ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Kings - Vegas Summer League 7/16/2022

Agree ....on all including age thing. Shot will come....I do not want to see a bunch of bandwagon jumpers on when it happens either....there are a select few that have gone out of their way to slam Bari. It is true that his shot is off no doubt and he could stroke it (beautiful shot) at Auburn. He is the best defender on the team...and, it's not close.... how he impacts the game on D . He was not near this level on D at Auburn. He was a very good defender but there are no 7 ft. Kessler's on the Rockets like at Auburn.I watched Bari on the 3 pt. line when guards penetrated with zero kick out to a wide open Bari..in fact, the Kings got to where they didn't even guard him.

 

He hit a nice step back 3 in this game. He will regain his confidence with his jumper.

 

Yeah...the confidence thing....I don't know what leeway Bari has with the SL coach but, at Auburn, he had a green light to put it up pretty much when he wanted.He had a border line confidence/ cockiness when he game down and pulled up from the top of the key (and beyond) guarded hand in face and he just went up over the defender and put it in...no hesitation. He was money...beautiful silky smooth shot. I have not seen that...seems he is trying hard to "fit" the team. In fairness, his D is considerably better than at Auburn. Funny, I said to friends his D would need to get better and it's the offense that is needing improvement. It will come...no doubt in my mind. As Mitchell said at the end of the broadcast ...it would be nice to at least once in a while remember you have the #3 pick on the floor and get him the ball.

 

He needs to START from day 1, anything else is unacceptable

 

I just thought it was funny how that at the end of the game Mitchell was just casually roasting scrubs.

 

I do think he's trying very hard to fit in with the team too. His defense has been great. He should try and relax on offense. He's wanting to prove he can do more than just shoot the ball.

I think he's feeling pressure from wanting to match Paolo , Chet and even Keegan Murray when it comes to scoring.

 

I think if you were to ask Jabari, he would not be satisfied with these clips. You can tell that he and Eason want wins more than highlights.

Seeing our entire backcourt get outclassed once JC was shut down was troubling. Nix wanted to stand out, but he fell into some rec league patterns, trying to win some 1-on-1 matchups. Not only did he lose most of the time, but his hero ball turned a lot of fans against him. Horrible drives, bad shots, live-ball turnovers, and tunnel vision will do that. It's not a good look when the announcers are commenting that you ought to pass to the #3 pick.

Hopefully, when we get to training camp, everyone will be in better shape, and they can focus on playing together. I'm glad we got through Summer League without any other injuries, beyond whatever is slowing down Garuba.

 

It’s unacceptable but ain’t gonna happen. If he averages 20 mins game the first half of the season I’ll be surprised. Tate and Gordon gonna get those minutes courtesy of our head coach.

 

Yeah it’s strange as if he has never shot beyond college range. What is his range I wonder? Does he practice Harden and Curry like threes from 26 ft out? It’s interesting. Really don’t like his offense but I think Rockets just enamored with his defense and 3 pt ability.

 

No one is a scrub at this level. These guys work hard to get to their dreams. And the difference between making it to the NBA or not is sometimes very slim. All of them will kick your ass on the court for sure. And mine as well. Scrub is such a negative and demeaning term used casually by fans with a lack of understanding and sensitivity to both players and the game.

 

Totally forgot about this game and just checked the box score. Yeah, we suck. I thought Jabari would at least be a great shooter and a good defender on day 1, but his shooting is off. Defenders are in his grill because he doesn't have their respect when it comes to putting the ball on the floor.

Playing with better players will help, obviously, but Jabari has been worse than I expected him to be.

 

i think that’s a fair statement. But when u consider Paolo and Chet going 1&2, I still think Jabari was the best player available at #3. I’ll take Jabari in 3 yrs over what Murray will be. His defense is game changing already. His shot will fall, and if he works hard, he will improve his handles and ability to get his own shot. At his size and with his talent and skill-set, just turned 19, he was the best prospect at #3. But it’s definitely gonna take some time and folks are gonna have to be patient.

 

This is why I keep saying for fans to temper our expectations. What type of scorer did we think he was? Coming into the draft the scouting reports were clear in that he struggled finishing at the rim and lacked a one on one game. I looked up his numbers and despite shooting .420 in threes, he only shot .429 overall at Auburn. He also only shot 32.2 percent from 10 to 15 feet out and 40 percent on long twos in college. I’m not here to bash Smith and I hope he can improve in some of these aspects of his game but we have to be honest in our assessments and realistic in our expectations of him. Looking at the reports which are further evidenced by his summer league play, I think the Rockets prioritized defense knowing his offensive limitations, which they hope he can develop into a premier shooter. Essentially they drafted him for shooting and his elite level defense, which was on display in SL. This is why I believe they drafted him.

 

I respect your opinion. I just think Murray is overall better because of a great offensive game and good enough on defense although not on Smith’s level. Smith can very well turn into one of the best shooters of this generation and prove me wrong.

 

I'm a believer in him long-term, for sure. I'm happy to have him. But if you had asked me to predict his SL performance, I would have predicted better shooting. So it has been a disappointment to me.

I won't be mad if he's kinda meh all year. He's very young and we aren't even trying to win next year anyway, so it's no loss.

 

Just watched the replay - multiple times Nix had teammates not help him up even being next to him when he fell. Jabari didn’t pass him the ball at the end with .02. Small things that tell a big story… teammates were already tired of his JC impersonation and his inability to fkn hit layups.

I will be annoyed if TyTy isn’t above him on the depth chart to start the year.

 

TyTy was worse than Nix.

DD

 

Yes I was surprised he couldn’t shoot threes. Don’t know what the issue was but the positive and encouraging part to this SL was he found other ways to score and still played hard on defense doing other things to try to win. Again NBA teams are smart filled with scouts, sports psychologists, coaches, and intel guys. They saw all these intangibles and winning attributes, which probably helped lead to their decision to draft him.

 

Nix got the Kiss of Death.

Not the famous #17 kind.

The infamous DD variant.

 

Neither guy was any good in SL. Nix will need to make his case in pre-season to get any meaningful rotation minutes. TyTy will start in RGV. Since pure Pg is no longer necessary in this league, who facilitates the offense and who brings it up the court will be shared. I suspect Nix will make the team as an end of the bench player and guard duties will be shared by KPJ, Jalen, JC, Gordon. They also gave a little run to Tate as facilitator last year. I hope he shines in pre-season and we have another solid bench guard, but I definitely have my doubts.