Guys, leave OP alone, he is a JGOF, nothing wrong with it while JG is on the Rockets. I could only hope he is right even if he is clearly homering for his fave player.
Zach Lavine is a good player. If Green surpasses Lavine then people will stop comparing the too. We're also talking about Zach who has also torn his Acl and reinjured that knee as well but still bounced back to put the numbers he is putting up. I'll be happy with Lavine stats on a winning team.
I don’t know what JG ceiling will be. That’s up to him…. But I do agree that a Lavine type trajectory, while nice, would be a little disappointing. Lavine was a part of a deal for a bigger star. IMO, Jalen tracks more as the guy who would be traded FOR the package vs the guy who would be A PART OF the package.
Lavine is a bit of a lazy comparison because practically any player coming into this league as a SG would be compared to either Lavine, Beal or Booker. What makes Green stand out is his 3PT shooting is really advanced for a player not only his age, but of his athleticism. It's almost unheard of for a super athlete like Green to come into this league shooting so well at such higher volume of 3s. Green also has the most unassisted 3PT makes this season among rookies. Green in his 1st year with the Rockets already averages more 3s per game than Lavine, Beal and Booker's career averages. To put it into perspective, 48% of Green's shots are 3s, which he is converting at a very respectable rate of 34% for the season (39% in his last 33 games/2nd half of games played). Beal, Booker and Lavine do not even come close to Green in terms of 3 point attempt rate for their careers. Green's ability to hit the 3 so well is also why he is already far more efficient than most other rookies in scoring (even when accounting for his bad start). He's also more efficient than Beal, Lavine and Booker coming into the league, whilst also scoring more points. I don't think there is a good comparison profile for Green at the moment. Anthony Edwards might literally be the closest there is, and I think both him and Green will carve out a new genre of SGs to be compared against.
That's a reasonable take, but since like u mentioned there isn't a good comparison profile at the moment, Lavine is as good as any.
Players the vast majority of time never reach their max ceiling. Green's ceiling is higher than Lavine's. He came into the league with a deeper bag than Lavine came in with with the same tier of athleticsm. It's all up to Green's work ethic if he reaches his ceiling. But if he only reaches the level of Lavine which is a high probability, there is no shame in that. Lavine is a damn good player.
I don't think anyone is saying Green is better than current version of Lavine. They are saying his ceiling is higher. Obviously Lavine with his 8 years in the NBA is far more developed and refined at this stage in his career than 20 year old Green.
Zach Lavine being a trash player isn’t a valid opinion c’mon… if u want to say that Green will end up being much better than him, cool, but let’s not go around acting like All-Star level players are scrubs Zach Lavine the past 3 years is a 25 ppg scorer on excellent efficiency shooting 40% from deep on 8 attempts a game…he seems to be capped as a 25-27 ppg type of player on elite efficiency who’s playmaking is mediocre and who’s FTR is kinda meh, but he is damn good
Their play style isn't very similar. Green strikes me as closer to a Ray Allen type player. For example, Lavine for his entire career has never been a catch and shoot player. For most of his career, less than 20% of his shots are catch and shoot. Majority of his shots are pull up shots instead. To put it in numbers, Green actually has a very fairy distribution of shot types across catch and shoot, pull up, and less than 10 feet. 27% of his shots are catch and shoot, which would be higher than any one of Zach's seasons with the exception of his ACL tear season where he only played 47 games (interestingly enough, this was also one of Zach's best shooting seasons). Green's playstyle at the moment is more of a flexible scorer that can function in any given offensive teams or sets. I could see him being equally as dangerous in an offense like the Warriors as he is in an offense like the Sixers. I'm not sure how good of a pull up shooter he could be, but at minimum I could see him being an elite catch and shoot player who also has elite dribble penetration scoring around the basket. This gives him the potential to both be the engine to an offense, but also the accessory to an engine. Hence, why I think Ray Allen is a more fitting profile.
Just like the loud mouth ego maniacs who screamed and made absolute declarations of how bad Houston whiffed on Green and how butthurt the Mobley Mob was for 6 months joking and making fun of Jalen- look how it came back to bite them dead in the ass. Same way I feel about being too crazy high on Jalen and writing checks our fandom cant cash. I feel strongly with OP in that Jalen will end up being the better player between himself and Lavine, but you never know whats going to happen. Jalens rookie season was a highlight reel and somewhat of a roller coaster ride. Jalen needs to get in the gym and add some strength and prepare his body for the rigors of the association and maintain season long consistency, but he has flashed #1 potential and if he continues that arc we will have our superstar. Hoping for the best!
It's the 90s and the Rockets just finished beating another team on the west coast and the game is ending late on Channel 20. You know Mama's Family is about to come on and you know you'll be dead tired in the morning for school but just to hear that soothing voice of Lisa Malowsky go through the post-game highlights before you turn in was pure bliss.