Been saying this. Need to surround Green-Porter-Wood with long athletic switchable nasty defenders. Kai Jones, Usman Garuba, JT Thor. A 6'10 point forward like Vrenz would be good too.
I know how much you're down with Evan. I know this! Am I tripping when I see Kai Jones out there shooting 3's with ease, and handling the rock BETTER than Evan? What am I missing? Why is Kai Jones not a higher upside prospect? The stuff he does on offense is stupid. He's a game changer on defense due to sheer athleticism. Mobley/Cam Thomas or Jalen/Kai ??
Love Kai Jones but much different player than Mobley. Kai is equivalent to Russ or Wall, they are gawds in transition. Amazing run and jump athletes but more impressive is their SPEED. But extremely inefficient, turnover prone, inconsistent 3ball shooter, still needs to improve IQ, better 1v1 defender than help defense. Kai also has inconsistent hands, inconsistent rebounder, doesnt always make right read and not as elite rim protector (6'11 but only 7'1 wingspan, makes up for it with crazy ups). Mobley is high IQ, consistent overall defense, efficient offense, under control ball handler/passer and is just so much longer (7'0 with 7'4 wingspan). And Mobley is true student of the game understands rotations, angles, moving defenders, unlike Kai who is still very new to basketball. Mobley is team first and knows how to win, Kai is still figuring out how to be best player he can be. Still developing, likely not a day 1 starter so will need time like Capela. As for your query, give me any of the combos below: Evan Mobley/Jalen Johnson/Joe Wisekamp Jalen Green/Kai Jones/JT Thor or Vrenz Bleijenbergh Hell, Mobley/Kai works for me too. Imagine the TRIPLE TOWERS: Porter 2022 FRP (Jaden Hardy?) Mobley Kai Wood
Rockets need to amass as much talent as possible. They are the worst team in the NBA. Start adding vets when Rockets figure out their franchise players and core. Until then, the more the merrier.
I wonder. Kai Jones only took 5 shots per game in 22mpg vs 10 shots in 34mpg for Mobley. If you extrapolate his numbers to fit Mobleys usage the stats seem to be pretty close. Kai Jones was actually a better 3 point shooter 38% vs 30% on the same 1.2 shots per contest. Same free throw percentage. Mobley with the big nod in rebounds but it makes me wonder how much Jericho Sims and Greg Brown had to do with that. Mobley had free reign to snag boards at USC, well other than his brother at least. Passing goes to Mobley as well. I havent seen that type of sheer athleticism from a big man (Kai) since Dwight Howard. Its crazy. He is a violent above the rim player.
Agree, Kai could be the MOST athletic player in this draft which is DEEP in explosive quick twitch players (Keon, Green, Ziaire, Scottie Barnes, Kuminga, Isaiah Jackson, Scottie Lewis, etc.). But look closely at their shooting forms, Kai was the better 3ball shooter but his shot is whack - falls backwards, splays his legs wide, hands not always in front of his face - very inconsistent. That inconsistency + small sample size has scouts correctly pointing out that he will need to spend countless hours with shooting coach. Then watch Mobley shoot, always the same motion and form. Perhaps a little slow but he shoots so high that it is unlikely to be blocked considering his 7'4 wingspan and +9 reach. That said, still love Kai Jones upside + energy.
A poster on NBA draft reddit wrote a pretty in depth post on why he thinks Kai Jones is being overhyped and too big of a project that NBA teams should avoid. Personally I like Jones and think that projects with crazy upside are exactly what we need with our non #2 pick, whether it be 23/24 or whatever we could potentially move up to with those picks in a trade. But its still worth a read for anyone who wants to see all sides to the analysis on Jones.
This guy reminds me of Christian wood but a more athletic player than Woods. He could be our future Center!!! The first year, play backup Center and he could rebound, block shots and run the floor with Porter and Green...............Explosive!!!!!!!
Mobley's brain is what makes him special, Jones is an amazing athlete for sure though, would love to get him.
