he doesn’t know what to do. He does best when he doesn’t have to think. Just catch and shoot or catch and drive. Poor Jabari. He wants to do more, but he just doesn’t have the natural instincts.
There's definitely something wrong with either the coaching or the gym or something. Jalen was a sketchy shooter as is Alpi, but both Jabari and Reed were tipped as generational shooters coming out of the draft and both of them are massively underwhelming. You can't be generational if you're not even the best in your own draft.
I also just question his work ethic. I roll my eyes so hard when pundits say every single player they've ever met is first one in the gym, last one out, breathes basketball, etc. Nothing I've seen out of Jabari strikes me as a gym rat (Amen and Reed different story). His shot is still flat as hell, misses assignments on D. He has improved his handle (like a kid that gets 30s on his quizzes now gets 60s) and is better at blocks. Bari just kinda there.
This is why, even before the draft, I kept telling people to go look at his high school footage. Most highly drafted NBA players looked like gods vs high school competition. They played with their food, they tried crazy stuff out of pure boredom. Guys who play PF and C in the NBA showed off their handle in the full court, weaving through multiple defenders like elite guards. Everything came easy. But Jabari? He kinda just looked like a guy. No elite athleticism, no advanced dribble moves, no passing instincts, no shot creation, no crafty finishes. Almost every basket was either him rising up and shooting over the defender because he's tall, or getting spoon-fed a wide open dunk. I just watched full highlights from a game where he scored 30, and I counted a grand total of three dribbles. He's just never had good general feel for the game. When someone's high school tape looks that pedestrian, it's crazy to expect them to become some kind of star level dynamic player against NBA competition. The fact that he was the consensus #1 for months leading up to draft night was always absurd. All that said, he could still be a totally fine rotation player for a good team if he just knocked down open shots. Unfortunately, over the course of more than 250 games and 1,300 three point attempts, the evidence is damning. How much simpler could his job possibly be? And yet he continues to fail at it.
If Jabari could get his 3 point shot up to 38% and continue being a great defensive player vs 12th seeds we’d still have to trade his ass. Great teams will always be able to get good looks off him in space, Great teams will double less and just hide their worst defender on him and dare him to create something. Being capable of producing good results across an 82 game schedule vs the 29 other teams doesn’t mean he’ll be able to play the best team 7 times in a row and win.
They need to trade Jabari on trade deadline. Something has to change with this team. Jabari is one of them.
Jabari as the super sub 4/5. We can give him development shots there and time to perfect his jumper as Durant declines. Sengun/Bari/Capela Durant/Bari Tari/DFS Okogie/Sheppard Amen/Sheppard/Holiday Really think he'd flourish in that role. Hopefully his shooting trajectory is like Hachimua where he figures out how to climb over 40%. We can afford to be patient in the new role.
most people who want him traded just look at box score - they don’t watch everything he does on defense, and how unselfish he is on offense .. he almost always makes the right reads .. it’s rare he commits dumb fouls .. he’s the glue He doesn’t complain about shot attempts .. he just plays the game as it comes to him, I do believe they are working on changing his shot but his dribbling had improved enough that he helps bring ball up court, his hands needs to get stronger on his drives so he doesn’t get stripped as much because he finishes well at the rim
lol. Watched most every game he’s played since he was drafted. Still see a low IQ robotic player with poor touch on his shot. I really like the kid as a person. Couldn’t agree more about the great attitude and work ethic. But people have to stop deluding themselves that he’s anything but a below average starter and a clear bust. I’m sure he will improve. Not interested in paying him starter money over the next 5 seasons to find out how much he will improve.
He should mold his game to lamarcus Aldridge and develop some post moves. He can shoot but he needs to work on his post moves in the offseason. Quite frankly, I am really disappointed in him because it doesn’t seem that he developed any news skills during the offseason. He is the same player since his rookie year, averaging more points but still very dissatisfying for a 3rd overall pick
the shooting coach needs to tell him to stop releasing the ball on his way down no wonder this dude is getting blocked being 6'11
Jabari is +207 for the season so far. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/jabari-smith-jr.-defensive-rate Calling him a below average starter and a bust is a joke and flies in the face of actual data and objective results. Jabari is pretty good for his contract, outside of actual stars its hard to find anybody as good as him for 25M at the PF spot. I prefer him to say PJ Washington who would be a slightly above average PF.
Ahhhh ****. Jabari had a good game, alls forgotten from his 18 in a row **** games. A bunch of abella dangers posting now @J.R.
